Tennessee Father Outraged After 9-Year-Old Twins Suspended for 'Gang' Haircuts

Fox News
Mar. 23, 2010

A Tennessee father is calling for consequences after he says his 9-year-old twin sons were unjustly suspended from school and branded as gang members because they had a simple line shaved into their hair.

Paul Edwards told the Columbia Daily Herald that the school’s principal, Connie Brown, on Tuesday called the look a "gang haircut," gave them in-school suspension because of it and told them they couldn't return to school at all until they shaved their heads.

Edwards said it's just a style his sons happen to like and have been sporting since kindergarten.

The district's central office overturned the suspension the following day after Edwards complained, but Edwards told the Herald he wants Brown and Assistant Principal Jan Smith reprimanded for forcing his sons to miss a day of school and deal with the stigma associated with being suspended.

He also wants the matter purged from the boys’ permanent records, the Herald reported.

Brown, Smith and district spokeswoman Sharon Kinnard declined to give the Herald any comment on the incident.