Natural hairstyles for students, staff in Wake schools to soon have CROWN Act protections
Hairstyles such as dreadlocks, cornrows and afros will soon be formally protected in Wake County schools.
The Wake County school board gave initial approval Tuesday to adding protections for natural hairstyles to the student dress code as well as employee dress and anti-discrimination policies. The updated policies require schools to allow students and employees to wear “protective, natural or cultural hairstyles.”
The policy changes are meant to address concerns of hair discrimination experienced by some people, particularly Black women, due to their race and ethnicity. Board members said they wanted to send a message to students and school employees that they can “rock” their natural hair.
“This is a historic first where students can actually embrace their hairstyles without feeling discriminated against or not feel as if they are viewed as less than,” said school board member Tyler Swanson. “Even our staff can rock their locs or however they choose with pride.”
The board is scheduled to give final approval to the policy changes in July.
Advancing the CROWN Act
The policy changes are based on the CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
The CROWN campaign is part of a national effort to include hair and hairstyle as part of discrimination protections. Supporters of the campaign say it’s in response to how Black women have endured discrimination due to wearing their natural hairstyles.
There have been highly publicized cases around the country involving hairstyles with racial overtones. In April 2021, a Black softball player at Hillside High School in Durham had to cut out her beads to continue playing in her team’s senior night game.
County governments in Wake, Durham, Orange and Mecklenburg, as well as cities such as Raleigh, Durham, Carrboro and Greensboro have adopted non-discrimination policies based on the CROWN Act.
Legislation to make the CROWN Act state law has stalled in the General Assembly. But hairstyles have been added to state agencies’ racial discrimination protections.
Examples of permitted hairstyles
The policies single out examples of what would now be expressly permitted.
“Students are free to adopt hairstyles of their choice, whether short, long, shaved, braided, curled, twisted, knotted, or otherwise,” according to the updated student dress code policy. “In particular, schools must permit protective, natural, or cultural hairstyles, including but not limited to such hairstyles as braids, dreadlocks, locs, twists, tight curls or cornrows, Bantu knots, afros, geles, and other culturally expressive hair ties or headwraps.”
Similar wording that schools must permit natural hairstyles is included in the new employee dress code policy.
Schools would be allowed to impose restrictions on hairstyles “only when strictly necessary” for “health” or “safety” reasons. Examples listed include physical education classes, science labs and wood shop.
The employee dress code says personnel will be “appropriately attired for the work to be done.” It also says an employee’s dress must not disrupt or distract from the educational process or work environment.
The policies warn that any hairstyle restrictions “must be applied consistently without regard to race, ethnicity, or other protected status.” The revised anti-discrimination policy warns that questioning people’s hair can’t be used as a proxy for racial discrimination.
School board vice chair Monika Johnson-Hostler has been lobbying for the policy changes for several years.
Johnson-Hostler said that people hadn’t been reporting hair discrimination before because it wasn’t protected in policy. She had been sharing with her colleagues anecdotes about the discrimination experienced by families over their natural hair.
“I feel grateful that you all supported and understood that our anecdotes were real and necessary to move forward with these policies,” Johnson-Hostler said.
