Mom Stands Up For Her Son's Fashion Choice
By Crystal A. Proxmire
Originally printed 9/20/2012 (Issue 2038 - Between The Lines News)
http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=55773FERNDALE -
Nine-year-old Jack Kennedy got an unexpected lesson in equality last week when he was belittled and ostracized for wearing an earring to school. Fellow students did not dole out the social pressure and belittling, rather it came from Coolidge Intermediate Principal Eric Bruner, who claimed it was against school policy. Bruner informed Kennedy's mother, Sheri, that the fourth grade boy would be sent home and not allowed to return to school unless he removed his earring. He did not want boys looking like "playas," and that he wants them to be "respectable men."
Sheri immediately questioned the validity of the policy.
"I can't believe that with Ferndale Schools being so open to diversity, that they would have a policy like this," she said. When she researched it, she found out that there was no such policy. "Jack has worn an earring ever since he was two years old. This was never an issue at Roosevelt (his previous school in the same district,)" she said.
The nine-year-old was perplexed. "That's not fair that girls get to wear earrings but boys don't," he said as he played with his four sisters in the playground, the evening after his mother had a meeting with the principal.
