Unconventionally cute - suspended from school

[BeBMan]

PARMA, Ohio - A kindergarten student with a freshly spiked Mohawk has been suspended from school.

Michelle Barile, the mother of 6-year-old Bryan Ruda, said nothing in the Parma Community School handbook prohibits the haircut, characterized by closely shaved sides with a strip of prominent hair on top. The school said the hair was a distraction for other students.

"I understand they have a dress code. I understand he has a uniform. But this is total discrimination," she said. "They can't tell me how I can cut his hair."
Story continues below ↓advertisement

An administrator at the suburban Cleveland charter school first warned Barile last fall that the haircut wasn't acceptable. The school later sent another warning to her reiterating the ban.

Mohawks violate the school's policy on being properly groomed, school Principal Linda Geyer said. Also, the school district's dress code allows school officials to forbid anything that interferes with the conduct of education.

Ruda's hair became a disruption last week when Ruda arrived freshly shorn, Geyer said. Administrators called Barile on Friday telling her to pick Ruda up from school.

"This was his third infraction," Geyer said Tuesday. "We felt that we were being extremely patient."

Live vote
Do you think the school made the right decision?

Rather than request a hearing to appeal the suspension, Barile said she'll enroll him at another school. Changing the hairstyle is not an option, she said.

"It's something that he really likes," Barile said. "When people hear Mohawk, they think it's long, it's spiked, it's crazy looking, and it's really not."

The evildoer:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23369157

Not that we haven't our own domestic cases of stupidity here, but I just read about this one....

[Riesstiu IV]

Kindergarten teachers have an inflated sense of self worth and job importance since most of them are too stupid to teach at a higher grade level. All they do is babysit a troop of foul little children and teach them not to stick their fingers in sockets. Real school work begins in the 1st grade.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I can see this happening without comment if it was a private school or a fee paying school.

But if it's a public school then by extension it's an agent of the government. And that's a whole world of legal trouble they can get into if that's the case.

[DinoDoc]

Parents can be so cruel.

[Thoth]

Sheesh. Just a slight overreaction on the school's part. It's not like he showed up in combat boots, a spiked leather jacket and a "Nazi Punks F@ck Off" t-shirt.

Horsewhip the school administration.

[Theben]

I think the Nazi punks-Fvck Off shirt is warranted now.

[Spec]

You think?

Spec.

[Donegeal]

Lets see... the school gives two warnings to the mother about the issue and she does nothing. Not only does she do nothing, but she obviously was involved with either cutting the hair or getting it cut (six year olds don't go to the barber on their own).

Mohawks violate the school's policy on being properly groomed, school Principal Linda Geyer said. Also, the school district's dress code allows school officials to forbid anything that interferes with the conduct of education.

The school, either public or private, has a right to remove a student if that student has become a distraction to the education of other students.

[Zkribbler]

This is a violation of his Mohawk heritage! I stand with my First-Nations brother!



Geez, these are kindergarteners! They have the attention span of a fruitfly. Even assuming this haircut was distruptive (OOoooooh ), these kids forgot about it in about 7 seconds.

[Donegeal]

You have no kids, do you?

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Donegeal
Lets see... the school gives two warnings to the mother about the issue and she does nothing. Not only does she do nothing, but she obviously was involved with either cutting the hair or getting it cut (six year olds don't go to the barber on their own).

Mohawks violate the school's policy on being properly groomed, school Principal Linda Geyer said. Also, the school district's dress code allows school officials to forbid anything that interferes with the conduct of education.

The school, either public or private, has a right to remove a student if that student has become a distraction to the education of other students.

You're certainly right, except that the school has an obligation to only enforce this policy for actual distractions. A mohawk is a haircut, and isn't going to have much distraction beyond a day or two on the playground of "wow, that's cool". If the school can't keep discipline better than that, they have serious issues not related to haircuts.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Donegeal
You have no kids, do you?

I don't have kids myself, but I spent years working as a teacher's aide during college with kindergartners through third graders, and a mohawk was the least of my concerns (and several kids at that age had one, including myself when I was 6).

The point isn't that a distraction isn't a problem, it's that this is an absurd distraction to pick out. If this were Amish country I might understand it, but in a regular public school, it's beyond absurd. Work on making sure kids don't bring guns or knives to school, and don't smoke, and don't have sex on school grounds. Haircuts should not be in the discussion.

[Donegeal]

So the school warning the mother not to do this twice should just be ignored?

Besides... what kind of kindergartners were you dealing with that you had to worry about them having sex at school?

Oh, and because there are bigger problems, 'little ones' should just get ignored until they too become big problems?

[Kuciwalker]

So the school warning the mother not to do this twice should just be ignored?

The school shouldn't have issued a warning like that in the first place!

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Donegeal
So the school warning the mother not to do this twice should just be ignored?

Besides... what kind of kindergartners were you dealing with that you had to worry about them having sex at school?

Oh, and because there are bigger problems, 'little ones' should just get ignored until they too become big problems?

A mohawk is not a problem. That is the point. It's a piece of individuality, which is interesting and an aspect of development.

Sex is the third and fourth graders, of course However, weapons was a problem earlier on, sadly...