In what has become a moot point, a Gladewater High School senior will be allowed to join her fellow students Friday night at Jack V. Murphy Stadium for graduation ceremonies.
Sedric G. Clark, GISD Superintendent, has released a formal statement to address the rumors and misinformation concerning the student not being allowed to participate in GHS graduation due to a dress code infraction.
Clark said:
Given the inaccurate information that is currently being disseminated, the Gladewater ISD Administration feels that it is important for the GISD community to know the whole story.
There have been allegations that GISD will not be permitting a GHS student to participate in Friday’s graduation ceremonies because her hair is in braids. This is not true. It was brought to the attention of the GHS Principal that the student’s hair color had been changed and that it may not be in compliance with the Student Dress Code.
On Monday morning, Principal Bedair contacted the parent and expressed her concern that if the student’s hair color was not in compliance with the dress code, the student might not be able to participate in the graduation ceremonies scheduled for Friday night. It was later brought to the attention of Principal Bedair that Facebook posts were alleging that the student was not going to be allowed to walk due to her hair being in braids. Principal Bedair telephoned the parent of the student again on Monday afternoon and clarified that the concern she had expressed in the earlier phone call had nothing to do with the student’s braids, but was only related to the color of the student’s hair. Principal Bedair ended the telephone conversation by informing the parent that if she felt strongly about not changing the hair color, then Principal Bedair could “live with that” and would not force the issue, clearly communicating that the student would be allowed to walk with her classmates at graduation.
Gladewater ISD is fully committed to its policy of nondiscrimination. It is regrettable that this matter has led to inferences, even in national media, that a discriminatory incident had taken place. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We hope that this statement of clarification will help to put this “controversy” to rest so that we can focus on the celebration of the accomplishments of our graduating class on Friday.
Sedric G. Clark, Superintendent