Barbers Hill ISD Files Motion to Dismiss CROWN Act Case against Darryl George

By Shakari Briggs ,Quality of Life Reporter, Houston Chronicle

  Lawyers for Barbers Hill ISD say the long-standing court case over whether a student could wear dreadlocks should be dismissed now that the student has graduated. While the district filed a suggestion of mootness last month, lawyers for former student Darryl George say the case should continue because of the emotional toll he suffered during his high school years. 

“The Court should decline to dismiss the appeal because, as a direct result of the district removing Mr. George from regular curricular instruction during his entire junior year of high school, he has suffered concrete educational disadvantages and/or disabilities — the effects of which will persist and continue to stigmatize him and cannot be absolved merely by dismissing the appeal as moot,” according to court documents.

  George’s attorneys allege that he’s “already suffered prejudicial events” due to the years-long punishment he endured for refusing to change his hairstyle. George bounced back and forth between detention and alternative school for much of his junior year and before transferring from Barbers Hill High School during his senior year.

  The CROWN Act — an acronym for Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — went into effect Sept. 1, 2023. The law prohibits school and employment dress codes or grooming policies from discriminating against hair texture or protective hairstyles associated with race.

  “The district made him feel ‘ostracized,’ caused his grades to suffer,” court records read. 

Judge Chap B. Cain III, of the 253rd Judicial District Court in Chambers County, ruled last year that Barbers Hill could still restrict the length of George’s hair, prompting George’s attorneys to appeal. In October, the Texas Supreme Court granted a motion to transfer the case from the 15th Court of Appeals in Austin to the 1st Court of Appeals, where attorney Dylan Drummond originally filed the petition.

 George described the chain of events as “mentally hurting,” saying, “my heart is hurting.” At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, George transferred to Sterling High School because of the dress and grooming policy at Barbers Hill ISD. 

  George, who wears his hair as dreadlocks styled in a barrel roll, received multiple disciplinary actions during the 2023-2024 school year at Barbers Hill, including suspension. District officials said his hair exceeded the length allowed by the dress code. The school district’s dress code prohibits male students from having hair “below the eyebrows or below the ear lobes.”

It also mandates that boys’ hair cannot be “below the top of a T-shirt collar or be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a T-shirt collar, below the eyebrows or below the ear lobes when let down.”

  “High expectations have helped make Barbers Hill ISD a state leader in all things and high school standards benefit all ethnicities,” wrote Barbers Hill Independent School District superintendent Greg Poole in an advertisement published in the Houston Chronicle. “Falsely claiming racism is worse than racism and undermines efforts to address actions that violate constitutionally protected rights.”

  In the June 10 filing, Barbers Hill ISD stated that since George “can no longer enroll in Barbers Hill ISD or be subject to its dress and grooming… the appeal is moot.” 

“Under Texas Education Code section 25.001(a), a student who has graduated from high school is no longer entitled to the benefits of attending a Texas Public School,” the filing reads. “Only a student who ‘is admitted by a school district to complete the requirements for a high school diploma is entitled to the benefits of the available school fund for that year’.”

  The 11-page court document goes on to say that “in the absence of a live controversy between the parties, there is no justiciable matter before this Court for adjudication.” “The Texas Supreme Court has recently affirmed that the separation-of-powers clause limits courts to resolving live disputes and prohibits courts from issuing advisory opinions,” court documents show. “In order  

 In addition to this case, George’s federal case remains ongoing. Records show that the court withdrew its prior opinion and order, granting the motion for summary judgment on behalf of Barbers Hill ISD.

  Before the 2024-2025 school year started, United States District Court Judge Jeffrey Brown dismissed a race discrimination claim filed by George’s attorney, Allie Booker. However, Brown had allowed a sex discrimination claim to continue. 

  Ultimately, Brown decided that the district had a more “compelling case” regarding George’s equal protection sex-discrimination claim, which questioned how the district distinguished between male and female students’ hairstyles in its dress code. In a separate order, Brown granted George’s motion for continuance of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. 

In the district’s appeal, it argued that its “policy is substantially related to career readiness.” 

“The policy prepares male students for a job they are statistically likelier to have and may be compelled to take,” said Brown. “Moreover, it’s legal for employers to differentiate based on sex in their dress codes.”