BALCH SPRINGS, Texas — Four-year-old pre- kindergartner Taylor Pugh likes his floppy hair just how it is. But his long locks violate his school district’s dress code, so Taylor again Wednesday found himself facing in-school suspension, sitting in a library with a teacher’s aide.
“They kicked me out of that place,” Taylor said. “I miss my friends.”
The dress code at Mesquite Independent School District in suburban Dallas says boys’ hair must be kept out of the eyes and cannot extend below the bottom of the earlobes or over the collar of a dress shirt. “We understand it may not be for everybody,” district spokesman Ian Halperin said, “but those are the rules for this district.”
Taylor’s father, Delton Pugh, said the district “is more concerned about his hair than his education.” Taylor’s parents say the boy plans to eventually cut his hair and donate it to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients.
