A 7-year-old Tennessee boy who copied the “high and tight” haircut of his active duty stepbrother was forced to shave his head by his school, which said the haircut was against regulations.
Adam Stinnett attends Bobby Ray Memorial Elementary School in McMinnville, which has a school policy against
“mohawk haircuts or other extreme cuts,” The Army Times reported. When the boy showed up at school with a military haircut to mimic his stepbrother, Spc. Justin Bloodworth, the principal told him it was against policy and wrote him up for breaking the rules.
But Amy Stinnett, Adam’s mother, didn’t agree with the assessment and sent him back to school without changing the haircut. She was then contacted by the school, met with the principle, and was told it would have to change before Adam could return. With such a short haircut, she felt she had no choice but to shave her son’s head.
“They made him feel upset. They broke his heart. He didn't deserve that,” Stinnett told the Times.
As the story was shared through the media and online, many people contacted the school to express their displeasure that a traditional military haircut wasn’t allowed. In fact, the school, which the Times pointed out is ironically named after a Medal of Honor winner, received so much negative feedback that it took down its Facebook page.
The school district told the Times that each school makes its own decisions on dress code and haircuts. A district spokesperson, Bobby Cox, told the Times, “It's been portrayed that we are anti-military, anti-patriot, and we are not. I'm just sorry that's been the way it's been portrayed."
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