The parents of a black Texas teenager are suing their son's school district after officials took a Sharpie marker to the youth's head and colored in his faded haircut so it would meet the school's dress code, CNN reported.
The federal civil rights lawsuit was formally filed on Sunday against the Pearland independent school district (ISD), as well as against three staff members of Berry Miller junior high.
While eating breakfast in the cafeteria, he was ordered to the office, where administrators told the 13-year-old his haircut's design violated the school's dress code policy.
In order to avoid being suspended from class, J.T opted to have his scalp colored and proceeded to do so himself.
It was at this point that discipline clerk Helen Day, who was present during the incident, took the Sharpie and proceeded to color in the teen's head herself.
Each one allegedly took a turn blackening the boy's scalp, and all three administrators present are described in the lawsuit as being white.
It also says it took the teen "many days of scrubbing" before the permanent marker came off his head.
Randal Kallinen, attorney for the parents, said Day, the discipline clerk, should have known better how children should be disciplined.
In it, officials say they are "extremely disappointed" to learn of the situation, but insist that J.T's haircut did indeed violate district dress code.
They did however acknowledge that a "campus administrator mishandled disciplinary action" and said the district does not condone the practices shown by the staff named in the lawsuit.
The student's family has been contacted "to express our sincerest apology and extreme disappointment in this situation."
"Upon receipt, it will be reviewed by our legal counsel," the district's lawyer, Tanya Dawson, said in a statement.
The lawsuit asks for compensatory and punitive damages. It also asks the court to order that Pearland ISD employees receive racial sensitivity training regarding certain haircuts.
