TROY, Texas — For weeks, one Central Texas mom says her son has been disciplined for his hairstyle. She says school officials say it goes against the dress code, but she believes the dress code is discriminating.
Maddox Cozart's interests are not much different than the typical 11-year-old.
"I like to play video games and play outside," Maddox shared.
His mom Hope will tell you, he wants to be like his dad.
"We were going to let Maddox go ahead and dread his hair up and have dreads just like his dad," explained Hope. "But that is a lot of maintenance for an 11-year-old, and so we were like, 'Nope not going to do that,' and the school had sent a letter home saying he needed to cut his hair and we were like 'Oh.'"
Hope says Maddox asked if he could shave the sides of his hair and wear the top part of his hair long for different styles and braids. However, that one style choice led to quite the controversy over the Troy ISD dress code. Hope says Maddox has spent more than 10 days in in-school suspension and several days in lunch detention because of his hair.
According to the Raymond Mays Middle School Student Handbook, boys in second through 12th grade may not wear their hair in a ponytail, top knot, bun, or similar styles.
"His hair is different than mine. His hair is different than his sister's, which that's something else that they don't understand," said Hope.
Situations like this are the reason State Representative Rhetta Andrews Bowers is pushing for the CROWN Act to be passed, with the goal of ending hair discrimination. She says the legislation even has bipartisan support.
"It stands for creating a respectful and open world when it comes to our natural hair and I wanted to mention that because I feel like it speaks to what we're trying to do just to make sure that people are accepted as they are and not discriminated against at all because of the way your hair naturally grows," Bowers said.
The Cozart family supports the CROWN Act and want to get the Troy ISD dress code changed.
"People should be able to be themselves and not be judged because their hair," said Hope.
School officials say the current dress code was reviewed and implemented prior to the 2018-19 school year and is due for formal review prior to the 2021-22 school year. A dress code committee is expected to meet to discuss possible revisions. Troy ISD formally reviews the student dress code by committee every three years.
The Troy ISD Board of Trustees called a special meeting on Tuesday, May 4, to discuss the student dress code and the review process.
We received a statement from Troy ISD Superintendent Neil Jeter which said in part:
The district strives to implement the dress code equitably. However, some portions of the current dress code are different for girls and boys. Over the years, Texas courts have upheld locally developed dress codes that differentiate dress and groom standards based on gender. There are court cases and even legislation pending that could affect dress code decisions in the future. The district will comply with future legislation and applicable court rulings.