new thread
I met a nice guy at The Elephant room last night and he asked me to make a post here about our recent overturning of an outdated school policy. This was my first term on as a school board trustee in Bastrop School System, ya know... the one where a middle school kid was made to take his classes in the closet because he refused to cut his hair. Well, he eventually moved out to Austin and it has taken some cohersing of my fellow boardmembers, but the antiquated policy has finally been removed from our policies! It now reads that all students hair must be neat and clean and omits any gender discrimination! Yippee!
Carol,
Thanks for sharing this information. I am a teacher, 17 years this year, and I teach in public schools. I have taught in AL, and currently teach in GA. I am a native of the South, and so I know how conservative and resistant to change the south can be.
The story of a child, however old, being forced into a closet because of the length of his hair is disturbing beyond imagination. It is simply absurd. Thank you for taking on this issue. I hope it has a lasting effect in your community.
For what it's worth, I've held three teaching jobs with long hair. None of them ever involved even a comment or question about the length of my hair in interviews. I come with good qualifictions and experience,and that was the focus of the interview and the reason I was hired. All three of these were in the deep south.
Robert
I've just past the 1 year mark as a teacher (Ed Tech for the Music Programs) in the local public schools in my town, and I haven't had a single problem with people directly asking about my piercings or hair. I've had a couple comments from the students themselves (good and not so good), and one of my co-workers told me some of the other teachers asked her "who is that man with the ponytail who always goes in your room?!"... I thought that was pretty funny, since I only work in one department most of the teachers don't know me. I think like you, I had the qualifications and experience necessary so they overlooked my appearance (at the time they hired me, I had a beard as well).
But the North might be slightly more easy-going anyway... not sure though.
-Ardroth
This is the result of the school uniform movement started by the Clinton administration. His evil lives on.
Yeah... that's insane... I really don't understand why people like short hair at all on either gender... it's like fighting nature...
That would be me. Thank you, Carol, for posting the update. By the way, in case I didn't make this clear, "Men's" in "Men's Long Hair Hyperboard" refers to the hair, not the community. Women are certainly welcome here, so stick around if you like.
Victor
Carol,
Thanks SO much for your clear vision and sane outlook, and all the hard work you did on that school board. I am shocked to think that in this day & age, a child would be forced to stay in a closet in school, just because of hair length. Actually, it doesn't really matter what "day & age"... hair length should be a total non-issue, regardless of gender. Again, thanks a million for all you have done!
- Ken in San Francisco
This is good news!!!! I'm glad to hear this. Thank you, Carol for your post regarding this development. It's about time this policy has changed!!
Good for you, Carol! The Bastrop case is the one most infamous in longhaired men's circles. It grew into becoming the only state supreme court case in recent years that said it was okay for a public school to discriminate against longhaired male students. It set Texas apart from all of the other states where this issue has been recently litigated. As I recall reading, the Bastrop student was locked up, for the "crime" of deciding to keep his hair, for far longer than one gets locked up for driving while intoxicated in Texas.
Civil rights battles are often won one small step at a time. Thanks for fighting a bit of that battle in Texas! Let us hope momentum from such acts eventually leads to civil rights protection for us in Texas state-wide.
Bill
What prey tell is an "elephant room?" Never heard of one.
Never heard of the case. Got any URLs on the case?
Having read this board for a while now i don't recall the
case.
