DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — It’s the first week of school for a lot of metro-Atlanta districts, but one school in Dekalb County is already facing criticism.
A mom posted a photo on her Facebook page that soon went viral. The photo showed posters at the school deeming what are “appropriate” hairstyles for students of color.
The photo was taken at Narvie Harris Elementary School in DeKalb County. The poster shows African-American male students side by side with captions of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” to describe different hairstyles.
For boys, any hairstyle with a design is deemed inappropriate, while braids are labeled the same for girls.
The Dekalb County Schools District responded to 11Alive with a statement reading in part, “The images depicted in this post in no way reflect a DCSD policy regarding appearance. This was a miscommunication at the school level and is being handled by school leadership.”
A DCSD representative didn’t give specific numbers but said the school is more than 90 percent African-American, including staff and students.
The original poster of the picture declined to be interviewed by 11Alive and asked that her name not be included in the story. The image, however, was shared close to 4,000 times.
Vanity Mann, the aunt of a student at Narvie, was upset over the posters.
“These are protective styles for our kids. This is something that we’ve always done. Honing in on our kids and taking away their creativity thinking that it’s a distraction. It’s only a distraction because they’re making it a distraction,” said Mann. “As long as they’re appropriate and they’re not showing anything and they’re fully dressed, I don’t see the problem with hairstyles.”
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