A school district superintendent in the state of Texas is defending his decision to repeatedly suspend a Black student for wearing his natural hair in locs, The Messenger reports.

Taking out a full-page newspaper ad in the Houston Chronicle with the support of a local education foundation, Greg Poole, who has served as the school superintendent since 2006, explained his rationale for suspending Darryl George, 17,  from the Barbers Hill Independent School in Mont Belvieu, TX.

“Being an American requires conformity with the positive benefit of unity,” Poole wrote.

“We have taken the highly unusual step of seeking a declaratory judgment in state district court to verify our interpretation,” Poole continued.

George was first suspended in August when he served an in-school suspension for violating the hairstyle code.

School officials claimed that if let down, George’s braided locs fell below his eyebrows and earlobes, which is a violation of the school’s dress code.

In response to the suspension, George’s family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott and State Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas Southern District Court, saying the punishment violates the CROWN Act, an acronym for “Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.”

The bill, which protects citizens from race-based hair discrimination, became law in Texas in September.

Soon afterward, the school district hit George with a 30-day suspension in December 2023 “for refusing to change his locs hairstyle.”

Allie Booker, the family’s attorney, said at the announcement of the suit that the school district’s argument violates the state’s law because “hair length is part of a hairstyle.” 

“We are going to continue to fight because you can’t tell someone that hairstyles are protected and then be restrictive. If style is protected, then style is protected,” Booker explained.

Poole accused Booker of trying to “bankrupt” the school district with the lawsuit.

Although the district policy doesn’t prohibit students from wearing locs, it does place limits on what styles boys can wear and bans anything “that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down.”

According to Poole, the family signed an agreement with the school district and Geroge must adhere to the district’s rules.

“Ultimately, this is an issue of local control and deciding who should be setting the policies, goals, and expectations of our school district,” Poole wrote.