Wyandotte Nation boy ‘compelled’ to chop hair for varsity coverage, ACLU says

Earlier than the subsequent faculty day, the 8-year-old was allegedly compelled to chop his hair as a result of faculty officers wouldn’t grant him an exemption from a faculty coverage stipulating that boys’ hair can not “contact the collar of a crew neck T-shirt, cowl the eyebrows or prolong under the earlobes.” The dearth of an exemption violated the scholar’s spiritual freedom rights, the ACLU wrote in a letter Friday, imploring officers to eliminate the coverage and permit the boy to develop his hair out.

“It’s actually devastating for an 8-year-old for his or her faculty to be telling them that they’re not allowed to come back to the varsity because the particular person they’re,” mentioned Jennesa Calvo-Friedman, an ACLU workers lawyer. “It’s principally speaking to them that they, of their identification and this factor that they’re pleased with, are usually not welcome within the faculty.”

Todd Ferguson, Girard Unified College District 248’s superintendent, mentioned in an announcement Sunday that he couldn’t touch upon particular person college students, citing privateness legal guidelines, however mentioned that the varsity board plans to debate the coverage throughout its Dec. 14 assembly.

“Nothing issues extra to the USD 248 district and workers than making a protected, respectful and caring faculty for each pupil,” his assertion mentioned.

Lately, Native American college students throughout the nation have been pushing for his or her traditions to be revered on faculty grounds and in commencement ceremonies. However incidents just like the one in Kansas are a painful reminder of the federal government boarding colleges that when compelled Native American college students to chop their hair, Calvo-Friedman mentioned. For greater than 150 years, numerous numbers of kids have been taken from their households and positioned in boarding colleges, an try by the federal authorities to erase their Native American tradition.

The Kansas pupil, whose identify is redacted from the letter, began to develop out his hair after seeing males with lengthy hair at a Wyandotte Nation occasion this summer time, in response to the letter. Sporting it lengthy made him really feel like he was following within the footsteps of the opposite Wyandotte males, who solely minimize their hair when a beloved one dies.

However in August, officers at R.V. Haderlein Elementary College advised the scholar he wanted to chop his hair, citing its gown code coverage, in response to the ACLU letter.

After the scholar was advised to chop his hair, his mom went to the varsity to request an exemption, citing her son’s heritage and religious beliefs. However officers advised her there have been no exemptions, in response to the letter.

The subsequent month, she acquired the e-mail from a faculty administrator, who once more mentioned that her son wanted to chop his hair, in response to the ACLU. The administrator advised the boy’s mom to name the district’s superintendent if she needed to debate the coverage extra, however her calls and voice mails to him went unreturned, in response to the letter.

That weekend, the scholar minimize his hair so he might maintain attending faculty, a call that “brought on him misery,” in response to the ACLU.

The ACLU wrote that the varsity’s coverage has the potential to “disproportionately influence Native American college students.” The ACLU additionally alleged that the coverage might represent intercourse discrimination, saying the stipulations about boys’ hair ship a message “that they can’t be female in any manner, and this message harms all college students by selling inflexible views of gender norms and roles.”

The ACLU requested in its letter for an instantaneous exemption for the scholar, permitting him to develop his hair previous his shoulders and put on it free or in a braid, “as his tribal and spiritual customs dictate.” The group has requested a response from district officers by Dec. 1.

Past the authorized factors, Calvo-Friedman mentioned, the household’s request for an exemption boils right down to a “fundamental level.”

“The size of your hair has nothing to do along with your capability to be taught or your capability to go to highschool,” she mentioned.