new thread
Having never wrote or signed a petition before I think I need some help with this thing. It's going to the local school board for those who don't know about my ongoing struggle with them to advance to the 21st century.
Critique is expected and will be appreciated.
RE: Male Haircut policy for males
Petition:
To: (I'll fill in here later)
The Jefferson county hair cut policy as defined in The Code of Conduct is an unfair rule and not in concurrence with the community's desires.
It defines the length of male students hair as having to be above the collar when loose and unpinned. This is a sexist rule as it does not state any length rules for female students hair.
We believe this rule reflects the personal beliefs and taste of a small group of people who have either have mistaken “community standards” or purposely ignored the fact that most students and parents have no problem with males with longer hair styles.
There is no basis for this rule and cannot be justified except from a religious standpoint (which is a misinterpretation of one verse in the Christian Bible).
If religion is the basis for this rule then we must remind the school board of the separation of church and state.
Even without the separation of church and state, the rule is still invalid.
1st Corinthians 11:14 makes a reference to “nature” not God.
1st Corinthians 11:15 suggest a woman should wear her hair long.
1st Corinthians 11:16 clearly states “But, if any one seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God”. Thus God has no rule on hair length.
All of these verses are a discussion over whether a woman should have her head covered during prayer, it does not in any way mean God made a rule against longhair as many choose to interpret it.
God does not dislike men with longhair. One of the vows of the Nazarites was not to cut your hair. If He did in fact want men to have short hair to display devotion to Him, He would not have created such a vow.
We, the undersigned, ask that you change this rule as it does not reflect the ideology of the majority of parents and students in Jefferson county school district.
It is not a “distraction” to anyone. This has been verified by many students.
It does not reflect “community standards” as there are as many long haired males in Jefferson county as anywhere else.
It is not “dirty” as males have access to the same shampoos and other hair products as females.
In essence, there is no reason for this rule and it should be changed immediately.
I think what you have posted here is fantastic, you make several great points. Really damn good.
n/t
Also add to the petition that most men who are committed to wearing their hair long do so for because they want to not to rebel against anything in particular.
The petition is worded well Paul without using "emotive" subjective words which helps the message out as being reasonable.
Also when people sign the petition arrange separate columns for the following:
Name, Address, Phone Number and date that they signed it. With the date and other stuff anyone who wants to check the authenticity of the petition can do so. Dates tell the receipient of the petition how recent the petition is.
I got a petition going 2 years ago to help get rid of an unpleasant feral neighbour of which 23 nearby people in the locality signed!
Good luck with your petition. In Australia it's illegal to discriminate against longhair in public schools so this petition isn't needed here.
Paul I'm behind you 110%.
Best
Duncan
Thanks Duncan,
I added;
"It does not reflect “rebellion”. Many male honor students prefer longer hair and many responsible adult males wear their hair long."
Illegal to discriminate against longhair in public schools is Australia? Wow, how in the world was that achieved?
Paul
The Australian Government makes it compulsory for all Kids to go to school until they are 15.
Emphasis has always been on education not on how kids should wear their hair in Government schools. ONLY private schools can make short hair compulsory here. I have never heard of any kids ever being asked to leave school on account of how long their hair is. I regularly see many boys with long hair who go to High School here in Australia.
We also have an anti-Discrimination Commission Board in place that is like a watchdog and handles anything to do with unlawful discrimination.
Generally Australian society is a lot less conservative then in the US. Long Hair isn't much of a big deal here as we laugh at silly petty people (hair nazis etc) and people are judged more on their actions then appearances.
Duncan
Hey Paul, petition is super! Great job. Very clearly stated and I loved the way you demolished the county with the religious info. Well done!
Hope all is well in your world. I have been away on a vacation the past 3 weeks and just got back...hair still growing although it suffered some damage with wind and de-tangling etc.
Take care,
FIR
Max
Well hey Max!
Great to see your back, I hope your vacation went well.
Thanks for the kind words. Now all I have to do is figure out how I'm going to get everybody to get together to sign this thing. I don't really want to sit around in a parking lot all day or drive around talking to people one at a time.
Your FIR,
Paul
Hey Paul...well I will tell you...if I was around there I would sit and /or patrol the parking lot all day to give you a hand...nice to see that you are taking action in this way. Keep us posted on your progress
FIR,
Max
Hey Paul,
That's not at all bad for a first attempt at writing a petition.You seem to have covered all the bases and were respectful in the delivery making some very strong points.Certainly I hope you efforts change the policy as there is no merit to them anyway.Some administrator probably had a slow day when they decided to write up that haircut policy to begin with.You'd think there are more important things to worry about such as getting a quality education:)Good luck and do keep us posted.
Mark
Thanks Mark,
Yeah, you would think they had better things to talk about when they are sitting around making up this crap.
As you may remember my son is in the gifted class, honor role and has many outstanding conduct awards, but all their worried about is his hair!
The principle told me that "she had better things to worry about than keeping track of who needs a haircut", I responded with "that's my point lady!"
Paul
Hey Paul how are you doing. I hope things are good. I added a few things to your petition and oyu can take them or leave them. For sure look them over and take out what you don't like or want. Hope things are good, and feel free to email me as well to say hi or ask about what I wrote here. Have a good one and hope the family is well. Take care and here it is! (I can send you a word doc if you want too. )
Official Petition:
To: (I'll fill in here later) (The Jefferson County School District)
Background:
We the, signed petitioner of the Jefferson County School District feel that the hair cut policy ###### for the Jefferson County School District is an act of discrimination against male students in our community who attend the Jefferson County School District.
We the, signed petitioner of the Jefferson County School District, assert that the Jefferson county hair cut policy (State place such as number or actual text from the code book) as defined in The Code of Conduct is an unfair rule and not in concurrence with the community's desires.
The Code defines the length of male students hair as having to be above the collar when loose and unpinned. We feel this to be a sexist rule as it does not state any length rules for female students hair and therefore, discriminates against the male students who must comply with the rule in order to attend school in the Jefferson County School District.
We believe this rule reflects only the personal beliefs and taste of a small group of people who have either have mistaken “community standards” or purposely ignored the fact that most students and parents have no problem with males with longer hair styles. We feel this group has over stepped their bounds in enforcing a rule that is clearly one to be decided by each individual, or family and therefore there own personal family beliefs and own personal family standards.
We the petitioners feel there is no basis for this rule and cannot be justified except from a religious standpoint (which is a misinterpretation of one verse in the Christian Bible).
If religion is the basis for this rule then we must remind the school board of the separation of church and state.
Even without the separation of church and state, the rule is still invalid.
1st Corinthians 11:14 makes a reference to “nature” not God.
1st Corinthians 11:15 suggest a woman should wear her hair long.
1st Corinthians 11:16 clearly states “But, if any one seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God”. Thus God has no rule on hair length.
All of these verses are a discussion over whether a woman should have her head covered during prayer, it does not in any way mean God made a rule against longhair as many choose to interpret it.
God does not dislike men with longhair. One of the vows of the Nazarites was not to cut your hair. If He did in fact want men to have short hair to display devotion to Him, He would not have created such a vow.
We, the undersigned, ask that you change this rule as it does not reflect the ideology of the majority of parents and students in Jefferson county school district.
We feel it is not a “distraction” to anyone. This has been verified by many students.
We feel it does not reflect “community standards” as there are as many long haired males in Jefferson county as anywhere else.
Longhair is not “dirty” or any different then short hair, as males have access to the same shampoos and other hair products as females.
In essence, we feel there is no reason for the short hair policy, and we ask that you rescind the longhair policy immediately.
Put in Columns that have:
Name (Signature)
Date Signed
Address (Street) (City, Town)
Zip Code
Name (Printed)
Hey Paul, I suppose I should have put the letter S on the end of a couple words. Anyway the same as before, hack away! take care!
Official Petition:
To: (I'll fill in here later) (The Jefferson County School District)
Background:
We the, signed petitioners of the Jefferson County School District feel that the hair cut policy ###### for the Jefferson County School District is an act of discrimination against male students in our community who attend the Jefferson County School District.
We the, signed petitioners of the Jefferson County School District, assert that the Jefferson county hair cut policy (State place such as number or actual text from the code book) as defined in The Code of Conduct is an unfair rule and not in concurrence with the community's desires.
The Code defines the length of male students hair as having to be above the collar when loose and unpinned. We feel this to be a sexist rule as it does not state any length rules for female students hair and therefore, discriminates against the male students who must comply with the rule in order to attend school in the Jefferson County School District.
We believe this rule reflects only the personal beliefs and taste of a small group of people who have either have mistaken “community standards” or purposely ignored the fact that most students and parents have no problem with males with longer hair styles. We feel this group has over stepped their bounds in enforcing a rule that is clearly one to be decided by each individual, or family and therefore there own personal family beliefs and own personal family standards or choices.
We the petitioners feel there is no basis for this rule and cannot be justified except from a religious standpoint (which is a misinterpretation of one verse in the Christian Bible).
If religion is the basis for this rule then we must remind the school board of the separation of church and state.
Even without the separation of church and state, the rule is still invalid.
1st Corinthians 11:14 makes a reference to “nature” not God.
1st Corinthians 11:15 suggest a woman should wear her hair long.
1st Corinthians 11:16 clearly states “But, if any one seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God”. Thus God has no rule on hair length.
All of these verses are a discussion over whether a woman should have her head covered during prayer, it does not in any way mean God made a rule against longhair as many choose to interpret it.
God does not dislike men with longhair. One of the vows of the Nazarites was not to cut your hair. If He did in fact want men to have short hair to display devotion to Him, He would not have created such a vow.
We, the undersigned, ask that you change this rule as it does not reflect the ideology of the majority of parents and students in Jefferson county school district.
We feel it is not a “distraction” to anyone. This has been verified by many students.
We feel it does not reflect “community standards” as there are as many long haired males in Jefferson county as anywhere else.
Longhair is not “dirty” or any different then short hair, as males have access to the same shampoos and other hair products as females.
In essence, we feel there is no reason for the short hair policy, and we ask that you rescind the longhair policy immediately.
Put in Columns that have:
Name (Signature)
Date Signed
Address (Street) (City, Town)
Zip Code
Name (Printed)
Hell yeah, I like this.
Although I can spit out some fancy talk when I have too, I did go to school in Alabama! Lol.
Thank you longhaired one, you did a most excellent revision,
Paul
Paul, how nit-picky do you want me to be? What you have is great, but I am looking at everything, punctuation, word-choice, etc. and spotted a few things. What I am getting at is that you've done a great job, and the stuff I mention no one besides a nerdy English teacher like me will probably notice, so your call if you want the full copy-edit-revision treatment.
MB
RE: Male Haircut Policy Petition
To: (I'll fill in here later)
The Jefferson County hair cut policy as defined in “The Code of Conduct” is an unfair rule for many reasons and not in concurrence with the majority of the community’s desires.
The conduct code defines the length of male studentsÂ’ hair as required to be above the collar when loose and unpinned. The rule is sexist. It does not state any length rules for female studentsÂ’ hair.
We believe the short hair rule for males only reflects the personal beliefs and taste of a small group of people who believe their standards are the standards of the entire community and disregard the fact that most students and parents have no problem with males with longer hair styles.
There is no basis for this rule, and there is no justification for the rule, even from a Christian biblical standpoint. If a variant reading of the Bible is the basis for this rule, then we must remind the school board of the separation of church and state. Even without the separation of church and state, the rule is still invalid based on a contextually sound reading of the Bible itself.
1 Corinthians 11:14 makes a reference to “nature,” not God.
1 Corinthians 11:15 suggest a woman should wear her hair long.
1 Corinthians 11:16 clearly states: “But, if any one seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.”
Thus God has no rule on hair length for males. These verses are a discussion over whether a woman should have her head covered during prayer, and they do not in any way mean God made a rule against long hair for men as many choose to interpret the verses. God does not dislike men with long hair. One of the vows of the Nazarites took was not to cut their hair. Long hair was the source of SamsonÂ’s God-given strength. If He did in fact want men to have short hair to display devotion to Him, He would not have created such a vow or have given men the ability to grow long hair to begin with.
Long hair on men is not a “distraction” to anyone. This has been verified by many students. The prohibition against long hair does not reflect “community standards” as there are as many long-haired males in Jefferson County as anywhere else. Long hair is in no way “dirty” as males have access to the same shampoos and other hair products as females and typically employ the said products frequently. Ultimately, there is no reason for this rule and it should be changed immediately.
We, the undersigned, ask that you change this unjust rule prohibiting long hair for male students as it does not reflect the ideology and beliefs of the majority of parents and students in Jefferson County school district.
Absolutely wonderful,
I think I'm going to combine parts of this with parts of Longhaired one's and have exactly what I need.
Thank you so very, very much!
Paul
Matt's is probably spelled and punctuated better then mine is LOL I think that's why I have a person at work go over all my written work LOL Later!
Hi Matt and Paul,
Paul, you should let Matt be as "nit-picky" as possible in helping you out. The more perfect the wording, spelling, and punctuation, the better your chances are at communicating correctly and intelligently. After all, this is a SCHOOL you are trying to reason with!!!
My biggest recommendation, though, is to keep your letter short and to-the-point. The longer the letter, the more they will loose interest because of probable short attention span (especially considering what an idiot mentality these folks must have in the first place - LOL)....
You could also do a secondary sheet of paper w/ all the Biblical references, discussions / arguments, etc., for those who wish to read further; but, keeping your main petition worded clearly and simply (and BRIEFLY), in my opinion communicates best.
Words are tools. Correct spelling, excellent punctuation & grammar, etc. only help sharpen those tools to be able to aide you in getting the job done right, which is: CLEAR COMMUNICATION. I regularly have a dictionary at my side every time I have to write or type something, --- including just a friendly e-mail, or even when posting on MLHH! The more you regularly practice striving for accuracy and clarity in your written (as well as verbal) communication, the more people are going to sit up and listen to you.
Those are my $.02, anyway... My best to you (and good luck in your endeavor!!
- Ken in Sam Frisco (intentionally mis-spelled, as a joke - LOL)
Yeah, I'd like anybody who can, to be as nick-picky as they possible can be. I know the school board will be looking for any chinks or fissures to make the whole thing look stupid.
I'm thinking it may already be too long, these idiots are so easily distracted.
I really like the secondary sheet idea for the bible verses. I was reluctant to add those in the first place.
I do love to write and I also consult the thesaurus and dictionary often. I have a short cut to merriam-webster.com on my tool bar.
Paul
Keep in mind that the "establishment of religion" is illegal, and mentioning the dirty little secret that politicians bring their religious beliefs into performance of their duties is best not brought up unless they bring it up first.
A prime example of this is the Proposition 8 brouhaha now going on in California. Almost all the money thrown at advocating the proposition came from religious groups. A very strong argument could be made that the proposition is primarily the establishment of religion based on the reality of where its support has come from, however no one on either side is bringing this "dirty little secret" up at the legal-wrangling level. The game plan in the U.S. right now is to hide one's eyes and pretend that religion does not exist.
Religion is playing a much larger role in that California case and it is playing out at a much higher level in the courts than your issue is. Yet religion is not being brought up, so you might take that as a clue to keep it out of your petition.
If THEY bring up religious concerns, then, of course, you can use this paranoia about bringing religion into secular debates to YOUR advantage and loudly cry FOUL!
Ask for the english nit picky probe on the lower west side!
Hey Paul,
For the 1 st time on this type of endevor it sounds very well worded. No emotions to obscure your point and it seems to cover all your bases. Longhairedone's revised version puts a profesional and legal tone to it( maybe he's a lawyer).
I certainly admire your tenacity for following thru with your goal of changing the laws in your neck of the woods
Ive not encountered that discrimination here in New York since there is 2 long haired boys in my sons grade school.
Best of luck, and you have my full support for the future.
Steve
Thanks Steve,
It's only going to be my neck of the woods until I can load up and move out. This is only a symptom of a larger problem.
Paul
Very impressive Paul! Let's hope it gets results.
Paul,
This is a good document. If I may, I'd suggest that you find a community guy who does not have long hair willing to become the champion of this. Along with you, he will help push this up and make a statement. My rationale behind this is that it would send a poweful and significant message if it is coming from a regular joe that does not have the long hair but is supporting this.
Wish you the best of luck man!
Thank you VJ,
I think I may have one, another kid in my son's class got wrote up at the same time mine did. I talked to his dad and he was pretty angry about it.
He has short hair now but he said jokingly, "I had longhair back when I had hair!"
Paul
WHERE DO I SIGN?
Man I hope that's the attitude when I start peddling this thing around. lol
From the people I've talked to it will be.
Paul
my suggestion is to write out the entire Biblical verses if you are intent on using them. not everyone will be familiar with what youare talking about. plus, the Bible - probably more so than any other book in the workd - is open to interpretaion. so it would be helpful if the verses are in full.
other than that, matt took care of the basics quite well.
also, be careful when relying on a Bible verse to uphold your points. there are also verses stating that a woman should always keep her hair covered (hence the amish and mennonites with their bonnets). if you want to make that point better and want to do it with the Christian viewpoint, then state that the verse if from the old testament. most Christians believe the crucifiction of Jesus made the old testament rules obsolete.
for a good book to study such matters, pick up "don't know much about the Bible" by kenneth c. davis.
I would commit the relevant scripture verses to memory in case they are needed for rebuttal purposes, but I would leave them out of the written petition. Let the other party resort to that as an argument when reason fails them, and you will be prepared to answer.
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly. The Corinthian verses are from the New Testament. There are no verses villifying long hair in the Old Testament that I'm aware of.
whoops! my bad. i've been many years out of Bible school (thank the powers that be). there is another verse in the old testament about short hair on men. i guess i got them cornfuzzled. better get my book out again...
Hey nic,
I'm glad you responded to this. Finally we can discuss something that we share a side on. lol.
It's a VERY good point and I pondered over if I should add the Bible verses or not and I'm still not sure if it's a good idea.
Down here in Alabama, a lot of people are "bible thumpers" and I don't mean they go to church, I mean they are obsessed with it.
We have some that think that one verse says it's wrong for a man to wear his hair long. I included the scripture (for now) for those who believe this but don't say it out loud. If this is the basis for the hair cut policy they would never admit it.
I'm considering putting it on a second page or something.
In case you're wondering, I'm not a church goer. I think religion has a violent and bloody history. I do believe in an immortal god but I lean toward an agnostic view point, all belief systems are theory.
One memorial experience that's remains burned in my brain is this;
Once my parents started going to church regularly and insisted that I attend service with them every Sunday. One fine summer morning, a morning that I would much rather have stayed home to climb trees and such, I was making my unhappy way to a tiny little church about 12 miles away. Being a child, I liked to ride shotgun with the window rolled down. As unlikely as it sounds, a bee found it's way into the window of a pickup truck going 50 miles per hour and landed right on my ear. He must have been flying backwards with his stinger pointed at the truck because he stung me immediately upon impact. This suicidal bee was vigorously stomped several times onto the floorboard causing his utter destruction. I'm sure it was quick and that he suffered much less pain than I did that day.
Did we stop and go back home? Oh no, the devil was trying to keep us from going to church! We continued after a brief stop to access the damage.
Although I listened intently to that sermon more than any other sermon before, I cannot recall a single word. I sat there the whole time with my hand covering my swollen ear with by this time was huge and bright red.
The result of this misfortune was an even larger reluctance to attend church and my doubt about the sanity of church goers, especially the Southern Baptist.
My apologies to the religious if you're offended but that's just the way it is.
Later nic xoxo, (sorry, couldn't resist)
Paul
See what they can do. This haircut policy sounds like it is religious based. Sue the living daylights out of this school. These jerkwater school districts don't have the money to fight the ACLU. The ACLU also has a foundation dedicated to passing laws to protect civil liberties.
Unless this is a catholic school or something I would leave out the bible stuff, just my opinion! Goodluck with it man!
n/t
This code runs 60 pages and is an incredible work of art. It's a friggin school for Crissakes.
Bill
at least the kids can still wear shirts with slogans for gin, bourban and rum on them...
if you were a student at this school, would you not purposefully go out and buy a cap'n morgan shirt and wear it every single day until they change the code again? i would. just to prove a point.
oh, wait - i DID do that sort of thing all the time in high school. why did i go to Bible school again?
Lol, In 1979, that's one thing we could not do. No shirts advertising alcohol. That was Bibb county though. I got by with it because they had not heard of Coors yet. hehe
But hair? We had maybe 10 students in the whole school with ears showing. Our principle wore a "beetles" style.
Paul
I skimmed some of it and found it to be a truly nauseating document and pedantic in the extreme. How dare they say what is okay for girls is not for boys?
3 days suspension for a fist fight??? If we'd had that policy when I was growing up, some of the guys who most needed school would have been out half the time.
Usually we got taken to the principal's office, and maybe a day of detention for that.
What's really ironic is that this school allows corporal punishment. Even when I was a kid, Northern Virginia schools didn't do that. The private school I went to did that, and all it taught me is that there are middle aged sadists who will believe lies because they are prejudiced.
Good you pointed that out, Steve. The document has the option for a parent to opt out of corporal punishment for his child, and Paul may wish to do this. If a confrontation with school staff should arise over his son's hair, it is best that it not become physical. The document is obsessed over fights, and physically assaulting a student is an almost certain way of starting one.
Bill
wasn't corporal punishment in schools federally outlawed? or am i mistaken there?
nevermind. the internet is such an amazing research tool. shouldn't America be better than this? i can't believe twenty-two states still use corporal punishment in schools. that's ridiculous. i'm more upset about that than i am about the hair.
http://www.corpun.com/
Hi Steve,
Man, you don't know the half of it.
I recently took in my nephew from foster care.
Since he's been at this school he has been in three fights and got suspended for two of them. The kicker is this; is does not matter if you start the fight or not, you still get suspended. Also, a friend of mine got suspended when he was in a Jefferson co. school because someone hit him and he did not fight back. Technically, he was involved in a fight.
Of the fights concerning my nephew, he was hit first in all of them. He had witnesses including one of the boys he fought. He beat the he** out of all three boys, blood was displayed in two from busted noses. One fight was videotaped in the bathroom. Upon returning to school, a bunch of kids in a grade higher than my nephew threatened him. I got involved by calling the principle and stating flat out that if that happened, I would get involved. I stated that I planned to go to the kids house and confront his father. I also told this to a older female friend that knows everybody around. Not surprisingly (to me anyway) the boys backed off, I guess their dad got the message. Believe it or not, that's the way things are done down here. It's not the first time I used that tactic.
Today, my nephew got suspended from the school bus. The bus driver discovered the duct tape that had been covering a hole in his seat was removed. She didn't see him do it but she took him and another boy to the office and they both got suspended, without any evidence at all. Some of the other kids know who did it but they were not asked. He knows who did it but he ain't talking. And guess what? They want me to pay for the seat. I told them to take me to court.
Yes, I asked and got an appointment with the principle. Now I have to miss half a days' work for this idiocy. Sooner or later, I'll probably get put in jail.
I have to get out of this Nazi county. If not the whole damn state.
Paul
If you've ever watched the TV show "Cops", you will have noticed that the police arrest everyone after a fight who has left any marks at all on his opponent. The cops let "who started it first" be resolved in court. One cannot "turn the other cheek" beyond the point at which his own physical safety is threatened of course, so this may mean an innocent party gets charged.
Key to prevailing in court is "witnesses", and disinterested witnesses are best. This is one more affirmation that one is best off to avoid secluded places.
Bill
I learned the rule a long time ago: What administrators want, is not to be bothered too much; but to keep their jobs. Taking a side in a schoolyard fight doesn't serve either one of these interests. From an admins PoV, there is an optimal level of problems in the school. The rules increase enforcement actions, providing them with justfication for employment.
As a young child, with some sense of idealism, I thought the authorities cared about justice. No, they don't. At least that's been my observation in most school settings. Don't get me wrong, there are some very dedicated people in government and law enforcement who DO care about justice. They just don't tend to find their way into public school systems.
[snip]
Ooops...sorry I fell asleep after page 7!
Let me add some thoughts after looking through the document....
1. They have a lot of time and money invested in that document. It is long and it was clearly written by lawyers, and lawyers are not cheap. Although some parts of it may be a pile of crap, you don't want to come on to them at first exuding that demeanor, but rather one that you only see one small part of it that you would like changed. They will take it personally if you come in intent on ripping it apart, because they have so much invested in it. This is not to say you may not be at this point later, of course, if preliminary negotiations are not successful.
2. The document is written like they are preparing to go to war. It even contains threats that they will attempt to jail parents if their kids don't kowtow to every expression of what they deem appropriate behavior within it. Would a jury convict a parent of supporting his child in taking issue with a haircut rule? Not likely.
3. They have broken offenses down into "Classes", something you typically see in state penal codes, not in a student handbook. Then they spell out specific punishments for each, again, something you see in a penal code. They do not approach students as customers of the educational services they provide, but rather as criminals. Most of the stuff in the document is actually criminal and need not even be there. It covers threatening to kill teachers, for example, but there surely is a criminal law to cover that! Making a decision to have long hair is not a crime, no matter how much they may wish it might be.
Public opinion matters to people holding office, so your starting with a petition is good. If that fails, though, then you have to consider what comes next, and you'd be best off to have already given some thought to what your course in that event will be.
If you and your son decide to not comply with the hair rule, be prepared in advance for a tactic we've seen other schools use. There is a law that one can only be punished for a single offense one time, and making the decision to keep one's hair long is a one-time act. Make it clear you regard it as such if the matter comes to a point of refusing to comply. If you let them get away with it, they will attempt to accuse him of violating the rule over and over to make the offense and associated punishment be larger than it should be. If they punish him for his "forgoing haircutting" decision, then you should refuse to let them punish him again for that same offense. There was one case a few years ago in Bastrop, Texas, where a grade school boy was locked up in a room by himself for months for deciding to keep his long hair, and this was a far greater sentence than one gets for driving while intoxicated in Texas.
Feuds with schools over hair length can drag out for years, often being ensnared in the courts so long that the student has already graduated while the case lives on. In many cases the courts have just dismissed the cases after graduation, saying there is no longer an issue to decide. This is one reason we have few court cases on record to rely upon. Few of these disputes ever rise high enough in the court system for the proceedings to get published.
It is admirable that you and your son may be prepared to go to war on this, but the cases we've read about through the years have a strong and recurring undercurrent that the battle is tough on the family and on the student involved. It will be tougher on you two than on the people at the school because they will just "let their lawyers handle it" and not have any deep personal involvement. If your son really is stoked on confronting this injustice, then kudos to him! However, it might bring you both better health and him a better shot at making a difference later in life if you were to just move. There are many places in the U.S. where discrimination against longhaired students is illegal, such as in the state of California.
If you do decide to stay and to fight this legally, you don't want to go into a battle with no weapons if your opponent is armed. In this battle, the armaments are "lawyers". If you don't have a lawyer, get one, because you can bet they will show up with one, and without one, you will lose.
The only other way to fight it is using "civil disobedience". College aged kids do this, often with success, but this is a tough row to hoe for a younger child. Your son will have plenty of opportunities to fight injustice when he is older if he wants to do that. To best get him to a position where he can do that, the two of you may decide that it is best to navigate around any roadblocks at this stage in his life to assure that he is best equipped to confront injustices head on when he is older and thus able to make a bigger difference with his efforts.
Best of luck to you both!
Bill
This reminds me of the post-911 hysteria. Of course, right away they had to pass anti-terrorism legislation, and I recall saying, "Why do they have to do that? I'm pretty sure it's already illegal to hijack planes and kill people".
Seriously Bill, the whole time I've been on the computer this evening, this thing has not come up. (I still have dial up) Of course I do have a copy from each year that I've had school age kids.
Oh, there it is.
I want to thank you for posting a link to this hideous document so now everyone can see for themselves just how screwed up this school system is. I didn't think about doing that.
Paul
Yes, Google is our friend. [grin]
I want to add three more matters to consider...
1. Although hair is discussed under "dress code", hair is not dress. It is part of your son's body. If they should complain that you have no right to dictate what students look like at school, remind them that you have just as much a right, as your son's parent, to dictate what he looks like at home, and they have no right to complain what he looks like at home. His hair cannot be short at school and long at home, and as his parent, your argument is that your decision must prevail.
2. We have heard of instances where students were assaulted by staff in secluded places. Notice in the document that they require that two staff members be present when corporal punishment (which you will likely opt out of) is administered. This is not for the student's protection. It is for theirs - to cover their own butt. You should take a clue from their concern over this situation and exhibit the same concern. Warn your son to not let anyone lure him into a secluded place, which can be a private office or any other place that at least one non-employee of the school is present. Staff members will often lie to cover for each other, so having only staff members present will not suffice to assure your son's safety. Often they will tell a student that their concerns are "the student's privacy", so your son should be warned about that line. Having long hair is not a private matter - everyone in the school will know that already, and the "right of privacy" is yours, not theirs, so out of concern for your son's safety, you may waive it. (I was lured into a secluded place by two instructors once and was beaten, so I speak from experience here. Don't let what happened to me happen to your son.)
3. If you get a lawyer, he will tell you and your son not to talk to anyone but rather to let him do the talking. You may want to take that same approach with your son. The document mentions parental involvement meetings, so this concept is not alien to them. You may wish to direct them to mention nothing to your son about his hair and to take it up with you. (And to tell your son to refuse to discuss his hair with anyone at school because his father requires it.) You are your son's advocate, and you will be much tougher for them to tangle with that he will be. This is the same reason that lawyers tell their clients to refuse to discuss conflicts with the adversarial party.
I will say again that here on the MLHH we can tell you what we've seen before and what tricks schools have tried to play. We are not lawyers, though, and your best defense will be fought with a lawyer. Get one.
Bill
- - this is the best argument i've heard so far. i've had this same thought, but you said it more elegantly than i could have. everyone with a school-aged long-haired child should keep this in mind.
I think you should use some of the language and arguments used in the article "The Significance of Male Hair."
Raj Singh wrote that article specifically for such leagal(ish) petitions.
http://www.choisser.com/longhair/rajsingh.html
I read it once and will look at it again before I finish the final petition, thanks Zenjamin.
Hi,
Is this in Kentucky? I was curious because "Louisville" is in Jefferson County.
Darrin
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Hi Paul,
If I had the time (I don't), I'd offer to help re-write your petition. I've been told by many people, including a fair amount of the regulars here, that I'm a good letter-writer; but, I just don't want to take on a project like wording a petition, sorry to say! Since I'm of no help (LOL), I recommend the two best long-standing MLHH members who I feel write the clearest-worded posts: Bill & MattB (my apologies to anyone else who I can't currently think of, if you feel I should have also mentioned YOU - lol).... Since MattB offered, I'd definitely take him up on it!!!
One thing I'll mention, though, as an example of careful editting that you'll need to do: watch out for dedundancy, --- or, for that matter, also be careful to not repeat yourself or same the same thing (ROLF, a little joke there!)!!
Here's an example, which if you scroll back up to the top of the page, you'll see where I kept your original wording on your reference to the Haircut Policy. You worded it as follows:
"RE: Male Haircut Policy for Males"
You said the word, "males" twice in that policy. That's an example of the redundancy I'm referring to. I'd suggest that you either word it, "Male Haircut Policy"; or, "Haircut Policy for Males", --- NOT the way you worded it above, where you said the word "males" an unnecessary 2nd time.
Talk about "nit-picky".... GEEEZ, I can be such a perfectionist about things that I annoy even MYSELF (lol)!!!!!!!
Good luck to you!! OK, gotta run off to work now....
- Ken
Thanks Ken,
This is exactly the reason I posted this. See, I missed that completely!
Paul
Hi Paul,
I found this article on Flickr about why men cut their hair awhile back and I read through part of it but with all the crap going on in my life I have not finished it, nor can I explain the major points. It does sound interesting from the start and maybe there is something in it you can use.
Good luck with your petition!
Arrggghhhh! I thought that was me in the pic.
But he don't have a tattoo on his forearm.
It sounds like a good article, although I just skimmed over it for now. Did you read some of the comments?
"I wish I had more hair to cut !!!!"
"I cut my hair short so I can spend less than 2 seconds combing it (and I don't even need to do that)."
"I cut my hair so I don't look like a homeless person, how's that?"
"We military men have no other choice!"
"I know why I cut my hair: it tangles and bugs me and then I have to chop it off - but then I'm a mere woman!"
And my personal favorite;
"free men don't cut their hair, slaves are made to. I don't say it.. the article does. You guys are slaves to society."
Thanks Scooper,
Paul
If this is indeed the case - rule adopted on religious grounds - then you should emphasize the fact that this is a public school subject to the separation of church and state.
Another aspect is that this rule discriminates against members of religious groups whose beliefs mandate the way they dress and wear their hair (examples: Sikhs, orthodox Jews, Muslims). The ban on head coverings and long hair is a violation of the 1st Amendment rights of these groups.
Then there is the aspect of violating a person's privacy rights. The length of a person's hair is that person's own business only.
That's my $.02 for now...
--
A Linux Longhair
Thanks Linux Longhair,
I believe it is a rule reflecting their own personal prejudice and small mindedness, they misinterpret the verse from the bible to back it up.
Then they feel like they're armed "With The Word of God" and misuse it to affect others. They will never admit this openly so you can't really use it in court.
I included it (for now) thinking it may sway those who never actually read the verse but believe what they're told. It may also show those on the board that it can be brought up and possibly made into a religious argument.
I think including this in my petition is really equal to just a fire cracker in a small fissure in their damn of stupidity. Probably won't make a differance.
Back in the 70's I remember preachers (and my mother) quoting this verse in an effort to entice the kids cut their hair. It didn't work, of course.
Another strategy they liked to use is, the "Hair is just dead matter" phrase. Trying to switch to a "scientific" method, I guess. I don't remember anyone using that one to get girls to chop off their hair, lol.
Hair is cool. Everybody (except Bruce Willis) looks better with it.
Always glad to hear your input,
Paul
so, they should have been telling every single person to shave their entire bodies, as mammals are covered in "dead matter." and, of course, to keep nails cut down to the pink part. and pluck eyelashes. and use a rough scrubber to slough away the top layers of skin.
some people are stupid. at least it made me laugh.
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