A Rastafarian student, who was suspended by school officials from his Louisiana high school for wearing dreadlocks, has enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for violating his right to religious freedom.
The Louisiana chapter of the ACLU sent a letter to South Plaquemines High School last week in defense of the student known as “John Doe.” According to the published letter, John Doe was sent home the first day of school on August 8th because his dreadlocks extended past the top of his shirt collar. The student complied with school officials demands that he pin his dreadlocks to meet length requirement, but as of August 15th he is facing an indefinite suspension.
The student’s mother spoke to school officials to explain her family’s religious beliefs, which require that they grow dreadlocks and more specifically don’t cut their hair. The school board told the mother that the documentation presented was not sufficient to readmit her son to school, and Superintendent Denis Rousselle told her that “he was not a lawyer” and didn’t know what else she could provide to have him placed back in class.
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The school’s president, John Barthelemy, told ThinkProgress that the school updated its behavioral code this summer to expound on “distracting” hairstyles to include “long hair.” According to Barthelemy, students “cannot wear hair below their eyes or wear hair below the collar.” The principal didn’t clarify whether the policy includes female students, who often wear their hair below their collar. Barthelemy disputes claim from the ACLU that they are preventing the student from receiving an education. While they “assess” the validity of Rastafarism they have allowed him to make up work he missed while away from school and attend classes as long as his hair is pinned up.
“We’re not going to deny anyone their freedoms,” Barthelemy said. “He’s in school receiving his education just like everyone else.”
School boards are faced with evaluating stringent dress code policies based around ambiguous language such as extreme hair styles. Many times these are interpreted to mean hairstyles that cause a distraction and prevent other students from learning in a conducive environment. In recent years, school boards have come under fire for sending home students whose hair expression doesn’t comply with the school’s dress code policy. Those cases often end with students back in the classroom after gaining traction with media outlets, such as the case of a young African-American girl suspended for wearing her natural hair to school.The ACLU letter cites case Helaire, et al. v. Lafayette Parish, et al., in which the school board reached a settlement with eight children to waive the school’s dress code policy to allow the students to wear headwear that covered their dreadlocks.
Representatives for the ACLU are asking for a formal hearing as quickly as possible so that John Doe can continue receiving an education in the classroom.