from: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0410b2profile10.html
Too cool for school? Teen's hair keeps him out of photo Emily Bittner The Arizona Republic Apr. 10, 2003 12:00 AM
PHOENIX - Richie Schuster says he's hardly a dyed-in-the-wool rebel. But the 14-year-old's hairstyle - long, bleached-blond hair with black stripes - prompted his middle school principal to exclude him from a class photo.
Desert Mountain Middle School officials say Schuster's hairstyle was disruptive. His mom says he was expressing his individuality.
Are they just splitting hairs?
Marni Schuster, the boy's mother and a Scottsdale stylist who dyed his hair, said that working with school officials has been a hair-raising experience.
Richie's shoulder-length hair was pink during the summer and bleached blond during most of the school year. He added the stripes for zest.
"I was bored with my hair," he said.
Richie, who sat against a wall in the gym when the class photo was taken, gets mostly A's and B's, he said. He's on an informal flag football team and plays bass and occasionally sings in a punk band after school. He and his friends are making a home movie called Dominoes.
The first time school officials spoke to him about his hair being a problem was at the picture. Since the photo session last month, no one has asked him to change his hairstyle, he said.
Principal Carol Kendrick declined to comment on the specifics of the situation. She said that the Schusters needed to follow the proper channels for their complaint.
"When you have a school our size, there do need to be some guidelines set for what's appropriate and what's inappropriate," Kendrick said. "It's just unfortunate that Richie Schuster went outside those guidelines and had to be excluded."
The guidelines state that hair shouldn't draw undue attention or cause unnecessary disruptions.
The eighth-grade class has become particularly close-knit this school year after two students committed suicide, Richie said.
A class photo is taken of all the eighth-graders, who are the graduating class. Richie's mother said the school offered to have another photographer come and take small group photos.
That's not enough, she said.
"To take this away from him is really unfair," said his mother, who is considering legal action. She said his exclusion sent the message that school officials "overlooked the kind of person he is for what he looked like."
Reach the reporter at emily.bittner@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-6846.