The parent of a child at a Portadown school has labelled rules on hairstyles as “draconian” after his daughter was given a detention for having highlights.
The local man, who has asked to remain anonymous, contacted Armagh I after his daughter, who is in year 9 at Killicomaine Junior High School, was reprimanded just two weeks prior to the end of term.
He believes the school were out of touch in their approach, arguing they have “more important things to deal with”.
“I think we’re in the 21st century and everybody has a different hairstyle,” he said. “My daughter’s hair was professionally done, it was tastefully done and it was two weeks to go until the end of term.”
He says his daughter was pulled out of class for the highlights and taken to the year head, before being given a detention for breaking school rules regarding hairstyles.
When the parent contacted the school for clarity around this, he says he was shot down and accused of being abusive towards staff, which he denies.
When doing the school run, he decided to call into the school where he alleges he was told the Vice-Principal was “not willing” to talk to him and he ad “no right” to demand to talk to anybody, instead requiring an appointment.
An appointment was held a number of days later, where the parent states he highlighted instances on school social media pages where rules regarding hair had been broken, questioning why his daughter was punished.
“The next step if [she] wouldn’t have went to detention was possible isolation in the classroom for a day by herself. I think that’s very concerning in this day and age that a child with a simple hairstyle is going to potentially be put into isolation,” he told Armagh I.
“I apologised to the Vice-Principal and said maybe my approach had been inappropriate, but as a parent, I would appreciate a wee bit more communication. We weren’t even told directly by the school that my daughter was going for detention.”
He added that his daughter did attend the detention, and was asked to copy text from a book.
“I just think everything is so draconian. Everything just seems very dark-ages sort of discipline that a child isn’t allowed to go to school with a slight lightening of her hair.
“My daughter has took the punishment, but the whole approach of everything just feels wrong, that there was nobody to talk to when you phone up the school with a serious complaint.
“It just seems like schools are just so out of touch with society nowadays. There’s something seriously wrong here if teachers are more concerned about the child’s hairstyle than their actual school work.”
The school rules booklet for Killicomaine Junior High School stipulates that for hair: “The colour must be the student’s own natural colour, hair colourings, tints/dips, dyes, highlights/braids or tips are not allowed.”
The rules also state: “Extreme hairstyles or shaving of sections of hair are not permitted at KJHS. Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to determine extreme.”
Armagh I have reached out to Killicomaine Junior High School for comment.
