Native American boy pulled from class over Mohawk haircut
Jakobe Sanden walked into his second-grade classroom with his backpack and a brand new Mohawk — a hairstyle, his father says, that represents Jakobe’s Native American roots. But it’s a symbol his school called a distraction — one that got him pulled from class.
Earlier this week, 7-year-old Jakobe was sent to the principal’s office at Arrowhead Elementary School in Santa Clara, Utah. His father, Gary Sanden, said administrators told him the hairstyle violated school policy. School officials called his parents and asked them to get it cut.
“I told the superintendent I was in no means going to cut his hair because it’s a symbol of who we are,” Sanden, 43, told The Washington Post.
The issue has since been resolved, and Jakobe is still in school; but, his parents say, they had to “jump through hurdles” to keep it that way.
Sanden said their son got a Mohawk haircut last weekend — as he had many times before — and sent him to school Monday morning. Soon after, Jakobe’s mother, Teyawnna, got a call from the school.
“We had the students that weren’t used to it,” Arrowhead principal Susan Harrah told Fox affiliate KSTU. “They had called that out. So the teacher brought the student to my attention.”
Rex Wilkey, assistant superintendent for primary education, said in a statement that administrators decided the hairstyle was “possibly in violation of the school district student grooming policy” and “the student’s parents Native American boy pulled from class over Mohawk haircut - The Washington Post:
