Texas mom says 11-year-old son isolated in cubicle for in-school suspension due to braided hairstyle

A Texas mom says her 11-year-old son received an in-school suspension for wearing a braided hairstyle and spent more than a week isolated in a cubicle while on campus.

She’s now considering a lawsuit ahead of a school board meeting next Monday, according to the latest update on the Change.org petition seeking to stop the disciplinary action.

“My son got ISS for wearing his hair like this today they didn’t even send any documentation home because they know how dumb they are for this,” Hope Cozart said in a Facebook post last week showing a picture of Maddox’s hair.

Cozart told KCEN-TV she was outraged by the disciplinary action at Raymond Mays Middle School, part of the Troy Independent School District, because her son Maddox asked for the hairstyle to celebrate his Black heritage.

“We try to teach our kids about all of their culture. Black, white, Native American, everything,” Cozart said. “They like to explore their culture. We looked at African tribes and how they braid their hair up. Bantu knots and all the meanings of all that.”

The school reportedly claimed the hairstyle violated a rule in the student handbook that states boys’ hair “may not be worn in a ponytail, top knot, bun, or similar styles.”

“It would not be appropriate for me to discuss disciplinary action involving specific students,” Superintendent Neil Jeter told KCEN in an email.

Jeter told the station he was not allowed to comment further due to student confidentiality restrictions.

Lawyer Waukeen McCoy, who is representing the family, told KCEN his clients wanted Maddox returned to class immediately. He confirmed they were considering a complaint with the Texas Education Agency as well as a lawsuit.

“I think that their dress code policies are outdated,” McCoy said. “There’s a lot of Texas independent school districts that have outdated policies which prevent male students from having ponytails, pigtails, buns. It has no legitimate basis at all. It has nothing to do with educating the students. Clearly, to me, it’s discriminatory to his race and his culture.”