The Texas-based American Civil Liberties Union (NCL ) today addressed letters to 51 independent school districts in Texas that appear to be still violating the Texas CROWN Act in their 2023-2024 dress and grooming codes. The districts ‘ updated guidelines must be in line with the law, according to the letters.
The Texas CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Polite and Open World for Natural Hair, was signed into law last month. It prohibits schools, workplaces, and cover authorities from discriminating against locks textures or safe hairstyles that are frequently or generally associated with competition, such as afros, cornrows, braids, or locs.
” All Texas school districts, including those that we have identified, must immediately comply with the Texas CROWN Act,” said Chloe Kempf ( she/her ), an attorney at the ACLU of Texas. It’s essential for ensuring that students of color are completely to be themselves and show their racial and cultural identity at school, not only is it the rules, but it’s also important. All individuals, no matter their culture, religion, sex, or how they wear their hair, deserve to feel welcomed at college, without the risk of unfair clothing codes”.
Dress code reports were released by the ACLU of Texas in February, titled” Dressed To Express: How Dress Codes Discriminate Against Texas Kids and Must Be Changed,” which examined the dress and grooming standards for nearly every city in the position for the years 2022-2023. More than 80 % of the districts surveyed had vague hair policies that could disproportionately punish Black students, and 7 % of those dress codes prohibited or restricted hair textures and racial hairstyles, many of which are explicitly protected by the CROWN Act. The report also revealed many school districts had discriminatory policies that unequally targeted students based on gender, race, LGBTQIA + identity, religion, disability, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
” Hair discrimination targets, singles out, and disproportionately burdens Black people, Indigenous people, and other protected classes for wearing natural or protective styling that is closely related to their identities,” says one report. According to Patricia Okonta ( she/her ), assistant counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, discrimination against Black and Indigenous students can have a profound impact on their mobility and success by subjecting them to targeted bias and disciplinary action that prevent them from receiving instruction. Bottom line:” Any policy that forces students of color to forgo equal educational opportunities because they wear their hair in a way that displays pride in their racial heritage has no place in society,” the statement concludes.
The ACLU of Texas warns these schools that they may likely be causing themselves to face legal or administrative challenges as a result of sending out these letters. The ACLU of Texas requests that the districts update their policies to ensure that students ‘ constitutional rights to free speech and equal treatment are upheld. Dress code policies should be adapted to reflect the diversity of Texas communities.
The letters were co-signed by the following signatories:
Equality Texas
The International Development Research Association ( IDRA ) is a member of IDRA.
Legal Defense Fund ( LDF) of the NAACP
National Women’s Law Center ( WLC )
The Native American Rights Fund ( NARF )
Sikh Coalition
Students Advancing Texas ( SEAT ) Participation
Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP )
Texas Freedom Network ( TFN)
The Mahogany Project
Transgender Education Network of Texas ( TENT )
Young Leaders, Strong City (YLSC )
A copy of one of the letters is available here: https ://www.aclutx .org/sites/default/files/aclutx_letter_to_harlingen_isd_1.pdf
A copy of the 2024 Dress Code Report is available here: https ://www.aclutx .org/en/publications/dressed-express-how-dress-codes-discriminate-against-texas-students-and-must-be-changed
A letter was sent to the following school districts:
Advantage Academy
The superintendent responded by saying that they intend to update their policies before the upcoming academic year.
Amigos Por Vida-Friends For Life Public Charter School
Boling ISD
The superintendent responded by saying that they intend to update their policies before the upcoming academic year.
Borden County ISD
Bovina ISD
Calallen ISD
Cisco ISD
The superintendent responded by saying that they intend to update their policies before the upcoming academic year.
Comstock ISD
Cotton Center ISD
Crawford ISD
Devers ISD
Douglass ISD
Farwell ISD
Floydada ISD
The superintendent responded by saying that they intend to update their policies before the upcoming academic year.
Harlingen ISD
Huckabay ISD
Ingram ISD
Iola ISD
Jim Ned CISD
La Feria ISD
La Villa ISD
Latexo ISD
Lingleville ISD
Malone ISD
Meadow ISD
The superintendent responded by saying that they intend to update their policies before the upcoming academic year.
Nazareth ISD
Newman International Academy
Panther Creek CISD*
Paradise ISD
Perrin-Whitt CISD
Raymondville ISD
Robert Lee ISD
Roby CISD
Roma ISD
Runge ISD
Sabinal ISD
Santa Anna ISD
Santo ISD
Simms ISD
Sundown ISD
Tekoa Academy of Accelerated Studies*
Tolar ISD
The superintendent responded by saying that they intend to update their policies before the upcoming academic year.
Walcott ISD
Wheeler ISD
White Deer ISD
Whiteface CISD
Whitharral ISD
Wink-Loving ISD
Winona ISD
Winters ISD
Zephyr ISD
*Note: We used their most recently published dress code prior to 2023-2024.
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