Thread: Just Read This

I was surfing Fark.com and found this story

GREENLAND -- Cambron Clark was excited last summer after he decided to transfer from the Winslow campus to Greenland Elementary School for seventh grade and the chance to play basketball, his mother told the Greenland School Board on Monday.

That excitement was erased on the first day of the 2004-05 school year when 13-year Cambron was told to cut his hair, Brenda Clark recalled, retracing events of the last school year that included incidents of bullying and ridicule by coaches and other players.

In spite of those incidents, the boy continued to practice and sat on the bench at every game, even though he was never allowed to play in a game, Clark said.

He continued to make straight As, was enrolled in the school's gifted and talented program, was selected for a special science fair and placed third in a schoolwide spelling bee.


He showed promise as the starting point guard on the seventh-grade team but he couldn't play basketball because his "long hair" rested on the back of his shirt collar and reached the tips of his ear lobes on the sides, said Clark, with a school photo in hand of her son.

Clark said she talked with coaches and school administrators and has taken her case to the school board to raise awareness about the situation.

The issue of hair length is not addressed in the handbook students receive at the start of the school year, but in an athletic handbook that is considered part of the student handbook, the policy states the dress and appearance of players is left up to the coaches.

Fayetteville School District Athletic Director Dick Johnson said such a policy is not unusual. Fayetteville coaches have a say over hair length for the players they coach, Johnson said.

Clark recounted the coaches she spoke with told her Cambron's only recourse was to cut his hair. There was no alternative, such as pulling the hair back into a pony tail or wearing a headband.

Superintendent Ron Brawner said after Monday's meeting female athletes in Greenland are required to wear long hair pulled back in a pony tail to keep their hair out of their eyes.

The coaching staff wants boys to look more uniform with shorter hair, Brawner said.

"Once a rule is established by the coaches, all coaches follow the same rule," Brawner said.

Students agree to the athletic policies, including the hair length, when they sign their student handbook at the beginning of the school year, he said.

Cambron plans to transfer to Prairie Grove for eighth grade and has been told his hair length will not be an issue there, said Clark, who is the elementary school principal in that district.

Board members did not discuss Clark's case and took no action on her comments although Brawner distributed copies of the proposed handbook for the upcoming school year which starts Aug. 19. The handbook will be on the agenda for the Aug. 15 meeting, he said.

After the meeting, board member Jim Center told Brawner the new policy should specifically state the length of a player's hair, if it is that important to coaches.

Brawner said the major change in the athletic handbook for next year is that it incorporates cheerleaders who will have to follow the same rules as girls' basketball.

Johnson said athletic programs are governed by concerns over safety and how a player's appearance will affect his play.

"We don't want anybody appearing in such a way as to draw away from the performance of the team," Johnson said Monday, noting Fayetteville coaches have discretion over the length of hair but a situation rarely surfaces in which a youngster would be prevented from playing because of the length of his hair.

"Every coach deals with (hair length) in a different way," he added. One coach, for instance, doesn't allow players to have facial hair.

"Our coaches must have good discretion because it never comes up," Johnson said. "In 2005, you've got to allow kids to express themselves."


im sorry but this just makes me want to vomit,

IT WAS TOUCHING HIS COLLAR OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG TEH WORLD IS GOING TO END!!!!11!!!!

yet another reason i hate public school