ROBESON COUNTY, N.C. (WBTW) — Some Robeson County families are feeling slight relief after the Charter School their sons attended recant their decision of not allowing boys to have long hair.
News13’s Maya Lockett got reaction from some parents in the Lumbee Tribe.
It’s been four months since Classical Charters School of America in Whiteville and Leland, North Carolina, sent some parents letters stating their sons buns and ponytails were no longer accepted at school and deemed as “faddish.”
“The school has already inflicted so much trauma on children, who have obviously already, you know, cut their hair to be compliant with the school’s rules,” said Ashley Lomboy, whose son is a student at Classical Charter School of Leland.
Since then, some Robeson County parents along with families across southeastern North Carolina rallied together at school board meetings, asking for support from the American Civil Liberties Union. That gave the school no other option than to change its policy.
“They verbally said that, that braids and buns are not considered a fad. They also said that, ‘hey, you can wear your hair in a bun,'” Lomboy said. “Like he’s been wearing it and that is acceptable with the school again, verbally. That’s not written in the policy anywhere. But yeah, they felt that changing the word trim to clean would take away the need for shortening boys’ hair.”
Lomboy’s son is a 6-year-old who attended Classical Charter Schools of America at its Leland campus. She said her sons hair is part of their cultural and religious heritage as a Lumbee Indian.
“Logan has been wearing his hair down and long and beautiful,” she said. “He just enjoys being who he is.”
Despite the school now allowing boys to wear their hair in buns or ponytails, Lomboy said she is still considering other schools for Logan. She’s even had schools reach out to her.
“Which is amazing as what you want to hear as a parent, and so very appreciative of all the schools in our area who have stepped up to the plate and said ‘hey, we openly will want to accept Indigenous kids,'” Lomboy said.
Unfortunately, however, some families that live in rural areas do not have that same option.
“There’s not a lot of other really good schools options for the kids to go to,” Lomboy said. “And so, I really feel my prayers are with families who are making a lot more harder choices than myself.”
Lomboy said the entire process has been shocking for herself and her family.
“I am 110% shocked that this even happened . . . I hope that this, you know, exercise that we’ve all kind of gone through the past six, seven months, serves as being a lesson for all schools and how we can be inclusive and how not doing that can harm our children.”
