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Seventh-grader suspended for his "Ray-hawk" hairdo
The school claims the young Tampa Bay Rays fan would disrupt classes with his mohawk. "A mohawk is an unusual haircut, and it draws comments from the kids," a school official says. When students start commenting on it in class, "it's hard for teachers to calm them down." (Bradenton Herald)
October 9, 2008 | Permalink
Comments
Well, that one teacher's vericose veins are distracting and "draws comments from the kids." So does that other teacher's shirt that shows all the clevage. That one teacher always has his fly halfway down and his hair always looks messed up....
Posted by: twerp | Oct 9, 2008 6:22:15 AM
So if he shaves all the hair off his head, that's not distracting? Granted the kid looks like a complete dolt, but so do most of the other rednecks in Florida. They don't even tell you what's acceptable or not so the principal can just throw you out whenever he feels like it. Where's Sean? I might agree with him when he calls this guy the son of Hitler.
Posted by: G-Man | Oct 9, 2008 6:35:58 AM
I don't think my school had a similar rule, but if they did my prinicpal would have had to suspend himself for a hideous combover attempt at covering a bald spot.
Posted by: Bill | Oct 9, 2008 6:41:29 AM
oh, for fucl<'s sake!
When ""Commenting"" is Outlawed, only Outlaws will Comment...
Do these school administrators collectively have their genitalia in some kind of clamp or something?
Posted by: sometimesilie | Oct 9, 2008 6:43:44 AM
This kid probably just learned about the Rays. Jump on the bandwagon, son!
Posted by: Jim | Oct 9, 2008 6:45:27 AM
When principals take classes to get their master's degree in school administration, are cases like this one discussed? Chapter One: Throwing Kids out of School for Having Short Mohawks.
Posted by: Sheila | Oct 9, 2008 6:59:55 AM
How ironic. I thought educators championed diversity. Instead, it appears they would have rather have "little boxes" (ref. Malvina Reynolds) in their classrooms.
Wouldn't it serve everyone well to teach the other kids (the ones who would cause any potential disruption) that, yes, some people do wear their hair differently so don't make a big deal of it?
Posted by: noodleman | Oct 9, 2008 7:03:07 AM
All right, there's finally a "retarded school" story that makes some sense. Lets see how this works:
School makes a dress code/code of conduct
Students have to read, understand, and abide by it
Student breaks rule (I can almost guarantee there's a bit in there about "extreme hairstyles" - its in all of them)
Student gets told to correct it
Whiny bitchy parents get involved, turn everything into a clusterfuck.
I'm siding with the school on this one.
Posted by: Joe | Oct 9, 2008 7:15:14 AM
If and when kids starting disrupting class over a classmates haircut, the DISRUPTORS should be tossed out. Not the weird looking kid.
You don't own everything you see in this world.
Posted by: nellagain | Oct 9, 2008 7:16:43 AM
These stories are getting old.
Posted by: cherie | Oct 9, 2008 7:34:46 AM
I think the problem with the dress code is that it is not specific about what is an "extreme hairstyle." Should one have to consult with the principal before getting one's hair done?
Posted by: Mathman | Oct 9, 2008 8:11:17 AM
Parents should have claimed their sick dog infected the boy with a highly contagious form of the mange.
LOCKDOWN!!
Posted by: thomas | Oct 9, 2008 8:14:50 AM
hair color and style should not be under the control of PUBLIC schools. children must go to school by law therefore it essentially takes away the freedom of expression.
this case is too similiar to black arm bands. the parents should sue the school board. Tinker v. DeMoines
Posted by: buddy | Oct 9, 2008 8:15:05 AM
I'm with nellagain on this one, throw the damn kids making the fuss out of the class. It's a lame mohawk as it is, even it if was colored, but it's not his fault the others can't control themselves over a simple haircut even if it's not the norm.
Posted by: R | Oct 9, 2008 8:17:44 AM
Instead of students having nightmares of coming to school naked, they're going to start having nightmares about coming to school with mohawks!
Posted by: twerp | Oct 9, 2008 8:41:13 AM
my question is did the kid style it to get a reaction from people or did he do it because thats how he wanted to have it styled that way.. either way he needs his ass kicked. he can be different as much as he wants after that
Posted by: angrysockmonkey | Oct 9, 2008 8:42:53 AM
UUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!! Everytime a story like this breaks, I get Pink Floyd stuck in my head ALL DAY!
We don't need no education..............
Actually, "The Wall" is better than what is usually playing in there
Posted by: RockyMtnMac | Oct 9, 2008 9:12:58 AM
"it's hard for teachers to calm them down."
over a decades old hairstyle? Time to hire some more competent teachers.
Posted by: boynamedsue | Oct 9, 2008 9:21:30 AM
I think he should ban kids in wheelchairs and kids with funny accents too.
Posted by: G-Man | Oct 9, 2008 10:07:56 AM
i have seen worse and more distracting hair do's.
the guy that painted his hair green and red for christmas...that was more funny than anything...the girl that shaved her eyebrows off...heck,even the silly ones that wrapped their eyes in dressings and patches to see if the rest of us would feel sorry and "help" them to class --
little man here looks like he has a backward mullet on his head...
Posted by: lynn | Oct 9, 2008 12:00:17 PM
Just this year, my 4th-grade daughter got in trouble for wearing a Hellboy t-shirt and taking a Hellboy lunchbox to school. The principal called to chew us out for being bad parents.
"Don't you see a problem with this?"
-Nope.
"But it says Hellboy."
-And your point is?
"Some of the kids think that's offensive."
-We're way more offended by Hannah Montana merchandise. She is an offense to all real music everywhere. Besides, Hellboy encourages us to make good choices, fight evil, and kill Nazis. What about that isn't a positive role model?
We ended up covering the word Hellboy on her lunchbox with black duct tape and painting "RED" on the tape in a similar typeface. The t-shirt stays home. My 9-year old daughter likes Queen, The Who, Pink Floyd, Hellboy, and Stephen Hawking. And, having been to the school, I wish there were lots more Hellboy t-shirts, especially if they covered the buttcracks of the prost-i-tot wearing kids all too common at the local schools.
Posted by: merkin4 | Oct 9, 2008 12:44:03 PM
When I went to high school in the late 1970s, there was no dress code. I would sometimes wear Bud(weiser) Man or Zig Zag shirts to school. Working on the school newspaper during my junior year and perusing the archives, I was surprised that only a few years earlier the students had formed a walkout to protest the dress code that was in force at the time. I guess their protests helped abolish the code.
The designer clothing fad was just coming around then, Jordache jeans were being advertised on TV, so the code was not to make the kids equal in that aspect.
Now they have reinstated the dress code at my former school and consider forcing the students to wear uniforms. At the same time, the juvenile gang problem is growing. In the last few months there have been numerous shootings and stabbings by teenagers and just last weekend, eleven juveniles were arrested for beating a pregnant woman and a female minor. The junior high I attended had to stop offering woodshop as all their resources are being spent to teach the students English.
If the schools want to use hairstyles for straw men to detract the attention from poor parental discipline and the failure of the educational system, then perhaps they should include a chart of acceptable haircuts in the student handbook, something like you used to see on the wall of barbershops.
Posted by: T Grum | Oct 9, 2008 1:10:58 PM
merkin4;
Sounds like your daughter will always be ahead of the curve. Very glad that most of her education seems to originate from home.
KUDOS!
Posted by: thomas | Oct 9, 2008 1:41:00 PM
That's a pretty tame mohawk. I was expecting some kind of gelled up 80's mohawk, maybe colored or something.
I'll just echo nell, BNS and cherie's comments.
Posted by: Nauip | Oct 9, 2008 3:18:14 PM
Poor kid looks like Joe Jackson (the singer, not the baseball legend)
Posted by: Wolf | Oct 9, 2008 3:35:55 PM
