Darryl George, an 18-year-old Black student from Texas who was suspended over his hairstyle, is not backing down from his legal battle.
To avoid spending another year in in-school suspension, his attorney has confirmed that George has left his school district. According to a report by The Associated Press, George expressed a desire to return to his Houston-area high school in the Barbers Hill school district for his senior year. He has asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent district officials from further punishing him for not cutting his hair. This order would allow him to return to school while his federal lawsuit proceeds.
George’s request comes after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown dismissed most of the claims he and his mother had filed in the lawsuit, which alleged racial and gender discrimination by the school district. The judge only allowed the gender discrimination claim to proceed, questioning whether the district’s hair length rule does more harm than good.
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“Judge Brown, please help us so that I can attend school like a normal teenage student during the pendency of this litigation,” George said in an affidavit filed last month.
In response to George’s request, the judge has scheduled a hearing for October 3 in Galveston. However, attorneys for the school district argued in court documents filed last week that the judge lacks jurisdiction to issue the restraining order because George is no longer enrolled in the district.
They also stated, “George’s withdrawal from the district does not deprive him of standing to seek past damages, although the district maintains that George has not suffered a constitutional injury and is not entitled to recover damages.”
The school district defends its dress code, claiming its policies are meant to “teach grooming and hygiene, instill discipline, prevent disruption, avoid safety hazards, and teach respect for authority.”
According to court documents filed last week, Allie Booker, one of George’s attorneys, said George was “forced to unenroll” from Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu and transfer to another high school in a different Houston-area district. This was because Barbers Hill officials placed him in in-school suspension on the first two days of the new school year, which began last month.
This situation “caused him significant emotional distress, ultimately leading to a nervous breakdown. As a result, we had no choice but to remove him from the school environment,” Booker explained.
George’s departure “was not a matter of choice but of survival,” Booker added, emphasizing that George still wishes to return, especially since his mother moved to the area because of the school district’s reputation for quality education.
George had been kept out of his regular high school classes for most of the 2023-24 school year when he was a junior because the district said his hair length violated its dress code. He was forced to either serve in-school suspension or attend an off-site disciplinary program.
The district argues that George’s long hair, which he wears tied and twisted in locs, violates its policy because, if let down, it would fall below his shirt collar, eyebrows, or earlobes. They claim other students with locs comply with the length policy.
George’s federal lawsuit also contends that his punishment violates the CROWN Act, a state law prohibiting race-based discrimination related to hair. The CROWN Act, which took effect in September 2023, bars employers and schools from penalizing individuals for hair texture or protective hairstyles such as Afros, braids, locs, twists, or Bantu knots.
However, in February, a state judge ruled in favor of the school district, deciding that its punishment did not violate the CROWN Act.
Barbers Hill’s hair policy was also challenged in a May 2020 federal lawsuit filed by two other students. Both withdrew from the high school, though one later returned after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction, finding a “substantial likelihood” that his rights to free speech and protection from racial discrimination would be violated if he were barred. That lawsuit is still in its pending state.
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