Forum to discuss racial bias in school policies scheduled in Jackson

Red braids

Marian Scott, 8, wasn't allowed to take her school picture because her hair color was against the Paragon Charter Academy handbook.

JACKSON, MI – A forum on racial bias in school policies is scheduled for Tuesday after an 8-year-old girl wasn’t allowed to take her school picture because her red braids violated the dress code.

Paragon Charter Academy refused to let Marian Scott, 8, take her school photo Oct. 3 because unnatural hair colors are against the dress code. When her story made national headlines, forum organizer Hakim Crampton decided to bring in experts for a community discussion, he said.

“I think that it’s a conversation that our residents need to have, given the topic matter at hand, how children could potentially be harmed by a policy that oftentimes parents may be unaware of,” Crampton said.

Members of the panel include State Rep. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, diversity management consultant Katena Cain, Wayne State University professor Thomas Pedroni and Marian’s father, Doug Scott.

Anthony introduced a bill in July to expand the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to ban discrimination against people based on hair texture and protective hairstyles as “traits historically associated with race.”

Paragon is a K-8 charter school in Summit Township, just west of Jackson. About 640 students attend the school, which is operated by Grand Rapids-based National Heritage Academies. As a charter school, Paragon is publicly funded, but operates independently of the public school system.

“I think the most important thing is that we’re going to be able to get educated about this, whether or not that a school – whether it’s a public charter or a private or whatnot – can actually enact a policy of this nature,” Crampton said. “I think that’s the real question at hand. People aren’t sure if the school actually has the authority to craft a policy of this nature.”

The forum is scheduled for 6 p.m., Oct. 15 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 1107 Adrian St.

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