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Vale Middle School Reading Article

Lawsuit Over Greensburg Short-Hair Rule May Be a Long Shot

Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND MARGIN NOTES

Questions: Answer in COMPLETE SENTENCES unless otherwise instructed. Lists and charts are the

exception and may be answered in phrases.

Read the following article carefully and make notes in the margin as you read.

Your notes should include:

o Comments that show that you understand the article. (A summary or statement of the main

idea of important sections may serve this purpose.)

o Questions you have that show what you are wondering about as you read.

o Notes that differentiate between fact and opinion.

o Observations about how the writer’s strategies (organization, word choice, perspective,

support) and choices affect the article.

Your margin notes are part of your score for this assessment.

Student _________________________________Class Period______________________

Notes on my thoughts,

Lawsuit Over Greensburg Short-Hair Rule May Be a Long Shot

reactions and questions as I

read:

By Carrie Ritchie, The Indy Star

The parents of a former Greensburg Junior High basketball player are asking a federal

court to declare the team's haircut policy unconstitutional.

In a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, Patrick and Melissa

Hayden say team rules governing the length of players' hair violate their son's right to

wear his hair the way he wants and also treat male and female athletes differently

because female players don't have to adhere to the same guidelines. Their 14-year-old

son, identified as A.H. in the lawsuit, was kicked off the team this fall after he refused

to cut his hair to comply with team rules, which require players' hair to be above their

eyebrows, collars, and ears.

The Haydens said in the lawsuit that they met with the basketball coach and school

officials, but no one would change the policy. So they sued. "What they're trying to do

here is teach (their son) a life lesson, which simply is that you fight for what's right,"

said Ron Frazier, the Haydens' attorney. "This is classic David versus Goliath, and they

want their son to understand that."

The Haydens are asking the court to force the schools to stop enforcing the team's

haircut policy and rule that it's unconstitutional, as well as award any necessary

damages to the family. But the school district claims the policy didn't violate the boy's

rights, partly because participating in extracurricular activities is a privilege, not a right.

Courts split in hair rulings

Courts have been divided in their rulings about grooming policies in schools, said David

Hudson, First Amendment scholar at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt

Vale Middle School Reading Article Worksheets