Families rally to show support for charter school's 'distracting hair' policy

MALDEN, Mass. — Dozens rallied in the rain Thursday evening to support their school days after its board voted to suspend a hair policy the Attorney General’s Office called “unlawful.”

Twin sisters Mya and Deanna Cook, 15, received daily detentions and were barred from prom, sports and after-school activities at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden, after refusing to remove their braided hair extensions.  The girls’ hairstyle violated the hair section of the uniform policy, which bans what the school calls “distracting” styles, including “unnatural colors,” fades and hair extensions.

“There is a policy in place, and we’re all aware of it,” said Maria Corrado, a Mystic Valley Regional Charter School parent, who stood in support of the school Thursday. “We’re very aware as parents what that policy is each year. We sign a contract to it, and we’ve not had an issue.”

But the sophomore sisters feel the rule discriminates against black students.

The Civil Rights Division of the Attorney General's Office ordered the school to stop enforcing the policy in a letter last week, and the National Association for the Advanced of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union also lent their support to the girls.

On Sunday, the board of trustees unanimously voted to suspend the rule for the remainder of the year amid protests against it.

“This is something black people do to their hair to take care of it, to help it grow, to strengthen it,” Deanna Cook told Boston 25 News on Monday. “And them taking that away is taking part of my culture. That’s not okay.”

Parents at Thursday’s rally said they are upset the school has been called racist.

“This isn’t about race,” parent Danielle Murray said. “This is about hair. And we support change. We support going about it the right way.”

Emily Paisner, too, said she welcomes change, but she believes the school is unfairly getting a bad name. The diversity in the school is one of the things her family loves most about MVRCS, she said.

“The rules are antiquated; they need to be changed, absolutely,” Paisner said. “But the rules have been implemented across the board, whether race, age, boy, girl. They’re just very strict with their policies, because they want to be everybody on the same socioeconomic playing field when they come to school to learn.”

The school defended its policy in a letter to families last week, saying the board chose to suspend the policy to avoid a "legal battle" that would drain energy, money and resources from the school and its students. While hair punishments were canceled after the decision, the future of the policy beyond the end of the school year is unclear.

The Massachusetts Charter Public School Association urged the school to rescind the policy in a statement last weekend.

“The Board took the right action to suspend its discriminatory policy, and now needs to rescind it permanently,” Executive Director Marc Kenen said. “We are proud of the two young women, Deanna and Mya Cook, and their parents, for standing up for themselves and their rights.”

Cox Media Group