A black high school student in Texas who was punished for almost his entire first year Because of his hairstyle, he left his school district rather than serve another year of suspension, according to his attorney.
But Darryl George, 18, would like to return to his Houston-area high school, Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, for his senior year. He has asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would prevent district officials from punishing him further for not cutting his hair. That would allow him to return to school while the federal lawsuit he filed continues.
George’s request comes after federal judge Jeffrey Brown in August dismissed most of the claims filed by the student and his mother in the federal lawsuit alleging that school district officials committed racial and gender discrimination in punishing him. George was suspended from school after he was told his hair fell below his eyebrows and earlobes.
The judge simply upheld the sex discrimination claim and questioned whether the school district’s hair length rule caused more harm than good.
“Judge Brown, please help us so that I can attend school like a normal teenager while this litigation is pending,” George said in an affidavit filed last month.
Brown scheduled a court hearing for Oct. 3 in Galveston, at George’s request.
Darresha George / AP
In court documents filed last week, attorneys for the school district said the judge did not have jurisdiction to issue the restraining order because George is no longer a student in the district.
“And George’s removal from the district does not deprive him of his right to seek past damages, although the district maintains that George did not suffer a constitutional injury and is not entitled to recover damages,” the school district’s attorneys said.
The district defends its dress code, saying its policies for students are intended to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruptions, avoid safety hazards and teach respect for authority.”
In court documents filed last week, Allie Booker, one of George’s attorneys, said the student was “forced to disenroll” from Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu and transfer to another high school in another Houston-area district because Barbers Hill officials placed him on in-school suspension on the first and second days of the new school year, which began last month.
“This caused him significant emotional distress, which ultimately led to a nervous breakdown. As a result, we had no choice but to remove him from the school environment,” Booker said.
George’s departure “wasn’t a matter of choice but of survival,” but he wants to return because his mother moved to the area because of the quality of the district’s schools, Booker said.
George was kept out of his regular high school classes for most of the 2023-24 school year, when he was a freshman, because the school district said the length of his hair violated its dress code. George was forced to either serve an in-school suspension or spend time in an off-site disciplinary program.
The district argued that George’s long hair, which he wears to school in twisted locks on top of his head, violated its policy because if left down, it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows or earlobes. The district said other students who wore locks were within the length policy.
George’s federal lawsuit also alleges that his punishment violates the CROWN Act, a recent state law banning racial discrimination in hair. The CROWN Act, which was under discussion before the George hair dispute and went into effect in September 2023, prohibits employers and schools from penalizing people based on hair texture or protective hairstyles, including afros, braids, locks, twists, or Bantu knots.
In February, a state judge ruled in a lawsuit brought by the school district that his punishment did not violate the CROWN Act.
Barbers Hill’s hair policy was also challenged in a federal lawsuit filed in May 2020 by two other students. Both withdrew from the school, but one returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, saying there was “a substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and freedom from racial discrimination would be violated if he were expelled. That lawsuit is still ongoing.
