NBC News Reports on Akin Gump’s Pro Bono Representation of Texas High School Students in Race and Gender Discrimination Suit Against School District
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In the article “Parents of 2 black Texas teens sue school district over ‘discriminatory hair policy,’” NBC News has reported on Akin Gump’s pro bono representation of two black high school students and their mothers who are suing the students’ prior school district and several administrators over a policy regulating the length of the students’ hair—worn in locs—that caused their constructive expulsion.
The lawsuit, filed jointly with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in federal court in Houston, alleges race and gender discrimination and says the hair policy infringed upon the students’ constitutional rights. The length of one’s locs, the suit says, has “no bearing on students’ capacity to learn.” One of the students, a senior, was suspended in January and told he would not be allowed to walk at his graduation ceremony unless he cut his hair to meet the school district’s dress code, the article reports.
The Akin Gump team representing the students’ mothers in the suit comprises litigation practice head Stephen Baldini, senior counsel Roxanne Tizravesh and Michael Reeder, counsel Nicholas Petree, and associates Christina Hightower and Alyx Eva.
To read the complaint in full, please click here.
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