new thread
I am right now in the middle of a legal battle with my son's private school. The school recently stated that "a boy's hair length must be above the collar." My wife and I think this is discrimination by gender. My son hit every major TV network in New York, and a few of the major newspapers (front page in Newsday!). A prominent law firm has taken our case (no charge). Montel Williams invited us to appear on his show.
On three separate occassions I approached the school board requesting that they change this policy before it goes into effect. I suggested to the board that the policy teaches our children to look at each other and act in prejudicial ways. This is not something we should pass on to the next generation. The board refused my appeal each time.
My family is now embarking upon a first step toward challenging societies "prejudice" against men with long hair. If you have any suggestions that will help us in this fight, please write to us at Dragonscape@msn.com. Letters of complaint to the private school should be directed to St. Peter's by the Sea Day School, 500 South Country Road, Bayshore, New York, 11706, Attention Rev. Brunelle. Phone #(516) 665-0051. Please show respect to the reverend (I'm angry too, but I don't want to cheapen our cause). We welcome any support you can give us.
As my son puts it "My dad has long hair, Hercules has long hair, the Power Rangers have long hair, Santa Clause has long hair, and Jesus had long hair."
If we get enough support and the school fails to change their policy, I am considering a protest in front of the school in the late Spring.
Its a long, tough war, but discrimination must be fought one battle at a time!
Perhaps you should consider the merits of public school education.
Your family would have more rights under the law and such a rule would never stick. Though I'm a longhair supporter and am presently growing mine out, I'm also taking classes on First Amendment law and have researched similar cases. Private and parochial schools, as private enterprises, have a Constitutional right to exercise appearance guidelines-- that's why many of them have uniforms. Gender and race are one thing. Appearance is another. I might question your faith in a school system that is so bigotted and prejudice to begin with!
Actually, public schools can also require uniforms; they just don't.
You, my man, have a very, VERY large mountain to clime, and your odds of reaching the top are... well.... likely none. Private schools have a lot of lattitude with setting rules and regulations since they're not funded by the government. They're funded by the institutions that support them. Specifically, private schools cannot descriminate based on race or gender (though, in some circumstances, I believe they can still be all male or all female). When it comes to self expression, religion, dress codes, and things of that nature, however, they do have a lot more lattitude than public schools do, because they're run by private organizations and designed to be an expression of the organization that runs the schoool.
As for giving you my support.... I'd be happy to if your son attended a public school and he were facing this same issue. Since he attends a private school, however, I'm sorry, but I can't.
Well, personally I home school my children, but that's another can of worms all together. I have to argue with the others though, that you don't have a leg to stand on here and should not be wasting your time bringing this suit. It might also be put forth that you are in fact hurting the cause of personal freedom with a frivolous claim. You're talking about changing the mores of a parochial school, one which because of its private status and religious orientation has every right to require your child to be groomed as they deem fit. If you were fighting the public school district rules it would be another matter. This falls into the same catagory as some men who want to be able to have long hair and also be accepted into whatever profession they choose. Face it, if you want to be a corporate lawyer, you may have to sacrifice your hair to work at certain firms and you're going to have to choose also, whether you want your child to go to this particular school or keep his hair. (How long is it by the way, I mean are you being asked to trim an inch or so, or does the kid have hair to the middle of his back? One would be more of a sacrifiece than the other, of course.) When you choose a given lifestyle, you must also accept the inevitable consequences of that choice. It seems to me you want to have it both ways, and that's usually just not reasonable.
Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but you might consider that if you can't muster resounding support for this issue here where many people have often made tradeoffs in life in order to maintain their personal identity and freedom, that you might not find much support elsewhere either and that you're being asked to interview on shows like Montels because your cause is ripe for ridicule and will make for good TV, if nothing else. Good luck to you. Above all, just make sure that you're child isn't hurt by all this, that's the most important issue.
Very best wishes to all!
Dawn
I believe that everyone, man or woman, must be free to choice his own hair-lenght. People must be judged for other than hair-lenght !
Hi Brandon,
I can certainly understand your anger because like you, I agree that education is what matters, not hair length. Unfortunately, I must agree with the answers you have received. You are wasting your time and resources. I work for a law firm and the amount of money you are going to spend just to prove a point is not really worth it. This is something that could drag in the courts for years depending upon the type of legal counsel the school has. Technically, they are not actually discriminating against your son, they have a grooming code which, as a private school, is their right to set. Now, if that carried over into not allowing your son in the school because he was another religion, gay or of another race, then you would have good cause to fight. There have already been a few cases in the court system where people tried to fight to keep their hair -- I believe Blockbuster was one -- and these people lost.
I'd be totally pissed off as well if someone handed me this line of crap regarding my child, but I would tell them that I don't want my child attending a school that stand for such unhealthy principles. I know, I attended private parochial school from nursery school to high school and I am just now feeling like I have gotten over the abuse that went on. Simply find another school. There are other private schools I'm sure who would accept your son. Like Dawn, you might want to look into the option of home schooling. Save your funds and take a family trip, that is worth far more than fighting a bunch of idiots.
Good luck.
Chaeya
Rights of employees, rights of patrons, rights of public school students, and rights of private school students are all different. As I understand it, the present thread of court cases in the US, as they concern one's appearance is like this:
Employees are protected only if their appearance is due to religion or disability.
Patrons of a business are protected for the same reasons as employees. In addition in California, the Unruh act protects aspects of one's appearance that are not readily changed. Thus one can have a dress code, but not prohibitions against such things as obesity or long hair in California.
Public school students can be subjected to a dress code but not a hair code in most states. In Texas they can be subjected to both.
Private school students would generally be treated as patrons to a business. Thus a Sikh, or someone with a gross deformity that long hair would hide, or someone with another relevant medical reason, would be likely to prevail in a court at the present time, while someone who has long hair for fashion or non-religious identity reasons would not.
Due to the history of the US's founding, religion has been the item of identity that has been protected the longest. As time passes other items of identity are slowly winning protection. In the meantime, all we can do is each decide where we can best play the cards that we have in our fight for justice.
I'm curious as to what prompted the school board into this act, since it seemed that it was just recently. As why it can't, instead' state "clean and well groomed"? Also ask if this means that girls with short hair won't be readmitted until they grow their hair out. Since this is a private institution you may not have any (legal) grounds, but I see no reason why one can't at least try. If their decision comes in any way from your son's hairstyle, you could go the route of, "Why did you just come to me first?" and question why a whole policy aiming at one child. And what of the other parents and (boy)students? Were any other families caught in the new policy, any potential (local) allies?
Ask why (since you seem to also have long hair) they feel they can't (re)admit your son, but they can take your money and allow you on school grounds.
Of course there is always literal interpretation, his hair could be to his colar all around. This give a longhaired-look without violating the rules,and is a common/popular style too.
Otherwise, I fear that there is little that can be done. I hope you have a victory, but I realize that they have a tremendous home field advantage
Eric
As a follow-up I want to thank you for your comments. Of course, I prefered the more problem-solving, optimisitic answers to the more depressing, self-defeating "give it up" answers. Where there is a will, there is a way (as I mentioned earlier, Siben & Siben have taken the case at no cost to me).
ON A LIGHTER AND MORE JOVIAL NOTE - BRANDON CAN BE SEEN ON CNN (CHANNEL 8 HERE IN NEW YORK) AT 8:55 AM AND 1:55 PM (NEW YORK TIME) ON TUESDAY, MARCH 16. HE GETS A WHOLE 2 + 1/2 MINUTES COVERAGE!
Please note that my wife and I always have his best interests at heart (he is already enrolled in a new school and we've turned down Good Day New York and the Montel Williams show - but if Rosie calls back, that one we'd like to do!).
Keep one thing in mind - many "private" schools are "pseudo-private" - that is, most private schools get some benefit from some type of public funds! That's the type of creative thinking I hope some of you can help me with. Keep writing, I appreciate your comments.
In the mean time, check Brandon out on CNN. Its my sons gift of levity to you, in a world where most of the news is down right depressing.
Brandon's Dad,
I could not see the video. How long is his hair and how long are you growing it? Thanks
Hey guys. Check this out. Found the segment on CNN Interactive. Cute kid.
I cannot read RealVideo files. Is there a way to convert it to AVI, MOV or MPG? Or if it cannot be done, could you send me some still shots from it? Thanks.
Simon,
You can download RealPlayer for free from www.realplayer.com and install it as a plugin with Netscape or Internet Explorer Browsers. RealPlayer will read the Real Audio and Real Video Streaming Data It sort of like your radio. The data is processed realtime as you receive it - like radio waves. There is no data file to download.
How large is RealPlayer?
I'm using an older version of RealPlayer -- the current version is that G2 version.
The specs for my version are: 486DX-66 for Real Audio and Pentium 75mhz for video.
8 MB RAM for Audio
16 MB RAM for Video
2 MB Hard Drive space
14.4 Modem (but much better with faster modems)
I'm sure that the newer G3 version may require Win95. And may be a bit larger. I'm sure the web site will give you the specs somewhere.
The link for the CNN broadcast is a Real Video data stream. Video over the Web.
Dale
They're trying to get their kid an acting career, eh... nice publicity stunt, getting him on CNN... so far as I can tell, the issue has absolutey nothing to do with the school. They're trying to get him noticed by the entertainment industry.