Texas Grandmother: School Official Told Me To Cut Grandson’s Hair Or Have Him Wear A Dress

A grandmother in East Texas claims the superintendent of her grandson’s school district told her to cut his hair or put him in a dress.

Randi Woodley told CNN that when she took her 4-year-old grandson to his new school in rural Texas last month, she was reportedly told she needed to see the Tatum Primary School principal.

Woodley said the principal told her that her grandson’s shoulder-length hair was too long for a boy and was in violation of the district’s dress code.

Boys are also barred from wearing “ponytails, ducktails, rat-tails, male bun or puffballs,” the dress code says, according to CNN.

Woodley said she was told to either braid the boy’s hair and pin it up in a dress code-approved bun or cut it off.

When she asked the superintendent of the Tatum Independent School District why transgender students are granted an exception to the dress code but not her African American grandson, the superintendent told her that her grandson could wear a dress and say he was a girl to be protected under federal law.

“He told me that I could either cut it, braid it and pin it up, or put my grandson in a dress and send him to school, and when prompted, my grandson must say he’s a girl,” Woodley told local news station KETK.

Another parent has started a petition in the boy’s name that calls for the school to allow the student to wear his natural hair.

A Georgia elementary school came under fire last month after it hung a poster dictating “appropriate” and “inappropriate” hairstyles for black students.

Some states, including California, have passed bills adding discrimination based on hair associated with race to their anti-discrimination laws.