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Kid suspended in Ohio for having a mohawk.
(His mohawk is rather short as mohawks go.)
Usual dumb cr*p. Publicly provided education should be for everyone, whatever they look like, and no matter why they look like they do, because it's just not relevant. End of story.
What really stands out in this case is his mohawk isn't really
a "mohawk." It's just longer on top.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:User-Ich_with_Mohawk.jpg
is what i'd define as a mohawk, not waht this kid has.
True enough, but that's just a detail. It's no different in principle than, say, if my son had been excluded from kindergarten for having long hair (he wasn't, but he did).
What gets me in this case is they say his hair is disruptive,
but there are probably alot of other stuff that is more
disrputive, like the kids playing baseball outside,
the wind blowing outside, or the sun shining outside.
The bottom line here: you have kids who are boted to tears and
they'll find something......anything to distract them.
And if they're going to suspend this kid are they also
going to suspend the 70 year old teacher who is going
bald and has all this long hair covering his bald spot?
Exactly! I taught kindergarten for seven years and the most disruptive thing was the little girls playing with each others hair. Like any other problem, teachers deal with it as it happens and once the kids learned they couldn't fiddle during a story they behaved. I'd like to see schools try banning long hair on girls. Come to think of it I taught with "distracting" hair and my kids don't seem to have come up short in knowledge at the end of the year.
That boy's hair distracts adults I suspect, not the other kids. It doesn't move around to attract attention and beyond noticing it when they first saw him I don't imagine it was on the kids' minds again unless they were thinking about bugging their parents for the same haircut. The only "disrupting the educational program" I see going on is the disruption to the boy's own education if he is removed from classes.
At the same time I feel for the school needing to enforce the rules. A good administrator can analyze the situation though and see if the rules need to be changed because they are discriminatory as this one seems to be.
Elizabeth
Yeah, I just read about this too. Sucks. As I've said before, I fully support the rights of PRIVATE schools, businesses, and other organizations (i.e., paid for by PRIVATE dollars) to enact and enforce dress codes. But this is a PUBLIC school, paid for by PUBLIC (i.e., taxpayer) dollars, which this kid's parents most likely are. As such, the school should have no legal power to determine how its students are allowed to dress, wear their hair, pierce their bodies, etc. PERIOD.
'nuff said.
--Val
Uh, no, this is a Charter school, it's NOT a public school. They don't charge tuition, but they aren't funded by property taxes and aren't under the scrutiny of the local school district.
... well, that's an important distinction. Thanks for the correction :)
--Val
This is a misunderstanding that most of the public has. Charter schools ARE public schools. Any school funded by tax dollars is a public school in by book. They ARE funded by your tax dollars. The money might be coming from state and federal funds, but those are YOUR tax dollars at work. The only difference is that they don't have to meet the misguided LNCB law.
Ah, ok. I was trying to make sense of what their own website said. In any case, it's an alternative to the regular public school.
From the Parma City School District website:
Confusion Between Parma City School District and Parma Community School
Please note that the news stories regarding the kindergartner suspension occurred at the Parma Community School, a public charter school located in Parma. The Parma City School District is not affiliated with the Parma Community School in any way. Their Web address is:
http://www.constellationschools.com/Parma/default.htm
Please also note that we not associated with the Parma Schools in Idaho. Their Web address is:
http://www.parmaschools.org/
I looked at *their* dress code. Regarding hair: no rollers/curlers, dyeing in natural colors only (except for temporary spirit events or drama club), and no hats/bandanas/headbands (probably for gang connections).
The dress code for the charter school makes NO mention of hair and accessories.
If hair was that important to the kid and the mother, then they do have an option.
WOW he's like 6 years old. How would that "disrupt" the educational system. Jesus Christ people are ridiculous. He's in KINDERGARTEN! They shouldn't even have a dress code, they're little kids they're too young to pay attention to any of that stuff.
First off his age tells me the hair is is parents/guardians responsibility.
I don't like mohawks. But I would fight for his right to wear it. Suspending a young kid like that for hair is friggin stupid beyond belief. Geeze
that is so dumb! its hair!!! ppl really need to find things gripe about. the mohawk isnt bad at all, i think its cute on him. there are so many things goin on in the world to worry about. does it really matter how someone chooses to wear their hair? =/