Bob Collins
As is occasionally the case during commencement season, some school administrators are taking advantage of the fleeting opportunity to impose one last petty dictum.
At Amite High School in Amite City, La., Andrew Jones was not allowed to graduate with his classmates because he had facial hair.
“They snatched his robe off him, and they took his awards,” Sabrina Davis, his aunt, told The Washington Post in a phone interview. “He had to sit in the stands and watch his friends and cousins graduate.”
Andrew is the class valedictorian.
Jones says he had facial hair all four years he was at the school, four years during which he never got a grade lower than “A”, according to WVUE in New Orleans.
“I feel they should have let me march,” Jones said. “The hair on my face has nothing to do with school. I wasn’t distracting anybody.”
His family posted photos from last year’s commencement showing white students with facial hair were allowed to graduate with the class.
The NAACP plans to protest at the school board this afternoon.
