Trial to determine if school’s punishment of a Black student over his hair violates new law

ANAHUAC, Texas (AP) — A trial is ready to be held Thursday to find out if a Black highschool scholar in Texas can proceed being punished by his district for refusing to vary his coiffure, which he and his household say is protected by a brand new state legislation that prohibits race-based hair discrimination.

At difficulty is whether or not Darryl George’s monthslong punishment for violating his Houston-area faculty district’s costume code coverage limiting the size of boys’ hair violates the CROWN Act.

The bench trial is being held earlier than state District Choose Chap Cain III in Anahuac after the Barbers Hill faculty district filed a lawsuit searching for clarification of the brand new legislation. The trial was scheduled to final in the future, with Cain anticipated to difficulty a choice quickly after its conclusion. The CROWN Act, which took impact in September, prohibits race-based hair discrimination and bars employers and faculties from penalizing folks due to hair texture or protecting hairstyles together with Afros, braids, locs, twists or Bantu knots.

“I really like my hair, it’s sacred and it’s my energy,” George has stated in court docket paperwork.

The Barbers Hill faculty district stated George’s lengthy hair, which he wears in tied and twisted locs on prime of his head, violates its costume code coverage as a result of it might fall under his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes when let down. The district has stated different college students with locs adjust to the size coverage.

George, an 18-year-old junior, has not been in his common classroom at Barbers Hill Excessive College in Mont Belvieu since Aug. 31. As an alternative he has both been serving in-school suspension or spending time in an off-site disciplinary program.

In court docket paperwork, the varsity district maintains its coverage doesn’t violate the CROWN Act as a result of the legislation doesn’t point out or cowl hair size.

In a paid advert that ran in January within the Houston Chronicle, Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole wrote that districts with a conventional costume code are safer and have larger tutorial efficiency and that “being an American requires conformity.”

However Allie Booker, George’s legal professional, has argued the Texas lawmakers who wrote the CROWN Act had safeguarding hair size in thoughts as lots of the hairstyles protected by the brand new legislation require hair to be lengthy.

A number of of the lawmakers who wrote the CROWN Act had been anticipated to testify on behalf of George.

Considered one of them, state Rep. Rhetta Bowers, stated in an affidavit that “size is protected as a result of it’s primarily why protecting types are worn.” George’s household has additionally filed a formal grievance with the Texas Schooling Company and a federal civil rights lawsuit in opposition to Gov. Greg Abbott and Legal professional Normal Ken Paxton, together with the varsity district, alleging they did not implement the CROWN Act. The lawsuit is earlier than a federal choose in Galveston.