MONT BELVIEU, Texas — Protests took place outside the home of the superintendent of Barbers Hill ISD on Thursday evening. Activists say the district’s policy restricting the length of boy’s hair violates the Crown Act.
This comes as the case involving a current student, Darryl George, 18, heads to trial Thursday. George hasn’t spent much time at Barbers Hill High School. He was suspended in August 2023 for violating the dress code.
Thursday morning at 8 a.m., the trial will begin in Chambers County to decide if the district has the right to suspend the teen for his hair being too long.
KHOU 11 talked to the teen last month when the trial date was set. He explained why his family isn’t backing down even after half a year of in-school suspension and alternative school.
"It's me, (it) is my confidence, my personality, it's everything to me," he said.
Dr. Greg Poole, the superintendent of Barbers Hill ISD recently took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle defending the position saying the policy is legal and teaches students to conform as a sacrifice benefitting everyone.
That ad is why activists targeting the superintendent directly and called for a protest.
"This is something that is spiritual and this is something that connects us as a people to our ancestors," said community activist, Candice Matthews.
Loctician Rochelle Palmer calls this entire ordeal "nonsense."
"He's not a criminal, he's a kid," Palmer said.
His family and supporters said the dress code violates the Crown Act, which prohibits race-based hair discrimination.
This is something loctician and mother of two young boys, Janiae Roberts, said hits too close to home with her own kinds.
"I advocate for them being themselves and following what they feel like is what they want to do, not what everybody else is doing," Roberts said.
George's parents filed a lawsuit, but the district filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit and to provide clarification on whether their dress policy violates the Crown Act.
"This was the act that we were at the Texas legislature for two legislative sessions in order to get this bill to be nonpartisan and to come into law," Matthews said.
KHOU 11 News reached out to Dr. Poole for a response, but we did not get one in time for this publication.