ACLU urges districts to change dress codes
The Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to hundreds of school districts on Wednesday, including 11 in the Houston region, asking them to change their dress code policies to allow young men to wear their hair long.
It comes on the heels of a Texas federal court decision striking down a dress code policy in Barbers Hill ISD that led to the inschool suspensions of two students who refused to cut their dreadlocks due to their family’s cultural practices. The case drew national attention after cousins Kaden Bradford and De’Andre Arnold were punished for wearing their natural hair in the 6,200student district just east of Baytown.
Both Bradford and Arnold are Black, and Bradford’s ACLU attorneys argued that young white men who attended their high school were allowed to wear their hair longer than the dress code permitted but were not punished.
“While school districts throughout the county have removed policies that were based on antiquated sex stereotypes, many school districts in Texas still have policies that treat students differently on the basis of their gender, such as requiring different hair and dress standards for male and female students,” wrote Brian Klosterboer, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas. “Recent court decisions, including from the U.S.
Supreme Court, have found that this type of gender-based discrimination is unconstitutional. School districts need to conform to federal law and fix outdated policies that cause serious harm to students in Texas.”
The ACLU argues that districts with similar policies in Greater Houston and beyond could face lawsuits. Among the Houstonarea districts that received the letter were Tomball, Waller, Huffman, Anahuac and Barbers Hill
ISDs, along with several smaller districts in rural areas.
Tomball and Waller ISD spokespeople did not return requests for comment.
Arnold, who was a senior in 2019-2020, was told he could neither attend prom nor graduation unless he cut his hair, and both students were suspended. The two students wear the dreadlocks in honor of their family’s West Indian heritage.
In court hearings, Barbers Hill
ISD officials argued that the dreadlocks would be allowed so long as they met the length requirements. Hans Graff, an attorney for the district, said in a hearing that the policy was not discriminatory because Black students were disciplined at the same rates as other students for hair violations. He also said the two cousins wanted to attend schools in the Mont Belvieu area because of their standards for academics and behavior.
“They want the standards without having to meet the standards. They want to be treated differently. They’re saying, ‘We want the academic excellence, we want the excellence of Barbers Hill. But we don’t want to comply with what it takes to achieve that,’ ” Graff said at a school board meeting.
Shortly before a federal court ruled in favor of the students, the board of trustees in Barbers Hill ISD voted to reaffirm the dress code policy in late July.
Bradford and Arnold’s stories drew the support of Ellen DeGeneres and Texans’ wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, and Arnold was invited to attend the Oscars. Both students ultimately transferred out of Barbers Hill ISD.