A 6-Year-Old Student Wasn't Allowed to Attend School Because of His Locs

A first grade student from Apopka, Florida, was not allowed to attend the first day of classes on Monday, August 13, at his school because of his locs.

According to a report from WESH2, Clinton Stanley Jr., a 6-year-old student at A Book's Christian Academy in Florida, was sent home from the school because his hair was reportedly breaking a school rule. The boy's father, Clinton Stanley Sr., captured the moment on his cell phone, WESH2 reported. In the video, the father can be heard asking staff members if he could instead "braid or braid up" his son's hair. According to the father, staff members later denied him this request, pointing out that the school handbook states that boys are not permitted to have locs.

The parent/student handbook on the school's website stipulates that female students' hair "should be neat with no unnatural color." Male students' "hair must be a tapered cut, off the collar and ears. There are to be no dreads, mohawks, designs, unnatural color, or unnatural designs."

Clinton told WESH2 that he was "so stunned" by what was happening that he decided to record the event. "If a kid has dreadlocks that's your personal standard," the father said in an interview with WESH2. "That means that is a personal problem that you have not overcome because 95% of the kids who have dreadlocks are African-American."

The school's director, John Book, addressed the incident during an interview with WESH2. He told the news station that his school is private, saying that gives him the right to decide on school rules. "You can see my school," Book said. "It's probably 95% black. Obviously, I'm not a racist." He continued saying, "In our school our song is 'Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World'...we try to uphold certain biblical standards and certain degrees of order that enable us to maintain a school."

Book also pointed to a rule in the school handbook that reads: "All boys hair must be tapered cut, off the collar and ears. There are to be no dreads."

WESH2 reports that the school has extended an invitation for Clinton to attend classes if he cuts his hair. The family has reportedly declined, according to NBC 6.

This is not the first time that natural hairstyles have been at the center of possible discrimination. An 11-year-old student went viral in February 2018 after she stood up to the boys that had bullied her about her locs. Additionally, back in May 2017, parents of twins at a Massachusetts charter school expressed their outrage after their daughters received daily detention twice for braids that reportedly broke the school's hair policy.

Teen Vogue has reached out to A Books Christian Academy for comment.

Let us slide into your DMs.Sign up for the Teen Vogue daily email.

Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out:Lena Waithe’s Comments About Cutting Off Her Locs Say a Lot About the Gripping Power of Homophobia