A Texas teen boy was given an ultimatum by his school to cut his hair or don’t return after he grew out his hair to make a wig for his sick sister.
Newt Johnson’s sister Maggie is suffering from an illness that started making her hair fall out.
The 16-year-old boy has been growing out his hair for his younger sister to help her in future. “He’s growing out his hair in case I need a wig,” Maggie, 11, told the outlet.
Maggie told she often gets nauseous and has to undergo chemotherapy and dialysis. To help his sister, Newt decided to grow out his hair, as Maggie once told him that she liked his tresses.
“It made me feel good that I could do something for her,” he told the outlet.
Newt was aware that he needed between eight and 14 inches of hair to donate to the nonprofit Locks of Love. The length of his hair violated Poth High School’s student handbook.
The teen told the outlet that his Principal ordered him to trim his locks by the end of the three-day weekend following Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January.
The Poth Student Handbook states that male students’ hair “shall not extend beyond the ear opening on the sides nor beyond the top of a dress shirt collar in the back… Hair may not extend over the top of the eyebrow, hang over the face and eyes or be distracting to others or self.”
“It really stressed me out because I already worried about my sister,” he said.
He discussed the matter with his parents and decided to withdraw from the school and rather be home-schooled.
When he returned the school at that time without a haircut, his mother, Jamie Mathis-Johnson, was asked to pick him up and take him home.
“The parent declined the offer from the Poth High School principal, Mr. [Todd] Deaver to set up a meeting with the superintendent to discuss her dissatisfaction with the dress code,” Renken told CNN.
Newt’s mother met with school officials but refused to accept their decision when they declined to adjust the hair rules for Newt’s situation. “I don’t understand why he has to get in trouble for doing this for me,” Maggie told the outlet.
Renken told CNN that had Newt returned to school sans haircut, he “would not have been denied his education,” but would have received either an in-school suspension or after-school detention.
“It was never about not supporting a sick child,” she said.
Newt is still growing out his hair to help out his younger sister. “Listen to your kids,” dad Alan Johnson told WOAI/KABB. “If they really believe in something, even if it does go against the rules, sometimes you just have to dig deep, see if it’s really worth it or not. It’s worth it.”
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