A Valley school says they’ve re-evaluated their dress code to be more culturally aware after a boy was told his braids violated their policy.
Last week ABC15 reported amom pulled her son out of Teleos Preparatory Academy in Phoenix after she received a phone call from staff that he was violating their dress code because he had braided hair.
Teleos is a public charter school located near 14th and Jefferson streets. ABC15 looked at the school's family handbook at the time, which spelled out expectations for boys on page 49. It read:
"No shaved heads, Mohawks, rat’s tails, pony tails, or braids."
Great Hearts Academies, which Teleos is a part of, released the following statement Tuesday:
Recently, a student at Great Hearts Teleos Preparatory Academy was told his hairstyle did not comply with the current dress code policy at our schools. This event has triggered an internal review to determine what changes may be needed to ensure this policy is sensitive to the cultural diversity we are proud to have in our academies. We have reached out to the family of the student involved to explain that their son is welcome at Great Hearts with no change in hairstyle. Our grooming policy is well intentioned, but we appreciate this young man and his family bringing this forward and will make appropriate adjustments.
ABC15 has reached out to the school to find out if the policy itself is being changed, or if they’re just making exceptions in certain scenarios. A spokesperson released the following statement regarding this:
The wording of the policy will be changed. We are currently working on a comprehensive review of the policy and will implement changes once this process is complete. Thanks.
ABC15 reached out to the mother of the student mentioned and she says she’s grateful for the change but doesn’t plan to return him to the school as of right now.
