Parent of ACC Student Upset over Application of School Rules  

A mother of a student attending Anglican Cathedral College has lashed out at the school for sending home her daughter on the first day of classes.  The teenager was informed that she is not to return until her hair is cut shorter than the length displayed when she reported to school on Monday. It’s not a new conflict between parents and school administrations over their children’s hair style or length. It has gone on for years, with the Supreme Court ruling once in favor of a student. It is also an issue that the Minister of Education had publicly discussed and concluded that students should not be sent home simply for the way they wear their hair. In this case, the mother told News Five that she is not opposing any school rule, but that the way the high school enforces the rule is malicious. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

This note from Anglican Cathedral College, sent home with the third form student has prompted the mother of the girl to blast the high school. In this Facebook post, the mother expressed her frustration that ACC’s school rules are not specific in its handbook about the length of hair that their students are permitted to wear. In fact, this page taken from ACC’s School Rules on Appearance speaks nothing at all about the length of hair for female students. The mother says she is not against school rules, but she is upset for two reasons: the school was not clear in its rule on hair length for girls, and two, her daughter lost out on an afternoon of classes and would have also not been able to attend classes if they were not able to take her to get her hair cut today.

 

Voice of: Mother of ACC Student

“The issue wasn’t with the rules, it’s how the principal went about doing it, you understand, applying it, or actually, you know, enforcing it. The handbook clearly state their hair should be neatly combed, right? If it’s dyed and tinted, then it shouldn’t be, shouldn’t be loud, right, and distracting. Her hair was actually just below her shoulder, right? Just, just like upon the breast or maybe in that area. And, her hair was not distracting or anything in that regard. I mean, I remember when I sent her to the hairdresser, the hairdresser said I will put it at this length because she’s going back to school, and we won’t do it long because she’s going back to school. But like I said, it’s not the rule because you can’t enforce a rule. It’s how you went about doing it because you did not update, you did not inform the parents, hey, you know what, this is what I want. At the end of the day and that’s the thing that bothered me because you interrupted a day of learning for something you were not clear about.”

 

The same parent explained that she also has a son attending St John’s College and his barber did not keep the top of his hair within the one-inch length. She said her son was also sent home with a note, but at the end of the day she believed that SJC was considerate to give them until the following Monday to comply with their rule. The parent said her daughter returned to school today after her hair was cut and wearing a bond. She said the school had her remove the bond to measure her hair and still said it was too long.  Two years ago, also at the start of the school year, the Minister of Education, Francis Fonseca spoke with the media on the matter. He said that while school rules are important, he supported the removal of the rules that prevent children from entering the classroom based on the length of their hair or hairstyle.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“Schools do have the right to set rules. We want our students to be disciplined of course, but, these rules cannot be unconstitutional, they cannot be arbitrary, they cannot be discriminatory in any manner. We have a fundamental objective and responsibility at the Ministry of Education to ensure we protect the fundamental constitutional rights of our students, as well as our teachers. In this case, we are talking about our students. So, people have kind of put up this straw argument about it being about discipline. It is not about discipline. We are all in favor of discipline. Everybody wants our young people to be disciplined. We want productive, positive citizens, produced in our education system, but, the education system also has to follow the laws of the country and rules of the country.”

 

In January of 2017, the then Supreme Court of Belize ruled in favour of a former student of Stann Creek Ecumenical College who was attending classes with uncut hair. The court ruled that the student, Imhotep Diego may continue to attend classes with his hair uncut for the duration of his tenure at Stann Creek Ecumenical College. That ruling was made with the provision that Diego kept his hair tidy and well groomed while attending classes and on school premises. We went to ACC this morning and asked to speak with the principal on the matter, but we were informed she was in a meeting. We visited several high schools around Belize City to find out about their hair policy but none of them were willing to talk to us. Marion Ali for News Five.