A U.S. judge has rejected a black Texas student’s request for a court order to protect him from punishment for his hairstyle in high school.
Last August, 19-year-old Darryl George was suspended by officials who said his braids violated the dress code.
Mr. George asked District Judge Jeffrey Brown to issue a temporary restraining order so he could return to Houston-area schools as part of a federal lawsuit he filed over proceeds of suspension.
But in Friday’s ruling, Judge Brown rejected the request, saying he had waited too long to request the order.
Beginning in August 2023, the year before Mr. George attended Barbers Hill High School, he was subject to multiple disciplinary actions for refusing to have his hair cut.
The district referred to its dress code, which states that hair cannot be “lower than the top of a T-shirt collar, eyebrows lower than or lower than earlobes when hanging down.”
But Mr George refused to cut off his braids, which the family said had cultural significance in the black community.
He was suspended from school and in-school and later required to take out-of-school classes.
“He had to sit on a stool in a cubicle for eight hours,” his mother told The Associated Press last year.
“It was very uncomfortable. He would come home every day and say his back hurt because he had to sit on the stool.”
Mr George returned to the same school this year.
But Mr. George’s attorney said last month that he was forced to withdraw and transfer to another school after school officials suspended him in-school on the first and second days of the new school year, which began in August.
A federal lawsuit filed by Mr. George and his mother will continue.
Mr. George claimed his punishment violated the CROWN Act, a recently enacted state law prohibiting hair discrimination based on race. The law, which comes into effect in September 2023, bans employers and schools from penalizing people because of their hair texture or protective hairstyles, including braids.
In February, a state judge ruled that his punishment did not violate the Crown Act.
