Judge rules against Texas student in dreadlocks case
- Darryl George, 18, was suspended for dress code violations in August
- School officials argued the CROWN Act does not address hair length
- Attorney argued very purpose of act is to protect hairstyles like George’s
FILE – Darryl George, a 17-year-old junior, before walking across the street to go into Barbers Hill High School after serving a 5-day in-school suspension for not cutting his hair Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in Mont Belvieu. George will spend the remainder of the year in in-school suspension, extending a punishment that was first imposed in August over his hairstyle that district officials maintain violates their dress code policy. A referral given to George Tuesday, Dec. 5, said his hair is “out of compliance” with the dress code at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke, File)
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(NewsNation) — A Texas judge ruled Thursday that a school’s suspension of a Black teenager because of his dreadlocks does not violate the state’s CROWN Act.
State District Judge Chap Cain, who heard case arguments Wednesday, sided with Barbers Hill High School against Darryl George, 18, saying the school’s suspension does not violate the law.
“The Texas legal system has validated our position that the district’s dress code does not violate the CROWN Act and that the CROWN Act does not give students unlimited self-expression,” the school said in a statement to NewsNation partner The Hill following the ruling.
George was suspended back in August and hasn’t been in his regular Houston-area high school classes since then because the district, Barbers Hill, says the length of his hair violates its dress code.
The 18-year-old wears his dreadlocks on the top of his head, away from his face and neck, but the school adopted a rule stating a male student’s hair could not be below his eyebrows or ear lobes when let down.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., called Thursday’s decision “anti-Black” in a statement posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Black folks deserve to show up as our full selves without punishment or criminalization. Congress must pass & enforce the CROWN Act federally to ban race-based hair discrimination once & for all,” Pressley said.
George’s family had filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency. They also filed a civil rights lawsuit against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton for their alleged failure to enforce the CROWN Act, which forbids racial hair discrimination.
However, some school officials argued the act does not address hair length. The district filed a lawsuit arguing George’s long hair violates its policy because it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes when let down. The district has said other students with dreadlocks comply with the length policy.
Lawmakers involved in drafting the law have said its very purpose is to protect hairstyles like George’s.
The attorney who crafted the law told NewsNation it was the first time the CROWN Act had been challenged in Texas. If George had won the case, there would have been close to 500 school districts in the state that would have needed to update their dress code policies.
“It is precisely the type of case that the CROWN Act was crafted to prohibit. Darryl George wears his hair in a combination of braids and locks. And the rule — the neutral dress code as it were — with the school, does not require hair — the boys — to wear their hair below their ear lobes, or past their eyebrows. If you’ve seen the numerous pictures of Darryl George, his hair does not come below his eyebrows, nor does it go below his ear lobes,” said William Sherman, the attorney who helped create the act.
“His hair is not affecting his education. They have many mothers out here who are pushing, trying to get their kids to go to school. I have a son, 18 years old, who wants to go to school, who wants to get his education and you all are messing with him. Why?” George’s mother Darresha said.
Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole said last fall that George was guilty of other school policy infractions as well that he could not publicly disclose.
The Hill and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
