Boy grows hair long for cancer victims, gets suspended

A boy's hair and earring violates school dress code

A Texas first grader has learned the hard way the saying “no good deed goes unpunished.”

Gareth Shand, 6, had grown his hair out over the summer with plans on eventually cutting it and donating the hair to the charity Locks of Love, which uses the hair to make wigs for cancer victims who lose their hair due to treatment.

But long hair on boys is a no-no in Gareth’s school district, and he received an in-school suspension for the infraction, according to KENS-5.

The district’s rules handbook says that boys must keep their hair “must be kept neat, clean and well-groomed.”

Also at issue was that Gareth ran afoul of the school’s rule against earrings — Gareth has worn a diamond earring since he was an infant, and his mother, Kandi Shand, says the boy has worn the earring for “five years with no problems” while they lived in North and South Carolina before moving to Texas.

Kandi added that Gareth will be “sitting in the principal’s office every day” until she gets him a haircut and removes his earring.

Kandi is going to fight the dress code policy with the school board, claiming that it “discriminates against boys.”