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Barbers Hill ISD's dress code policy does not violate CROWN Act, district judge rules

Houston Public Media News 88.7 | By Lucio Vasquez

Published February 22, 2024 at 3:24 PM CST

Darryl George, an 18-year-old junior, looks before walking across the street to go into Barbers Hill High School after serving a 5-day in-school suspension for not cutting his hair Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, in Mont Belvieu.

A Houston-area judge on Thursday determined that Barbers Hill ISD has not violated Texas' CROWN Act after the district repeatedly suspended a Black student for the length of his dreadlocks.

Darryl George, an 18-year-old Black student at Barbers Hill High School east of Houston, has been repeatedly suspended for his dreadlocks. George's family and legal team say his hair is protected under theCROWN Act, which prohibits race-based hair discrimination against students and employers, while the school district claims George has been in violation of the district's grooming policy due to the length of his hair, not the style.

The CROWN Act, which was passed last year by Texas lawmakers, states that school districts cannot discriminate against those with hairstyles “commonly or historically associated with race” and specifically outlines protections for "braids, locks, and twists." However, lingering questions over whether the law pertains to the district’s hair-length policy were at the center of Thursday's bench trial.

The trial comes months after Barbers Hill ISD filed a lawsuit asking a district judge to weigh in.

According tothe district's student handbook, a male student’s hair cannot "be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down." George has refused to cut his hair but has worn it up in a style that doesn't go past his neck, eyebrows or earlobes.

During Thursday’s hearing, Allie Booker, a Houston-based attorney representing the George family, argued that the district's policy wasn't gender-neutral and discriminated against hairstyles like dreadlocks which, by nature, "have to be long in order to braid it and to lock it," according to Booker.

State Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Houston-area Democrat who co-authored the CROWN Act, took the stand during Thursday's trial and told Judge Chap B. Cain III that the law was written on the assumption that the specified hairstyles would be protected "regardless of whatever the length was."

However, attorney Sara Leon, who's representing Barbers Hill ISD, argued that the Texas Legislature's intent wasn't mentioned in the law itself.

"We agree that no Barbers Hill student should suffer from any discrimination," Leon said. "The Barbers Hill policy is race-neutral."

Ultimately, Judge Cain sided with Barbers Hill ISD, declaring that the school district’s dress code doesn’t violate the CROWN Act, which he said could’ve been written to include hair-length exemptions for students with dreadlocks.

Back in September, afederal lawsuit was filed by George’s mother, Darresha George, which asks Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to enforce the CROWN Act on behalf of her son. She also filed a complaint against Barbers Hill ISD with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), alleging the school district has harassed and mistreated her son over his hair. An investigation into those allegations remains open, according to a spokesperson for the TEA.

In January, Greg Poole, the superintendent of Barbers Hill ISD,defended the district's positionin a full-page ad in theHouston Chronicle, saying the district's policy is legal and teaches students to conform as a sacrifice benefiting everyone.