Teen growing his hair for sick sister withdraws from Texas school when told to get haircut

[TexasTowelie]

16. Liability and pride.

With respect to pride, schools should have a say if the students are representing the school in any extracurricular activities (athletic, music, or academic), particularly if the students are wearing a school uniform.

There is also an issue with safety. Long hair is definitely a liability in contact sports such as football or basketball. It is also a liability for anyone taking classes like shop (and I'm certain that Poth has those classes) since hair can get entangled in mechanical equipment.

I do recall one thing that my high school math teacher said to me. She would rather break up a fight between two boys than between two girls because the girls were worse at pulling hair. Most boys don't have hair to pull.

Finally, there is also an issue with hygiene such as lice and loose hair. While students can have those problems no matter the length of their hair, longer hair is more difficult to control.

Since there are liability issues involved with safety and hygiene, the school district does have a legitimate reason to adopt a conservative dress code in order to protect the taxpayers from potential lawsuits.