A Kansas school forced a Native American boy to cut his hair, drawing a warning from ACLU

The 8-year-old boy, a member of the Wyandotte Nation, started growing his hair out after attending the Nation's annual gathering. School officials at a Gerard elementary warned his family that his hair needed to be cut to comply with the dress code, which the ACLU says violates his religious freedom.
Officials at R.V. Haderlein Elementary in Girard, Kansas, forced an 8-year-old Native American boy to cut his hair, despite objections that he grew it out to connect with his cultural heritage.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas warned the district in a letter Friday that the school policy is both a violation of religious freedom and one that promotes “rigid gender norms.”

“The present-day harms of school policies that restrict Native American boys from wearing long hair must be understood in the historical context of multifaceted efforts to separate Native American children from their families and tribes and to deny them their rights of cultural and religious expression,” the ACLU letter reads. “Haderlein’s policy impacts Native American students disproportionately and perpetuates a legacy of cultural, psychological, and spiritual trauma and discrimination.”