Updated Mar 21, 1:07 PM: The Fresno Unified School District has shared the following statement from FUSD Superintendent Bob Nelson to Teen Vogue: “Fresno Unified regrets any difficulty our student and his family may have experienced because of the incident in question. The Board and I have initiated a review of our dress code policy. Until the district has completed the process of reviewing its policy, I have directed our schools to suspend enforcement of the hair-related provisions in the dress code. We want our dress code policy to reflect diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, we will ask students to join the team to assist in the review and revision of the existing standards to ensure we are addressing concerns relative to today’s student.”
Previously:
The conversation surrounding natural hair is one that, in recent months, has ranged from the positive (like how representation in a film like Black Panther exudes influence beyond the big screen), to the negative, like the news of a government bill seeking to deregulate the natural hair industry. Adding to the latter category is recent news of a black student reportedly pulled out of class one day at Tenaya Middle School in Fresno, California, because of his haircut, which the school claimed violated their dress code, as reported by The Fresno Bee. The hairstyle in question — a short, shaved cut with a pattern of lines along the sides — was a look that the child’s mother, Erika Paggett, said “gave him confidence," in an interview with Yahoo! Lifestyle.
“The vice principal told my son that he needed to cut his hair because it was distracting and violated the dress code,” said Paggett in an interview with Yahoo! Lifestyle. The school's dress code stipulates that the code doesn't permit "hairstyles or facial hair/eyebrows that draw undue attention. This means no Mohawks, tails, unusual razor cuts or unnatural/unusual colors. Faux-hawks are not to exceed 1-1/4" in height."
Although Paggett said that she agreed to arrange for her 14-year-old son to get a new haircut, she says she was unable to immediately secure an appointment due to a shortage of black barbers in her area. When her son arrived at school the next day, according to Paggett, the school explained to her that he would face in-school suspension after returning with his haircut. “I requested that my son is issued a warning, to allow time to grow out his hair,” she told Yahoo! Lifestyle. “[The vice principal] told me, ‘Rules are rules.’” Erika claims that she then called the head principal, who she says suggested that she take her son to Supercuts. But Erika explained to Yahoo! that “[Supercuts] might not be familiar with the texture of black people’s hair. She wasn’t sympathetic and I was offended.”
After missing work to take her son to a barbershop, she decided to write an open letter to the school district, and took to social media to share her experience. In her Facebook post sharing the open letter, Paggett wrote, "My hope and prayer is that we can begin to have a conversation with the district about a culture of unfair treatment targeted at students of color that exists at Tenaya Middle School," calling on readers to share their individual experiences and encouraging students to take an “eye-opening” field trip to a black barbershop.
Her letter caught the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, who told Yahoo! that "The California Education Code clarifies that students have a right to ‘expressive conduct’ and that includes hairstyles that reflect a person’s culture," adding, “The wording of the school dress code leaves a room for discretion and has been applied in a way, that we believe, violates black students’ rights and has been enforced with discrimination.”
If all of this sounds familiar, it's because it should; last year, a Florida private high school student named Jenesis Johnson said that she had a similar experience where she was reportedly told by her assistant principal that her natural hair (worn in an afro) was "inappropriate" for school. Speaking to FLorida news station WCTV, Jenesis said that the school called her hair "extreme and faddish and out of control," and "all over the place."
Following the ACLU’s involvement, the school district not only erased the suspension from the student's academic record, but also said that they would reimburse Paggett for the haircut. “The district acknowledges that the dress code hasn’t been updated in 26 years,” a representative from the Fresno Unified School District told Yahoo!. “It’s time to work with the students and community to create an updated dress code.”
Teen Vogue has reached out to the Fresno Unified School District for comment and will update this story as more information becomes available.
Related: How I Style My Natural Hair as a Man
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