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Friday, March 28, 1997
Court agrees to hear ponytail case
AUSTIN (AP) - The Texas Supreme Court today agreed to consider
the lawsuit against Bastrop Independent School District launched
in 1990 by a third-grader who refused to cut his ponytail.
The boy, Zachariah Toungate, was an 8 year old with a 7-inch
ponytail that violated the school district's grooming code when
the lawsuit began in 1990.
He won a district court decision against the rule governing
the length of boys' hair. The 3rd Court of Appeals in Travis County
gave him another victory last year, saying the rule is discriminatory
because it applies only to boys.
The school district appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which
agreed to consider the case.
Among other points, the school district said on appeal that
the 3rd Court erred in intervening in its enforcement of its student
dress and grooming code.
The Supreme Court in another case ruled in 1995 that hair-length
disputes in public schools should not be a matter for courts to
decide. The school district's lawyer has said the 3rd Court is
bound by that decision. The lawyer representing Zachariah has
disagreed, saying that case was different.
Because his hair violated the school rule, Zachariah had been
removed from general classrooms and prohibited from attending
school functions.
In 1991, his mother withdrew Zachariah from the school. He
attended several years of private school, and then studied in
home school.
The Supreme Court set arguments in the case for 9 a.m. April
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