For more than a month, Darryl George, a Black high school student in Texas, spent each school day sitting by himself in punishment over his hairstyle. This week, he was sent to a separate disciplinary program, where he's been told he will spend several more weeks away from classmates. In an interview with the AP, George said he has felt discouraged about missing out on his classes and time with the football team. "I feel like I'm missing my full experience of being in the classroom," George said Thursday. The 18-year-old was first pulled from the classroom at his Houston-area school in August after school officials said his "locs" hairstyle violated the district's dress code. His family argues his hairstyle does not break any rules.
By the time George is allowed to return to Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, in November, he will have missed 56 of 67 days of regular classroom instruction to start his junior year. The family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging the state failed to enforce a new law outlawing discrimination based on hairstyles. But the family said George is not looking to change schools. They want to take a stand at a school that has clashed previously with other Black male students over their hairstyles. "We have to stand, and we have to let them know that, 'No, Darryl's not cutting his hair. No, Darryl is not going to let this go. No, you're not going to run Ms. George and her family out of their neighborhood,'" said Candice Matthews, a spokesperson for the family.
After George spent weeks on in-school suspension, his family received a letter from the school principal referring him to the disciplinary program for the dress code violations and other transgressions: violating the tardy policy, disrupting the in-school suspension classroom, and not complying with school directives. Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole said Friday that officials cannot disclose the infractions that led to George's current placement, but it was not because of his hair. George's mother, Darresha George, said he once used a profanity to express frustration with the in-school suspension. The family said George also has had two tardy violations. But they see the refusal to cut his hair as the root of the issue.
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School systems in Texas have broad discretion over which offenses can result in students being sent to disciplinary alternative education programs, said Renuka Rege of Texas Appleseed, a social justice advocacy organization. But she said it would be unusual for a student to be transferred over a dress code violation. Such violations disproportionately affect students of color, said Ashley Sawyer, senior staff attorney at the Advancement Project, a civil rights advocacy organization. She said students are pressured to conform to standards that may not factor in their culture and heritage, such as wearing natural hair. George just hopes things return to normal soon. "I hope I can start being a kid again, start living my life, start playing football again and enjoy my year, my last few years in high school," he said.
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