UPDATE: May 21, 2019
The Pearland Independent School District (ISD) in Texas said that the administrator who used a permanent marker to color in a Black student’s haircut design will remain on campus. The incident garnered national attention last month after seventh-grader Juelz Trice’s mother, Angela Washington, posted photos on her Facebook page that went viral.
The school district explained in a statement that the administrator at Berry Miller Junior High School “offered two appropriate options for a student who showed up to class with a ‘carving’ in his hair, which is a dress code violation,” according to ABC 13.
Pearland ISD said the administrator also offered a third option, the use of the marker, which they called “inappropriate.” But the option was used immediately.
“When it first happened, I was very upset because I didn’t find out until after he got off the bus and he got into the car and said, ‘Look what they did to my head,'” Trice’s mother said in April.
Pearland ISD said in a statement that the superintendent would like for parents and the general public to give the administrator a second chance as the “man has humbly apologized, expressed great regret over this matter, and has resolved to re-earn the trust and confidence placed upon him.”
The HoustonPress identified the administrator as the assistant principal, Tony Barcelona.
“Equally infuriating to critics was the fact that after briefly being placed on administrative leave, the assistant principal, Tony Barcelona, was reinstated and even promoted to the principal’s position at the middle school,” according to the publication.
Parents are still upset about Barcelona’s actions and plan to address Pearland ISD trustees at their regular meeting on Tuesday to discuss concerns about the district’s dress code.
A Berry Miller Junior High School administrator has been suspended after making a Black student use a permanent marker to color in a design shaved into his hair cut.
The assistant principal at the school in Pearland, a city south of Houston, gave the student the option of getting reprimanded or using a permanent marker to cover the letter “M” design on the left side of his head.
A woman, Angela Washington, who appears to be his mother, wrote in a Facebook post, which went viral, that the assistant principal, who has not been named, “told him he was out of dress code with his designs and decided to color my baby design with a PERMANENT MARKER!”
Pearland Independent School District said in a statement the student’s haircut violated the dress code, which states, “Hair must be neat, clean and well groomed. Extreme hairstyles such as carvings, mohawks, spikes, etc. are not allowed.”
The assistant principal administrative leave.
“District administration has contacted the student’s family to express our sincerest apology and extreme disappointment in this situation, which does not fall in line with the values of Pearland ISD,” the statement reads.
