Sorry, but this is a no brainer. The parents are going to lose.
Nobody raised concern about Jayce Brown's short, floppy dreadlocks when he enrolled at the Southern Maryland Christian Academy in White Plains in August. And no one said anything during the 3-year-old's first month at the school. So his parents said they were surprised to receive a phone call last month telling them the locks had to go.
"It came out of nowhere, and they were telling me I had to cut it right away," said Danielle Brown, Jayce's mother. The toddler's school picture -- which shows a bright-eyed child grinning widely, tongue poking through his teeth -- had alerted school administrators that his hairstyle violated official school policy for boys, which forbids "extreme faddish hairstyles, including the use of rubber bands or the 'twisting' of hair."
"I told them it sounded a little bit extreme, and I offered to pull his hair back in a ponytail, but they said no locks," Brown said.
Jayce's parents refused to cut his hair, and he was suspended indefinitely. Now the Browns are preparing to file a lawsuit against the school alleging that the policy discriminates against African American boys.
The controversy over Jayce's hairstyle has infuriated many African Americans in Charles County, who see his suspension as an assault on their ability to express their ethnic identity. Experts say that, combined with recent battles over facial hair, Sikh turbans and tattoos in the workplace, the case is part of a broader cultural debate over the public significance of personal appearance, especially in such rapidly diversifying areas as Charles.
"From our perspective, for African Americans, the twisting of hair is not faddish or trendy but is a legitimate cultural expression, and so the ban on natural styles is discriminatory," said the Browns' attorney, Ardra M. O'Neal.
Danielle Brown, who chose Southern Maryland Christian Academy because it offers classes that incorporate the Christian-based A Beka curriculum, said Jayce had thrived at the school, forming a particularly close bond with his teacher. Although there were only a handful of other African American preschoolers, she never felt unwelcome during Jayce's first several weeks at school, she said.
Southern Maryland Christian Academy's headmaster, Colleen Gaines, declined to discuss the situation or make the school's attorney available for questions. In an $1,800 full-page advertisement in a community newspaper Oct. 24, school officials wrote that there is no legal precedent for a lawsuit against the school.
"As a condition of enrollment, SMCA parents and students agree to abide by all SMCA policies, including the school grooming policy," says the ad, which is unsigned but which Gaines said represents her position on the matter. "Private schools, like private employers, have the right to create and enforce a grooming policy."
The school, which requires students to wear uniforms, also bans dyed hair and states that "traditional and conservative tapered cuts are the standard." Older students are expected to be clean-shaven, and girls are not allowed to wear large earrings or more than two necklaces.
Danielle Brown said she does not object to the school's right to maintain regulations on hair length or color, but she said wearing dreadlocks is an integral part of her family's African heritage. She and her husband wear dreadlocks, as do their siblings.
It's a private school. The lawsuit should get tossed.
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