Online Public Relations Thoughts

A school district wants conformity in hair styles.  A black youth wants his dreadlocks.  The youth gets suspended and the school district is sued.  Each side thinks it is in the right.  This is a case of clashing perceptions and there is no good way out of them except through the courts.  The youth maintains that dreadlocks are part of his heritage.  The school points to dress codes that it believes are essential to good order.  It is up to a judge now to determine which view must yield.  There is no palliative communication that will work.  One or the other will have to give way.