Sometimes school boards are such freaking robots. [robot voice]: Against policy. Against policy. Against policy. I remember when my high school instituted its short hair policy - the year after I graduated. A bunch of my friends still there who had long hair totally shaved their heads and that pissed off the school to, but it was allowable by their rules, so what could they do? Teen who grew hair for charity back in school after cut Associated Press HARLINGEN - A South Texas teenager will be able to return to his high school after donating his long locks to a Florida-based organization that makes hairpieces for children who have lost their hair. On Monday, Gerardo Garcia Jr., a junior, had 10 inches of hair cut off and sent to Florida-based Locks of Love. Garcia had spent his fall semester at an alternative campus because his long hair didn't comply with the district's dress code. "It felt good to do what I have been wanting to since last year," Garcia said in Tuesday's edition of the Valley Morning Star. "I got a sense of well being." Locks of Love uses donated ponytails to create custom-fitted hairpieces of children suffering from medical hair loss due to cancer treatments, follicle disorders or severe burns. Garcia said he was motivated to grow and donate his hair by a family history of cancer. His great-grandmother died from lymphoma, his grandmother had breast cancer and his 11-year-old brother had a lymph node removed in 2003 and may have to undergo a biopsy. Instead of attending Harlingen High School South in the fall, Garcia attended the school district's alternative campus Keeping Education Your Success (K.E.Y.S.) Academy. He had tried for almost a month to convince the school administration and the school board in September to make an exception from the dress code because his long hair was for a good cause. The school policy forbids boys from having hair that covers their eyes or hangs below their shoulders. During his battle, the board offered Garcia the post of American Cancer Society liaison along with a $500 donation to the group in his name. The $500 came from an anonymous donor in the amount that the hair would be worth. On Wednesday, Garcia will return to his regular high school, now that his hair complies with the school district's dress code.
What I never understood was the big deal about facial hair. If I had so much as a 5 o'clock shadow I was sent to the principal. I even had my own razor with my name on it in his office.
Social control, plain and simple. That's what the ticky-tack rules are about, anyways. Especially in a super-conservative school district like Harlingen.
I've heard about that Locks of Love group. Apparently some people at my school are getting involved to donating to it, so I'm glad to see it is becoming popular and this article even will probably get it more popularity. Sounds like a good cause.
A bunch of the girls on the lacrosse team at UT did that. They complained about having long hair all the time, but once they grew it out enough and cut it off, they felt great - both about their hair being off and about doing a good deed.
Wow...this made AP? Cool. I agree...Harlingen school board looks like a bunch of cold hearted idiots. I would have allowed that in my class. BTW, Harlingen is 15 minutes north of me.
