school

'My son was sent home from school for his "offensive" haircut, and I'm furious.'

 

A Perth mother and her teenage son are reeling after he was sent home from school for having an ‘inappropriate’ hair cut.

“He got it cut short on the sides and he’s got it just a little bit long on top. It’s not even two centimetres long on top, not like it’s a long fringe down to his nose or anything like that,” an angry Sandra Fedele told 6PR host Gary Ashead on Monday.

But the haircut, which son Jake got for a family wedding on the weekend, was deemed ‘offensive’ by teachers at Corpus Christi College in the city’s southern suburbs.

 "He texted me and said ‘Mum, I’ve been told I have to go home, I’m not allowed to be at school, my hair’s too short’." (Image: Channel Seven News)

“This morning he went to school on his last day to get his exam results, he’s Year 10," Sandra explained on air. "He texted me and said ‘Mum, I’ve been told I have to go home, I’m not allowed to be at school, my hair’s too short’."

The news was baffling to Sandra, who insists “he’s just got a boy’s haircut, literally a boy’s haircut and he’s got a side part".

According to the school's policy, students must have hair shorter than a standard number two blade cut, but Sandra says Jake's hair still falls within the rules.

Even after hand delivering a note from her son's barber to state he had indeed received a blade two cut, the student was only allowed back into class on the condition he wore "a hat on his head all day long" as his hair "may offend".

The student was only allowed back into class on the condition he wore "a hat on his head all day long". (Image: Channel Seven News)
“How can that offend anyone?” a frustrated Sandra asked listeners.
“I said ‘you’re discriminating against my child’. It’s just wrong.”

In a subsequent interview with Seven News, Jake slammed the school's strict approach to hairstyles as “stupid”.

“I thought it was silly. I don’t know why they stopped me for my hair, told me I had to go home. I think it was stupid,” he said.

The length of Jake's hair on the sides and back. (Image: Channel Seven News)

A statement released by the Catholic Education board of WA said it was inappropriate for the school to comment on an individual situation.

“The college has a clearly defined and consistently applied uniform policy, and parents and caregivers agree to this policy when enrolling their child as a student of the college,” the statement read.

“It is intended that uniform standards will be adhered to by all students, whenever attending school.

“Decisions by college staff regarding the enforcement of the uniform policy are always made in the best interests of each student’s education.”