'It's kind of like a girl wearing a short skirt': Teen boys dress coded for 'excessive' hairstyle
Two boys in Texas, along with their parents, are embroiled in a battle with their school district after the school said that the teens’ hairstyles violated dress code.
Texas outlet KETK report that AJ Hardy and Cade Christensen were put into in-school suspension without their parents being notified because their haircuts had allegedly gone against the Van Independent School District’s guidelines for boys’ grooming.
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“Without notifying me or anything else, they just put him in ISS one day,” AJ’s dad, Mark Hardy, told the station. “I guess they had been telling him, but they put him in ISS. And so we went down and we got his hair cut, we got it styled, but it still was not to their liking.”
The cut that wasn’t to the school’s liking is one that is seemingly popular amongst teenage boys, but has been deemed not up to this particular school’s standards. According to the Van High School’s student handbook, those standards are as follows:
“Hair shall be clean, well groomed and not of excessive length. Hair shall not extend below the eyebrows, earlobes, or below the collar. Mohawks (or ‘Fauxhawks’) with a difference in hair length greater than one inch are not permitted. Ponytails, head bands, and other hair products used to restrict natural hair flow are not permitted. The school administration has sole authority to determine what is excessive.”
Christensen told KETK that he doesn’t just disagree with the rule, but he also thinks the rule is unfair.
“It's kind of like a girl wearing a short skirt, she can go to her house and change,” the student said, “but if I cut my hair, I have to wear it like this all the time and all the time at home.”
AJ’s stepmother, Marie Hardy, also voiced complaints about both of the boys’ punishments. According to the outlet, AJ and Cade have been sent to in-school suspension every day for a week now.
“I think it's taking away part of their education,” Marie said. “I think when they're in ISS, they have a coach that's in there with the students in there in ISS and they get their paperwork, but they don't have access to the teacher, they can't ask questions.”
Van ISD didn’t immediately reply to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. However, Mark told KETK that the high school principal isn’t budging when it comes to the policy.
“We're going to go give information to parents and let them know the problem that's going on, and just mainly bring awareness to the issue,” he said.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Mom says she was dress-coded by high school after trying to enroll daughter in classes
Mom calls out school district for sexist dress code: 'We need to stop body shaming our pre-teens'
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