Parents sue school over haircut policy

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What do you think about this?

Updated Jan 4, 2011 1:40 AM ET

The parents of a former high school basketball player have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Indiana asking that his high school team?s haircut policy be declared unconstitutional, the Indianapolis Star reported on Monday.


The 14-year-old was kicked off the team after refusing to cut his hair to comply with team rules, which require boys to keep their hair short.

School district officials have said that the boy has to play by the rules because there is no constitutional guarantee to play ball or be involved in any other extracurricular activity.

According to the lawsuit, coach Stacy Meyer wanted both the high school and junior high teams to have a ?clean-cut? image which is why they have to keep their hair above their ears, eyebrows, and collar.

The school added that hairstyles that ?create problems of health and sanitation, obstruct vision, or call undue attention to the athlete? are all reasons for dismissal from the team.

Attorneys for the school district said a 2003 federal court ruling on this same subject leads them to believe they are in the right. In that case, argued in Missouri, the court said the hair policy that allowed a coach to dismiss a player with cornrows was ?an asinine, stupid rule.?

Yet, the judge in that case said participation in sports are a privilege and so hair policies do not violate players? rights.

 

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Maybe I'm old school, but about time. There's nothing wrong with having a policy for having what a student wears/dresses and that includes haircuts.

 

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The school added that hairstyles that create problems of health and sanitation, obstruct vision, or call undue attention to the athlete are all reasons for dismissal from the team.

That's bullcrapola. It's not old school, it's some people forcing their beliefs on others. Long hair is as disruptive as a bald head. More in my opinion. Hope they win.

Yet, the judge in that case said participation in sports are a privilege and so hair policies do not violate players? rights.

A reason why sports should not be in public schools supported by tax dollars. Not only are people who live in a school district and have no kids paying for the privileged few to play so are people with kids but not privileged enough.

 

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Sorry I totally disageree must. Teams should have rules and policies and when you decide to make the team you decide to abide by these policies regardless of your personal view on them. The same way you agree to the rules of the airports when you buy a plane ticket. If you don't like the rules go greyhound and don't play.

You have a choice and it is to not participate pretty simple.

 

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The school added that hairstyles that create problems of health and sanitation, obstruct vision, or call undue attention to the athlete are all reasons for dismissal from the team.

That's bullcrapola. It's not old school, it's some people forcing their beliefs on others. Long hair is as disruptive as a bald head. More in my opinion. Hope they win.

Yet, the judge in that case said participation in sports are a privilege and so hair policies do not violate players? rights.

A reason why sports should not be in public schools supported by tax dollars. Not only are people who live in a school district and have no kids paying for the privileged few to play so are people with kids but not privileged enough.

I disagree. This has nothing to do with public schools and the funding of athletics. I've experienced plenty of teams & organizations that have rules regarding appearance. While I personally don't like the coach regulating his teams appearance, it certainly isn't violating anyone's rights.

 

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Sorry I totally disageree must. Teams should have rules and policies and when you decide to make the team you decide to abide by these policies regardless of your personal view on them. The same way you agree to the rules of the airports when you buy a plane ticket. If you don't like the rules go greyhound and don't play.

You have a choice and it is to not participate pretty simple.

I agree you have to abide by rules at the airport, BUT if those rules were you had to be white or male to fly you would hopefully say those are bad rules. I'm saying requiring short hair is a bad rule. Not saying you can't have rules.

And yes you have a choice to participate or not (if selected). I'm saying tax dollars shouldn't go for the PRIVILEGE (as the judge defined it) of a very few. BTW, I still have one kid playing school sports.

 

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I disagree. This has nothing to do with public schools and the funding of athletics. I've experienced plenty of teams & organizations that have rules regarding appearance. While I personally don't like the coach regulating his teams appearance, it certainly isn't violating anyone's rights.

I wouldn't necessarily say it is violating anyone right's. I just think it's a bad rule for a tax dollar supported sport. That's my beef. Make it a club team with no public funding and have at it.

 

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Rules are rules, end of story. If the kid wants to play ball then he needs to conform to the established rules. As long as the rule is being applied equally to all team players there is absolutely no problem with it.

Just the same as a job, you follow the rules or you find another job. Why would anyone have a problem with this.

Wacko Liberal parents at work again, destroying what is left of our country!!! Follow the rules for heavens sake, how hard is it! The hair will grow back.

 

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This is a big reason we have the issues in schools today. Parents are more concerned about this **** than they are about the kids education. Talk to teachers and you will see why many are leaving teaching. We played for year's and we were not allowed to have facial hair and no one would have even brought up the subject of our rights being violated or suing the school. I guess you can call me old school, but we didn't have all the issues you now have in the schools and we were leaders in education in the world, now we are way behind the rest of the world. While many parents are more concerned about this **** and looking at the school as a baby sitting service while they work.!

 

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Rules are rules, end of story. If the kid wants to play ball then he needs to conform to the established rules. As long as the rule is being applied equally to all team players there is absolutely no problem with it.

Just the same as a job, you follow the rules or you find another job. Why would anyone have a problem with this.

Wacko Liberal parents at work again, destroying what is left of our country!!! Follow the rules for heavens sake, how hard is it! The hair will grow back.

Wacko liberals want more rules, more regulations, more infringement on liberties, more tax dollars being spent. You are a liberal.

I want less of the above. I am against tax dollars and tax dollars being spent. I am against this rule and the tax dollars spent to support it.

 

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Wacko liberals want more rules, more regulations, more infringement on liberties, more tax dollars being spent. You are a liberal.

I want less of the above. I am against tax dollars and tax dollars being spent. I am against this rule and the tax dollars spent to support it.

Yes, you are correct that from a big government standpoint that liberals want more rules, but they also want more individual freedoms (e.g. abortion, illegal aliens, etc..).

I am as far from liberal as they come. LoL Lord forbid a school wants to instill a little civic/school pride in their students.

Tax dollars are spent to educate students and provide extra curricular activities. If tax dollars are being spent, then I think there should be far more rules allotted such as drug and alcohol testing of all who participate in these activities. I want my tax dollars spent on those that appreciate the opportunity they are being given. I would be in favor of all athletes having a dress code when in season.

Anything we can do to stop the over tattooed, over pierced, under mannered **** we are seeing from spreading to another generation.

No offense to anyone, JMHO

 

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The aforementioned kid was already abiding the rules set forth for his/her participation (ie, wearing the same uniforms as all the other players, attending practices and games at the same times, etc, etc), so why would that kid feel it necessary to stop following the rules when it came to personal grooming? This kid contradicts his parents' own argument....if it is a constitutional right to not abide by the rules set forth, why have any rules at all? The only extra tax dollars to be spent will be on the lawyer fees for defending this frivolous lawsuit!

 

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I wouldn't necessarily say it is violating anyone right's. I just think it's a bad rule for a tax dollar supported sport. That's my beef. Make it a club team with no public funding and have at it.

OK, I understand where you are coming from but where do you draw the line? A smaller number of kids participate in student council than sports. What about band, advanced placement classes? School, is more than just reading, writing and arithmetic. While only a few participate in sports, there are a broad range of extracurricular activities that touch a good % of kids in school. If you eliminate sports, do you drop all extracurriculars?

 

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The aforementioned kid was already abiding the rules set forth for his/her participation (ie, wearing the same uniforms as all the other players, attending practices and games at the same times, etc, etc), so why would that kid feel it necessary to stop following the rules when it came to personal grooming? This kid contradicts his parents' own argument....if it is a constitutional right to not abide by the rules set forth, why have any rules at all? The only extra tax dollars to be spent will be on the lawyer fees for defending this frivolous lawsuit!

Because it's a stupid rule. Would you feel the same way if they said everybody has to walk around backwards? Don't believe they said it's a constitutional right not to abide by the rules set forth, they are saying it's a constitutional right to wear your hair as you please. The school said: "The school added that hairstyles that create problems of health and sanitation, obstruct vision, or call undue attention to the athlete are all reasons for dismissal from the team.". Guess girls are health and sanitation problems as they have long hair. Guess girls shouldn't play sports because their hair will obstruct their vision. And undue attention, do girls all wear their hair the same length? Maybe the Stepford girls. LOL Whole thing is goofy. Coach is on a power trip, which many of them do, probably to mask their lack of coaching ability. All that is fine if it was a club team with no tax dollars supporting it.

 

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OK, I understand where you are coming from but where do you draw the line? A smaller number of kids participate in student council than sports. What about band, advanced placement classes? School, is more than just reading, writing and arithmetic. While only a few participate in sports, there are a broad range of extracurricular activities that touch a good % of kids in school. If you eliminate sports, do you drop all extracurriculars?

YES! Lets try to get the education thing down and not be distracted by extracurriculars.

Schools for education. Family handles all else.

It's a minor % they touch

 

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Musty,

I am lost on what tax dollars has to do with anything. I appreciate your feelings on this, although I do disagree. Can you explain what the tax dollars has to do with your opinion?

And, would you be as upset if each student was forced to take a financial responsibility class or a home ec class? How do you feel that to graduate from CSU I had to take two african-american experience classes? That is a federally funded entity. Just curious!

 

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The lawsuit is frivolous. If you don't want to cut your hair, don't go out for the team. Play golf or be a boxer instead.

What the school should do is bring the kid back on the team and park his butt on the bench. Lawsuit over. I have to assume there is no guarantee about playing time.

 

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The lawsuit is frivolous. If you don't want to cut your hair, don't go out for the team. Play golf or be a boxer instead.

What the school should do is bring the kid back on the team and park his butt on the bench. Lawsuit over. I have to assume there is no guarantee about playing time.

That is a good solution, if they don't want to follow the rules, they can still be on the team, but no playing time...just as if the player came late to practices, games, etc, etc....

 

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Because it's a stupid rule. Would you feel the same way if they said everybody has to walk around backwards? Don't believe they said it's a constitutional right not to abide by the rules set forth, they are saying it's a constitutional right to wear your hair as you please. Guess girls are health and sanitation problems as they have long hair.

If I knew before I became involved that everyone had to walk backwards, I would choose to go elsewhere, not sue to get my way....

 

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I guess the coach would have had to cut poor Pete...