Parma, Ohio- (AP) - A kindergarten student with a freshly spiked Mohawk has been suspended from school. Michelle Barile, the mother of 6-year-old Bryan Ruda, said nothing in the Parma Community School handbook prohibits the haircut, characterized by closely shaved sides with a strip of prominent hair on top. The school said the hair was a distraction for other students.

"I understand they have a dress code. I understand he has a uniform. But this is total discrimination," she said. "They can't tell me how I can cut his hair."

Mohawks violate the school's policy on being properly groomed, school Principal Linda Geyer said. The school district's dress code allows school officials to forbid anything that interferes with the conduct of education.

Rather than request a hearing to appeal the suspension, Barile said she'll enroll him at another school. Changing the hairstyle is not an option, she said.
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I understand that you have to stand up for what you believe in but taking the kid out of school completely and putting him in a different one plus who knows how that is gonna affect the parents schedule for pretty much everything involving their lives and who knows how far the other school is from their house. Why not just suck it up and cut his hair? It would only take 5-10 minutes. That would probably be a lot easier but come on a mo-hawk??? Thats so 80's-early-90's! lol j/k no offense to our members with the hawks!

when my sister was in japan.. the dress codes for students were so strict that boys were sent home if their hair was too long. they all had to have fairly closely cropped hair.
seriously i dont know what some ppl think with their kids hair styles.. i still see kids with mullets, rat tails and the closely cropped hair with the long fringe and long section at the nape of the neck... so very tragic

Thank goodness I live somewhere liberal.

My sister's nephew suffers from OSI III (sever brittle bone disease) and his mother is a funky artist. She's and him have been doing his hair up in goofy ways since he was 2. It's part of who he is. My favorite was the blue mohawk with the golden yellow tips he had when he was about 7. It was great! (that was 12 years ago though). No school here would dare throw him out.

yeah I agree with the mother, she had fully read and understood their manual, it's pure discrimination!

What's wrong with mohawks? I'm sporting one right(though I'm letting my hair grow). I think they're cool. I think little kids with mohawks are kind of adorable.


I would have gone to another school where they don't gave a hoot about hairstyles.



That's like me working and they threaten to fire me unless I cut my hair. I would have quit my job & find other job where they're not worried about my hair.

This is odd?

My high school was tight as hell when it came to haircuts and facial hair, the exact same thing happened to about 3 students during the time I was there.

Anyway, needless to say I disagree with this.

I agree with the mother, but I wouldn't change schools...I'd tough it out with the school board and let them show me where it's written that a kid has to have a certain haircut....Down here I see kids with mohawks, ponytails, dreadlocks, long hair and no hair....So what...As far as distracting the other kids, come on...Seven year old kids are distracted when a leaf floats past a window....The distraction will eventually wear off...Sounds like a bunch of old farts at the school....

edited for leaving out a letter (duh)

My 7 month old son has a natural mohawk of sorts. his hair is long on top, but short around the sides and back. every now and then we spike it up in a mohawk just because it's cute.

if his hair never grew anymore (lol, being hypothetical here), and he went to school with his natural cut (which happens to be a mohawk), and they told me he had to go home, i'd be pissed. I'd go down to that school and break my foot off in that principals ass.

no way would someone make me change my child's hairstyle. ESPECIALLY since in his case, it's natural. But even though this boy's hawk wasn't natural, it doesn't matter. The mother is absolutely right....no one can tell you how to cut your child's hair.

I also would have liked to see the mom tough it out. If anything, it would be setting a good example for her son. Don't give up or give in if you believe you are in the right.

Now if the rules said " No Mohawks ", well then that's different.

My grandson has a head of hair that would make anyone want to kill for it....Black, curley, down to his shoulders...He's constantly getting it trimmed because it grows so fast...Here I go again, but he plays ice hockey, puts a head band on and pulls his hair back in a pony tail under his helmet...For the longest time, the other teams thought we had a girl goalie My poiint being, that if his coach had said to him that he needed to get it cut, (most of the team have baldies), then he would have....He wears it neat to school, and there has never been a problem....

No need to suspend him like that, I mean, when I was about 6, it didn't take much to distract the class (Hair didn't even matter...!)

I'm from the school of "it could'a been worse"

Personally i think it,s such a trivial thing for the school board to get their nickers in a twist about! Thats what kids do, they try different fun stuff throughout their youth, when it,s perfectly normal to do so! They will find themselves locked into all the "have to,s" when they graduate and need to start job hunting etc...! I say leave the kids hair alone , as long as he does his work at school who cares!