Comment: You’re just doing this for attention. “Cut the civil rights crap”.
Answer: Well yes, I am. I am trying to bring attention to the fact that the NISD thinks it is ok to deny the right of religious freedom to their students. I think it is important that people know about it. If I wanted “attention” just for myself I’d pick something a bit easier and less stressful like naked chainsaw juggling.
Question: I saw the news interview and his dad’s hair is not all that long…
Answer: No, his hair is not as long as it might be if he had never had it cut. Adriel’s father had to cut his hair when he started school and keep it short. He went to school in Rosenberg (near Needville) so he is familiar with this type of thing. He has been growing it out for the last ten years.
Question: Why don’t you put him in a private school/homeschool him/move to a school district that will allow him to keep his hair without a fight?
Answer: Private schooling, home schooling or moving away does not solve the problem. It only tells our son that his rights are not worth fighting for and it tells the school district that its OK for them to keep infringing on the civil rights of their students. I suppose it would be easier but sometimes the right way is not the easy way.
Question: Aren’t you worried that teachers and other students will be hostile to your child?
Answer: Yes I am worried. Not everyone will agree with us and their opinions will be fed to their children who may in turn make things difficult for my son. Unfortunatly that is life. Parents teach their children their own values and if bigotry is one of them, it gets gets passed down too. Luckily, some children grow up and realize that intolerance is wrong and adjust their own values accordingly.
Plenty of children have had to deal with unpleasant school experiences. When school segregation was ended it was not easy for those children either.
Question: Is his hair religious or cultural?
Answer: It is both. Native Americans have many spiritual beliefs. So many that their spirituality and their customs are many times one and the same. There are beliefs associated with hair, the most commonly known is that your hair is a measure of how long you have been here and what you have experienced. It is a record of your life.
Internet searches and books on Native American religious practices will not give you much in the way of a thorough education on the subject. So much of Native American culture has been bastardized that very few people are willing to share all of their beliefs and traditions. They have been reduced to team mascots and the bad guys in old westerns so it is understandable that they do not wish to share their religious customs with everyone.
Question: Are’nt you worried about what your neighbors/other area citizens will think?
Answer: No. I’m not interested in popularity. Its fine if not everyone agrees with us and I understand that many people will not.
Question: What tribe and are you a registered member?
Answer: Lipan Apache and no, not at this time.
Proof of tribal affiliation or even DNA percentage of Indian blood is not the issue in this case even though we offered DNA proof to the superintendent. The law does not require that we prove any of this, only that our belief is “sincere”.
I am just your average run of the mill white woman of german and scotch-irish descent yet I sincerely believe that my son’s hair is very important to my family’s belief system. Other than trimming split ends, I have not cut my own hair in many years.
I think that about covers everything but I will add to this if there are more questions or comments that need to be addressed.
The appeal forms have been sent in and the date for our appeal meeting is July 16th at the regular monthly school board meeting.
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Good luck on the appeal. I hope you will update.
Also, you are wasting taxpayer money fighting the school when that money could be used to buy new books or update the classrooms with new computers or build a new High School to educate our children.
Thanks and Good Luck!
The seperation of church and state pertains to the rule that public schools may not teach religion or show preference to one religion or another. They do have to make exceptions to things like dress code when the dress code restricts a students ability to attend school and still practice their religion.
I'm not wasting anyone's money, the school district is. Perhaps if NISD students were'nt burning down their own school then they wouldn't have to worry about rebuilding.
"The separation of church and state pertains to the rule that public schools may not teach religion or show preference to one religion or another."
If the school allows your child to attend school without cutting his hair they are showing preference to your religion by allowing him to break the rules everyone must follow no matter what their religion is.
The downfall I am talking about is when one child gets special privileges, more are going to want it, the school won't be able to focus on educating our children, our children grow up without the education they should have been receiving if the school didn't have to put up with all the frivolous suites.
While schools may not show preference to one religion over another, they also cannot restrict anyone's ability to practice their own religion. Students have the right to believe how they believe and practice those beliefs as long as they do not try to push their beliefs onto other students. Its ok for students to arrange group prayer times between classes but they may not preach to others who do not want them to. Thats really the only time a school can step in when it comes to religious matters.
Your downfall theory is quite flawed. Allowing Christian children to wear crosses, Muslim girls to wear headscarves, Jewish boys to wear yarmulkes and long sideburns, Native American boys to have long hair, Sikh boys to wear turbans and long hair etc... is not going to stop anyone from getting an education.
It just might even teach all of our children tolerance.
Your theory about as much sense as only allowing blonde-haired blue-eyed folks to reproduce while systematically killing off everyone else who does not conform to some whack-jobs idea of a master race.
So the school has a rule and you are going to teach your child all rules are made to be broken. Good Job!
Because she is fighting as hard as she can to get the school to ALLOW HER CHILD TO ATTEND?? Dude, I think you just gave me whiplash with that "logic".
Slavery??? Segregated separate but equal education??? Jim crow laws???
These are all rules and laws and policies. So in your opinion we should still live in what period of history? How about all Caucasians return to a system of Monarchy, or serfdom, or religious domination? Who wants to do the Spanish Inquisition again? There are a hole lot of yummy rules there. And before everyone has a cow I am a devout Roman Catholic AND a practicing Oglala Lakota pipe carrier and fire starter. Some of us can multi-task.
Bottom line is there is no question here. This fight was fought a long time ago, became Federal Law, and should be a non-issue. So it is really the people of Needville that are teaching their children to be rule breakers. Actually Federal Law breakers. Good job Needville, Texas!
And by requiring short hair they are instead showing preference to OTHER religions that DON'T require long hair over ones that do. You see, this "showing preference" thing goes both ways.
Saucesome.