SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A high school student and his parents were forced to make a difficult decision after the 14-year-old was told to either get a haircut or find a new school to attend.
Braxton Shafer has attended Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools since sixth grade, and currently is in the high school, where the uniform states that boys’ hair must end above the collar, The Sioux Falls Argus Leader reported.
“We don’t necessarily agree with that rule,” Derrick Shafer, Braxton’s father, told the newspaper. “We think it’s culturally biased.”
Braxton is Black and wears dreadlocks that end just past his shoulders.
“He’s had one haircut his entire life, so cutting his hair would be significant,” Derrick told KSFY.
“Can students wear dreadlocks? Yes, they can,” Kyle Groos, Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools president, told the Argus Leader. “We simply want the length of the hair to be at the collar or right above the collar. Right there is what we ask for. To be clean, neat and well-cared for.”
Groos said that the issue isn’t style or culture, but that school policy dictates the dress code.
“People enroll in our Catholic schools, then they know what we stand for and they know what we are representing and the structure and the environment that we will create for their family,” Groos told KSFY.
Groos told the Argus Leader that the dress code policy is reviewed every five years and was last updated in 2018.
Braxton plays in the marching band and plays on the football team. Braxton’s mother told KSFY that because Braxton has already attended practices and played in a game, the South Dakota High School Activity Association would bar him from continuing the activities if he transferred to another school.
Braxton’s parents said they tried to reach a compromise with administrators, offering to tie the hair up so it would not be touching the collar, but were told that was not acceptable, the Argus Leader reported.
Braxton and his parents ultimately came to an agreement with the school where Braxton will finish the semester without cutting his hair, and will then transfer to a different school, KSFY reported.
“We’re sitting here talking about haircuts when I’m sending him there for an education,” Toni Shafer, Braxton’s mother, told KSFY.
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