A Houston-area school district has a policy in place that prohibits male students from wearing their hair past their eyes, past the bottom of their ears or past the bottom of their dress shirt collar.

What You Need To Know

  • According to a lawsuit, Magnolia ISD, which is located in the Houston area, recently started enforcing its policy which restricts male students from wearing long hair

  • The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on behalf of seven male students between the ages of 7 and 17

  • The complaint says that the policy constitutes gender bias and that the students have been kept out of classrooms and from extracurricular activities over it. It further states that the policy has not been uniformly enforced.

  • The district recently defended the policy, saying it has been approved by Texas courts and reflects the values of the community

Magnolia Independent School District has apparently only recenlty started enforcing that policy, prompting the ACLU as well as the ACLU Women’s Rights Project to file a lawsuit against the district on behalf of seven students.

The lawsuit, which alleges gender bias, says that the policy “has imposed immense and irreparable harm on Plaintiffs – who are seven students between the ages of seven and seventeen – solely because of these students’ gender. Plaintiffs have been subjected to severe, ongoing, and escalating harms due to the district-wide policy that prohibits boys, but not girls, from wearing long hair.”

The complaint goes on to say that students have been denied classroom instruction, have been barred from extracurricular activities and have been suspended and separated from their peers for more than a month due to the policy.

The lawsuit says that the district only recently began enforcing the policy and that up until this school year the students were able to wear long hair without issue. It also says the policy isn’t being enforced in all instances as some football players have been permitted to keep long hair.

One of the plaintiffs, the complaint states, is a 9-year-old fourth-grader who wears his hair in a ponytail and keeps it out of his face. According to the lawsuit he was removed from his elementary school and placed in a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program. The child is Latino, the lawsuit states, and long hair is part of his cultural identity.

The district has defended its policy, in August telling Houston CBS affiliate KPRC, “Magnolia ISD has used a dress code that sets different standards for boys and girls for many years. For example, hair length for boys must be no longer than the bottom of the collar. This has been approved by the Texas courts and continues to be used by roughly half the districts in the state of Texas. The differentiated dress and grooming standards do not violate Title IX and are included in the student handbook each year. Magnolia ISD’s approach to the dress code reflects the values of our community at large.”