Religion Sparks Dress Code Discussion At Arts School

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

ROGERS — A student’s request for a religious exception to dress code stalled in a discussion between religion and expression at the Benton County School of the Arts board meeting Tuesday night.

Parents of fifth-grader Abigail Huston said their daughter’s decision to wear blue-green strip of hair is a religious one. Administrators at the elementary school asked her to change it, but her parents appealed to Superintendent Paul Hines and the School Board for a religious exception.

Taking out the hairpiece would be the easy way to resolve the issue, Brad Huston told his daughter the night before meeting with the superintendent more than a week ago. She said no.

At A Glance

School Handbook

Behavior standards from the Benton County School of the Arts handbook state that dress can be a matter of personal taste, but it is administrators’ responsibility to create a healthy learning environment. Dress and grooming isn't allowed to be “immodest, disruptive, unsanitary, unsafe, could case property damage, or are offensive to common standards of decency.”

Dress guidelines:

• Hair must be neat and the style not distracting

• Hair must be a natural human hair color

• Shorts, allowed only at the elementary/middle school, must reach 3 inches above the knee

• No pajamas

• Street shoes are required

• Visible body piercings, except ears, are forbidden

• Hats and headgear are forbidden unless there is a religious or medical exception

• No sunglasses are allowed inside the building

• No dangerous accessories, such as spikes or chains, are allowed

• Lewd and suggestive slogans or clothing advertising alcohol, tobacco and drugs are forbidden

• Clothing associated with gangs is forbidden.

Source: Staff Report

“It’s really important to Abigail,” Huston told the board.

In an email prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Hines asked the family to identify their tenets of faith that require blue hair.

The family said they practice multiple religions and no defined higher power has been required in other court cases where blue hair was deemed freedom of expression.

“It’s part of our way of life. It’s part of our religion,” said mother Amy Huston, who has dyed the tips of her hair a brighter blue than her daughter’s strip.

What matters is the hair is a religious expression for her daughter, she said.

“If we were asking if she could wear a hijab would it be that different?” Amy Huston asked the board.

The policy was written years ago because of an elementary student who had bright orange hair, said Howard Alsdorf, board member. The bright hair was a distraction to other students.

He urged other board members to exercise caution in rewriting a policy without studying the issue further.

“Once you let one religious thing be recognized then you have to recognize all of it,” Alsdorf said.

Board members initially seemed ready to approve the idea, but seemed hesitant to write a religious exception. Board members discussed tabling the issue, taking immediate action, or waiting for a scheduled handbook review.

“There is a vagueness in your religious presentation,” Hines told the family.

He asked if another student should come in and say their religion required no shoes, sunglasses in class or wearing only a tank top.

Shoes would be a health issue, Brad Huston said.

Alsdorf recommended the board review their policy and consult their attorney. The board voted to table the issue to next meeting.

Abigail was allowed to return to school pending the outcome of the next board meeting.