Sheldon Williams, Texas Student, Says School Officials Used Sharpie To Color His Hair

A Texas student is upset with school officials, saying administrators went too far when they used a permanent marker to fill in lines shaved into his hair.

Marshall Junior High student Sheldon Williams has two areas on his head where the shave is closer than the rest of his hair. School officials said it was a violation of the Marshall dress code, which prohibits "designs shaved into hair," KSLA reports.

"She said we're not supposed to have two parts, we can only have one," Williams told KSLA. "I was kind of mad cause I don't want no sharpie marker in my hair."

Williams tells KSLA that his hair has been styled and shaved like that for a while, and hasn't come across problems at school.

Williams' mother says she never received notification of the issue before the educator took a sharpie to her son's head, calling the failure to inform disrespectful.

The school's principal said it was her understanding that this was how similar violations were dealt with in the past, but regrets not calling Williams' parents and seeks to change protocol for the future.

School dress codes and how violations are handled are often contentious issues among schools, students and parents. Earlier this month, a 12-year-old Nebraska student was told by her principal she couldn't wear a necklace that looks like a rosary, citing its similarity to a gang symbol.

In August, the mother of a California elementary school student physically attacked her son's school principal after her 9-year-old son was told to turn his shirt inside-out because it had skulls and crossbones on it.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post cited portions of the story to KYTX. While KYTX contributed to the report, KSLA provided the original story.

Comments

[Sherie949]

05:19 PM on 10/20/2011

I cannot belive an adult would want to do this to a child. Very sick and twisted. This person should not be working with children. There is something deeply wrong when your punishment is to draw with permanent marker on a kid. Seriously? Is this principal educated? Why on earth would this be the solution. While I understand rules are rules, and do agree the parents and children should obey the rules, I do not condone an adult marking on a child's head as a form of punishment. Ridiculous! Seems to me that these teachers/principals who do this are just sick people. Someone does something like that to my kid and they will live to regret it.

[happyblackman]

09:57 AM on 10/17/2011

I know how this is going to go. The teacher will refuse to apologize, the board will dig its heals in and support her, and not discipline her for assaulting a student, and it will go to trial. Just apologize and nip all that in the bud!

[i the ys]

06:00 PM on 10/15/2011

Land of the free, home of the brave my asssssss.

[ljwynn14207]

07:40 AM on 10/15/2011

WOW! Really, are there more urgent needs to focus on on than a haircut, and we wonder why education is in the state its in right now!

[emkay625]

09:33 PM on 10/14/2011

I'm sorry, but I do not understand why people are so upset. Coloring a person's scalp is not abuse. It will wash out next time he showers and in no way hurts him. Also, they didn't physically restrain him or anything, just said you have to color in your lines in order to remain at school and the kid was a little upset but complied with that request. How is this abusive? Seems logical to me. If it was in the dress code, the kid should've known better.

[sacmom3]

12:11 PM on 10/16/2011

A simple battery occurs when a person:
■Makes intentional contact of an insulting or provoking nature with the person of another.

What was done to this boy is illegal.

[talleyb]

11:38 AM on 10/17/2011

You are exactly correct. I made a comment basically in the same regard as what you have just stated, and a lady takes issue with me, saying it amounts to a 'teacher's bullying a student'. WHAT? Seriously? My opinion is that the student's mother is the ones who is resorting to bully tactics. Taking it to the media, demanding an apology or facing administrative action? Now THAT'S bullying. Too many permissive parents these day, and too many people (like the one who responded to you above,) making excuses for kids who simply do not want to obey rules.

[tutorintoledo]

07:44 PM on 10/14/2011

. "I was kind of mad cause I don't want no sharpie marker in my hair."

Wow. Hey mom, quit getting that child fancy haircuts and get him an English tutor instead.

[FrankInCarson]

06:48 AM on 10/15/2011

Precisely. I am ashamed for this mother. She is inculcating the wrong values in her child.

[ProudLib123]

05:54 PM on 10/14/2011

Now if he had smacked that teacher across the face, they would be up in arms. Not condoning volience, but sometimes you have to go to great measures to defend yourself nowadays,

[SusieQTX]

04:28 PM on 10/14/2011

**UPDATE** this was on our local news today......
http://www.ketknbc.com/news/marshall-isd-principal-reprimanded-after-using-marker-on-student%E2%80%99s-head

[wdjmozingo]

04:18 PM on 10/14/2011

You dont touch othrt peoples children.Call their parents.There is a right way and a wrong way to deal with it.Seems like the school and a lot of people prefer the wrong way.Them and the Republicians are what are destroying this country.

[talleyb]

11:44 AM on 10/17/2011

You are absolutely wrong. It's completely the opposite. You, and people like you, have demonstrated exactly what is wrong with our society today. Basically, don't like the rules? Do what you want. This parent is teaching her son that he can do what he likes, regardless of what he's been instructed to do. They both knew the rules, and they made a CHOICE not to obey them. You think calling the parent is the solution? The parent is part of this problem.

[wdjmozingo]

02:21 PM on 10/17/2011

You do not touch a child.You lay a hand on my kids and Im coming after you.Right is right and wrong is wrong.That teacher and principal should be tar and feather.AS far as you putting the parents down,how can you with out even knowing them.Sounds like a true republician to me.

[sfreshour52]

01:41 PM on 10/14/2011

I would imagine he knew he was violating the dress code, at my kids school dress codes, for hair, tattoos and earrings are sent home and have to be signed by the kid and the parents. Same for school bus regulations. So no excuse for parents or the kids to say they didn't know. Not to say that some don't still try to do their own thing, because they do. Mine know better, because I will come down on them harder than the school will.

[1regularguy]

10:05 PM on 10/14/2011

You mean kids under 18 can actually get a tattoo by a licensed professional tattoo artist?

[Shaun Hensley]

12:32 PM on 10/14/2011

If a child doesn't meet the dress code standards, you send him home. You do NOT touch him/her or alter his/her attire in ANY way.

[Fran Jaime]

01:03 AM on 10/15/2011

Thank you! You are correct! I am both a teacher and a mother and think that the sharpie was exactly the wrong thing to do.

[MikeCasey]

07:54 AM on 10/14/2011

If a parent had done this to their child at home, it'd be considered abuse, but if a principal does it, it's considered discipline? Who ever is responsible for this no longer should be working with children.

[LibRule]

01:20 PM on 10/14/2011

Uh- agree on the 2nd part, but on what planet would coloring a line in a scalp be considered parental abuse?

[ldyqtee6]

07:10 AM on 10/14/2011

Some school policies go way too far and should be overturned in my opinion. With that said, WHEN there is a stated policies, students and their parents should be held accountable for violating those policies, period.

The teacher shouldn't have used a Sharpie, rather the student's parents should have been called and the child sent home.

[LibRule]

01:22 PM on 10/14/2011

Agree on the second part- but doesn't this seem like a REALLY ridiculous policy in the first place? How far can the schools take these dress codes? Isn't dress free speech?

[tutorintoledo]

07:46 PM on 10/14/2011

The trouble with shaving lines in the hair is simply 'where do you draw the line'? Is a straight line okay? How about a curved one. A smiley face? How about a peace symbol? How about a swastika? It is easiest to draw the line at 'NO LINES' and have done with it.

[talleyb]

11:53 AM on 10/17/2011

So what school policy is going too far when it comes to gang related dress code violation? The parent of this young man, by the way, is the person who has taught her child to respect authority and/or rules. (Which, as demonstrated, he clearly does not.) Perhaps the student should have been sent home until his hair grew out. Would that have been more beneficial for him?

[JoyceBains]

04:21 AM on 10/14/2011

I'm chuckling at these posters ragging on this kid for his grammar. Have you heard the way teachers talk lately? I've been verbally reprimanded for prompting children to say "may I" as opposed to "can I" (as in "Can I get a drink of water?") or "I have" instead of "I got." In some places, teachers are encouraged to dumb down (for lack of a better term) their vocabulary so that children will not be "intimidated". Correcting a child's grammar is a no-no in more than a few schools in this country. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true.

[tutorintoledo]

07:48 PM on 10/14/2011

:) I refuse to dumb down my grammar, though I am far from perfect.

If I'm asked 'Can I get a drink of water?' I reply, 'Yes, you are physically capable, but you may not.' They get the hint surprisingly fast and the ARE trainable.

[Carolina Hernandez34567]

02:19 AM on 10/14/2011

No, seriously, since when is it common practice to color in your hair with a sharpie?

[i the ys]

06:05 PM on 10/15/2011

Imagine if the kid in question were caucasean would the sharpie have been white, pink, beige?

[PhoenixProg]

10:52 PM on 10/16/2011

Ever since Ron Popeil created spray paint for bald spots: Hair in a Can, he called it.