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The board of trustees for the Judson Independent School District approved a change to the district dress code at the end of June that advocates say could be discriminatory against Black students.
Judson’s dress code has been updated to say, “Hair must be neat and clean” and that “Hairstyles and/or hair colors that are considered by school administration to be distracting and/or disruptive to the educational environment are prohibited.”
The policy previously said, “Student hairstyles must be groomed appropriately and may not be a distraction to the educational environment.”
Advocates with both Texas Appleseed and the Intercultural Development Research Association said the policy is vague and open to subjective interpretation that could lead school administrators to punish Black hairstyles like locs.
“What are we defining as neat and clean, and who specifically within the district is making this determination?” asked Princess Jefferson, a fellow with Texas Appleseed. “Is it other people of color, is it other Black people specifically? Because if the answer is no, then once again we are putting, particularly Black students, in a position where the cultural characteristics of our hair are wildly unrepresented and unconsidered.”
Judson ISD serves a higher number of Black students than many Bexar County school districts. About 21% of Judson students are Black, according to state data. Census records show that about 8% of people in Bexar County are Black.
Before the board voted on the policy change, IDRA sent an email to trustee Laura Stanford raising concerns.
“The requirement that students’ hairstyles be “neat” and non-distracting is a subjective determination. Our concern is that this would expose students to unnecessary school discipline, especially for Black and Brown students who have curly, coily, or kinky hair textures,” the email said, according to language IDRA Chief Legal Analyst Paige Duggins-Clay later shared with Texas Public Radio.
Stanford pulled the dress code for discussion before the vote in order to raise IDRA’s concerns.
“I agreed when I read it, but I've also since had feedback that that could be very subjective,” Stanford said during the board meeting on June 25. “You could feasibly have a student in one class that the teacher doesn't consider distracting, (and another teacher in) another classroom that does so. How are we drawing that line? How are we making that determination?” Stanford asked.
District administrators said they added language giving campus principals, rather than individual teachers, the authority to decide if hairstyles are prohibited.
“Oftentimes I understand that that could be discretionary. However, I trust that our administrators are going to be as diligent as possible in ensuring that everything is considered,” Deputy Superintendent Cecilia Davis said. “I know that there are some biases that can occur, and that's part of the training that we receive, but ultimately, if it becomes a distraction to the learning environment, we want to make sure that it is groomed, that it is clean, and that it is neat.”
Stanford read aloud IDRA’s suggested alternative policy language: “Hair must be clean and styled to avoid causing safety or health hazards, distractions or disruptions in the educational setting” but did not mention the organization’s concerns about the proposed policy exposing Black and Brown students with to more discipline.
“Any feedback on that? Any objections to it?” Stanford asked of IDRA’s proposed language.
“I think how it is worded on the code of conduct pretty much says that,” Trustee Stephanie Jones said.
When asked to weigh in, Deputy Superintendent Mary Duhart-Toppen reiterated that only the school principal would decide what hairstyles or hair colors are a distraction.
“The time that we live in right now, you'll see a little bit of everything on campuses,” Duhart-Toppen said. “A teacher can be offended because your hair is orange, but that is the norm at any of the campuses that you go on today.”
“I think that we train our principals well enough to know that you don't take that step unless it is hindering the educational environment, if it is a safety issue,’ Duhart-Toppen added. “So, I think spelling it out like that is not necessary, because I think the way it's written right now is pretty clear.”
“OK, I just promised I'd bring that forward,” Stanford said, and trustees voted 6-0 to approve the dress code changes as proposed by district administrators.
Jefferson, the Texas Appleseed fellow, said that having Black people involved in determining what hairstyles are allowed is important in order to consider the cultural and protective practice behind hairstyles.
“We wear our hair in various protective styles because breakage for our hair is just so common practice, whether we choose to wear locs, twists, braids, all of which come in various shapes and styles, and what may work for one person may not work for the other person in our community,” Jefferson said.
“I looked and saw that of all (seven of) the trustees, none of them are Black, so none of them can speak to what it's like to grow up having Black hair, what it's like to care for our hair,” Jefferson added, noting that Black hairstyles have a history of being subjected to discipline in Texas schools, most notably in 2024 when Darryl George was placed in in-school suspension for most of his junior year.
Judson previously had Black board members but does not currently. The board fired their Black superintendent, Milton Fields, earlier this year.
However, Deputy Superintendent Duhart-Toppen, who spoke during the June 25 board meeting, is Black, and so is Judson’s Director of Pupil Services, who drafted the memo outlining the dress code policy changes.
According to district administrators, school principals will be the ones deciding what it means for hair to be neat and not distracting. Out of Judson’s 12 middle school and high school principals, two are Black.
In a statement responding to the concerns raised by IDRA and Texas Appleseed, Judson officials said the district reviews its dress code every year “through a collaborative process” that includes feedback from principals, teachers, parents and students.
“The district also seeks student input through the Judson ISD Superintendent Student Advisory Council (SSAC). Comprised of sophomores, juniors, and seniors from each high school, the SSAC works directly with the superintendent and district administrators to provide student perspectives on matters affecting their educational experience,” the statement said. “The council serves as a representative voice for students across the district, offering feedback on issues that impact school climate, student success, and equitable access to a safe learning environment.”
TPR specifically asked Judson officials about Jefferson’s concerns that Black students could be subject to discipline for protective hairstyles. The district’s statement did not address that concern.
