School suspends cancer survivor over long hair he plans to donate

[The Straight Story]

School suspends cancer survivor over long hair he plans to donate

Burton— Not long ago, J.T. Gaskins was honored on his high school's "Wall of Fame" for perfect behavior.

Now he's doing school work from home after being suspended by the governing board of his charter school over the length of his hair.

The 17-year-old leukemia survivor said he decided over the holidays to grow out his hair and donate it to Locks of Love after learning that the sister of a family friend had cancer.

In the process, officials at Madison Academy in Burton ruled Monday that Gaskins' hairstyle is violating school policy.

Despite his suspension, the teen says he isn't planning to cut his hair and hopes the board of the charter school near Flint will reconsider.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120128/METRO/201280350/School-suspends-cancer-survivor-over-long-hair-he-plans-donate?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[Lugnut]

1. WTF?

The officials at Madison Academy need to get a clue.

[DavidDvorkin]

2. Small-minded bureaucrats

They're everywhere.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Looks like it's a charter school - there's a management company in charge

And charters get to write their own rules. So the solution - in this school choice climate - is for this student to choose to attend a different school.

[Angry Dragon]

4. Idiots among us

[Snake Alchemist]

5. Mixed feelings on this.

I don't think long hair is a big deal, but dress codes are dress codes and you don't get exemptions based on surviving a disease. I wouldn't allow any of my employees to wear short sleeves even if they were a skin cancer survivor so I guess I can see that side of things.

[Hippo_Tron]

7. Dress codes are fine, but I'm not a fan of gender biased hair policies

If women can have long hair men ought to be able to have long hair. If men can have short hair, women ought to be able to have short hair.

[Snake Alchemist]

8. In my office women are allowed to wear blouses, but men must wear button-down

shirts. Many blouses I find are more like billowy T-shirts to me. Also women are allowed to wear open toed shoes as long as it has a heel. Men can wear no open toed shoes.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. Again, I see no reason for gender distinction here...

If the policy is that blouses and high-heeled open toed shoes are okay, then men should be allowed to wear blouses and high-heeled open toed shoes. I imagine that most will choose not to.

[Snake Alchemist]

13. Some of my male employees argue that the term blouse covers everything.

Last edited Sat Jan 28, 2012, 04:13 PM - Edit history (1)

Also my male employees are required to wear ties. We don't require that of the women naturally.

[msongs]

18. "...naturally?" wow, women don't have necks or shirts with collars? who knew lol nt

[Snake Alchemist]

19. Yes. We do not require them for women. nt

[Fawke Em]

22. Hey, Snake Alchemist's Office, 1960 is calling. They want their dress code back!

[Snake Alchemist]

23. No blazers or fedoras are required so we may have made some progress.

Although I would love to see a return to the fedora.

[_ed_]

25. Your office sounds like the worst place to work on earth

Do you call your company "The Fashion Police?" I really don't understand how an adult could care about the way another adult dresses, but I guess I just respect my employees as individuals and evaluate them on their actual performance versus whether or not a blouse is too billowy.

[Snake Alchemist]

27. It's a fantastic place to work.

The money alone makes it worth it, but it's a business dress code and not a business casual dress code for the most part.

[rurallib]

11. I am amazed that 50 years after the Beatles, hair length is still an issue

that seems like an ancient insane policy.

[Logical]

28. what if he was missing an arm? Still long sleeves? Maybe you would fire him.

[Snake Alchemist]

29. I imagine any sleeve would be rolled up and pinned at that point. nt

[MADem]

6. If he puts on a short-haired wig, does that solve the problem?

They did offer him compromises, he just doesn't want to comply with them:

Since his hair isn't very long yet, Kneer said he proposed that Gaskins use styling gel, put the hair in cornrows or simply comb it to comply with the rules.

"I need his hair out of his eyes and off the collar," Kneer told the Associated Press. "I really want this boy to be back in school. I feel like combing his hair wouldn't be a big concession … He doesn't have hair down the middle of his back. It's an inch over his collar."

[Nevernose]

15. Most peoplerobably didn't read the details

Or the very reasonable compromise.

[tammywammy]

17. Those sound like reasonable compromises n/t

[lpbk2713]

9. The school admins have misplaced priorities.

They should concern themselves less with what is on
a student's head and more with what goes in it.

[Odin2005]

12. WTF? Time warp back to the 60s???

Since when do schools still care about boys having long hair???

[mysuzuki2]

14. Typical bullshit from small minded morons.

not to start a flame war here, but school administrations seem to attract more than their share of such people. School dress codes in my opinion are fascism.

[Rex]

16. Forehead...meet palm.

[ananda]

20. In Austin... dress code schmess code.

He'd fit right in here.

[Quantess]

21. Fashion police.

Fashion police are about the most superficial people on the planet.

[_ed_]

24. +1000000000000000000000

Any adult who cares about another adults' dress is tantamount to teenage girls gossiping about each others' clothing. It's an obvious sign you're dealing with a childish, pretentious moron.

[chrisa]

26. Ever hear of a school administrator using common sense?

Me either.