Boy forced to shave haircut honoring military brother

A 7-year-old Tennessee boy was forced by his elementary school to shave his military-style haircut, which was worn to honor his brother serving in Afghanistan.

The Washington Times reported that Adam Stinnett was sent to the principal’s office after a teacher at the Bobby Ray Memorial Elementary School called his haircut a distraction.  When he went home after school that day, he carried with him a note to his mother stating his haircut was deemed inappropriate.

Amy Stinnett said the note read, “We’re not a military school, and it has to be cut or he cannot return to school until it is.”  Ironically, the school, located about an hour or so from Nashville, is named after a veteran who was killed in the Vietnam War.

According to FOX 17, Adam’s older brother Justin is a soldier and the boy just wanted to have a “high and tight” hairstyle, too.  Amy said she told the school that the trim was not a Mohawk, but was a military-style haircut.

“It broke my heart. It pretty much crushed a 7-year-old’s dreams,” she said.

Schools Director Bobby Cox wouldn’t comment on the incident but did state that there is no district policy on military-style haircuts.  However, he noted that each school has the authority to make decisions on a case-by-case basis and on whether or not a hairstyle is distracting.

“The school should be ashamed of themselves,” Adam’s mother said. She wants the school to apologize to her son and won’t be happy until he gets one.