Dustin Reader, 8th Grader, Suspended For Bengals Haircut (PHOTO)

(AP) HAMILTON, Ohio - A young Cincinnati Bengals fan has been penalized for clipping. Dustin Reader got the NFL team's stripes and "B" insignia cut into his hair as a tribute to the team's good season. When he showed up to school in the southwest Ohio city of Hamilton on Monday, officials put the eighth-grader into in-school suspension. The school said its code of conduct prohibits extreme and distracting hairstyles.

Reader's parents and barber said they don't understand why the haircut is out of bounds. His father said his son just wants to show pride in the 6-2 Bengals.

School officials said he will continue to do his studies away from other students until the hair grows back or he changes the style.

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Comments

[Vetinari]

10:03 PM on 11/15/2009

Was it a private or public school?

[firelord5000]

01:30 PM on 11/14/2009

Usually I side with schools, but this is the most ridiculous thing ever.

[NurseTina]

10:57 PM on 11/13/2009

What the hell is wrong with these schools? They probably allow boys to walk around with their pants halfway down their buttocks, but this is distraction? Gine me a flippin break.

[marchamlin]

10:32 PM on 11/13/2009

America. Land of the free.

[ComicBooksandPolitics]

07:35 PM on 11/13/2009

That's a slippery slope.

[mykebee]

07:12 PM on 11/13/2009

I wonder what the punishment would be if he confessed to shaving his nads?

[PresidentRobertBooth]

05:25 PM on 11/13/2009

I admire this kid for having the guts to admit he's a Bengals fan.


Imagine the humiliation.

[Vetinari]

10:02 PM on 11/15/2009

I wouldn't call 6-2 a humiliation...

[kapalabhati]

01:56 PM on 11/13/2009

Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

[kelleyajones]

10:25 AM on 11/13/2009

It's a great teen haircut. How much violence and drug-abuse in this Hamilton, Ohio high school? Do students feel like they attend a safe and nonthreatening learning environment? It's a matter of priorities!

[DirtyDawg]

10:22 AM on 11/13/2009

Hey folks, what you don't know is that the principal is a Brown's fan.

[kapalabhati]

01:51 PM on 11/13/2009

If that's the case, then the principal has a much bigger problem!

[Cattin]

08:34 AM on 11/13/2009

I'm not trying to say anything negative about our school system in america but for being the country that has all these freedoms... Things like this make me think not so much... If a hair cut can basically rattle a school then we have bigger problem than recently thought...

[brady61995]

07:25 PM on 11/13/2009

just easier to keep it all the same. tomorrow he could show up with 3k's. hamilton is outside of cincinnati where simon leis is the sheriff, the people vs larry flynt sherrif

[ominous]

08:32 AM on 11/13/2009

It is extreme, but in a positive way. He's extremely supportive of his favirite team.

[StevenM]

08:28 AM on 11/13/2009

This type of stuff goes on all the time. On a school day where students were encouraged to wear t-shirts with slogans on them, my daughter had her t-shirt banned because it was deemed inappropriate, although her mother and I couldn’t figure out why, nor could the school articulate why it was deemed inappropriate. My favorite was the incident where in 1998 a student at Greenbrier High School in Evans, Georgia was suspended for wearing a Pepsi t-shirt on "Coke in Education Day" which was part of a larger promotional "Team up with Coca-Cola Contest." As if it was the school’s job to promote a particular brand of soft drink. I assume that at this school in Hamilton Ohio students are allowed to wear t-shirts with NFL insignia on them, just not there hair. From my point of view, I find nothing overly “distracting” about his Bengals hair cut. Unfortunately, schools are often made up of people who have a “little Napoleon” complex, they’re not so much interested in education as it telling what other can and cannot do.

[NurseTina]

11:00 PM on 11/13/2009

In Minnesota a few years back, there was a student that got in trouble (don't remember what the punishment was) for wearing a Packers shirt on a day the Vikings were visiting his school. Even the members of the Vikings team thought the punishment was ridiculous.

[mcantwell]

08:27 AM on 11/13/2009

I'm not surprised. When my daughter was in 8th grade, she was sent home because she had a few streaks of red in her hair. I had to leave work, take her home to wash out the red streaks, then take her back to school.

[TazoWolf]

08:20 AM on 11/13/2009

Distracting and extreme? Compared to what??? Kids where I live are sporting some of the more extreme styles from the 1980's... mowhawks, spikes, pinks and blues, etc. The Bengals logo is hardly inappropriate.

[brady61995]

07:27 PM on 11/13/2009

that set the tone, dog collars, spikes on boots, etc.. used to have to walk in my socks all day.