Grooming for a 4-year old

Every day I get an e-mail newsletter with news clippings from around the state and around the country, pertaining to schools. It’s a great feature that NYS School Boards offers its members. There are many times that stories catch my eye from other districts that I find interesting. It also continues my learning of my 10+ year position on the school board.

Today’s clips included a story from the NY Times, School board suspends pre-k student for having long hair.

A 4-year old boy has been suspended from prekindergarten classes in Dallas because of the length of his hair. I guess I should have to look at their code of conduct before I passed judgment. Are girls permitted to have long hair? Or is this discrimination? I have always had the belief of choosing battles wisely. Does the length of a boy’s hair (or girls) disrupt the learning environment? Is this a military academy?

One of the school board members said, “Do the parents value his education more than they value a 4-year-old’s decision to make his own grooming choices?” I’m having trouble grasping the fact that this warrants suspension from the classroom. If this was a student who was in a machine shop class and he refused to put his 'unruly' locks in a pony tail for his own safety – then yes, it makes sense. If this was a student who was in a home economics/cooking class and that head of hair was not tied back and covered with a hair net as everyone's should be, then yes, it makes sense. But should they have the authority to say how long a male student’s hair can be (and a 4-year old at that)? I can’t say that it makes much sense to me.

Focus on the value the students bring to the classroom. Find out what their strengths and weaknesses are. Don’t get weighed down with stuff like hair length (unless in this area of our country the length of someone's hair is tied to academic success or failure).