School bosses review hair-length rules

CONSEQUENCES: Hastings St John's College student Lucan Battison, 16, (right) and his lawyer Jol Bates leaving the High Court at Wellington.PHOTO/FILE

Some Wairarapa schools are looking at revisiting their rules around hair in light of a High Court decision which ruled a Hastings school wrongfully suspended student Lucan Battison for having long hair.

Schools will be checking to ensure the rules aren't "ambiguous" or confusing.

Lucan was suspended from St John's College on May 22 after he refused to cut his locks and his parents took his case to court.

He had offered to tie his hair neatly in a bun as the school rules required it to be "off the collar and out of the eyes" but the school took a hard line and suspended him from class.

But Justice David Collins ruled the suspension was unlawful, as was the hair rule set out by the school.

Kuranui College has a uniform code which states hair must only be dyed natural colours and if it is long it must be tied back if a health or safety issue.

Principal Geoff Shepherd said in light of the court decision they intended to revisit the rules to ensure the wording was clear.

"We might look at the wording to make sure it is not ambiguous ... to ensure it is understandable ... very clear and not open to reinterpretation. It should be straightforward."

The school has had the odd issue with students dying their hair - one was bright blue and the student was asked to wash it out which they did, Mr Shepherd said.

"That was resolved quite easily."

Private Wairarapa school Rathkeale College does have rules around the length of hair, principal Willie Kerston said, but he wasn't prepared to go into depth about it as it was between the "school and the school community".

But they were steeped in "standards and traditions" the school held, the principal stated.

However, for students at Masterton's Makoura College, the ruling isn't an issue because the school doesn't have any rules about hair.

Acting principal Jenny Gellen said so long as hair didn't disrupt schooling, students, including boys, could grow their hair long.

"As long as it doesn't affect learning it's not an issue."

However, there are no male students at the school with long hair, unlike her previous school where some had "hair right down their backs", she said.

Wairarapa College has a requirement for students to keep their hair neat and tidy and of "reasonable length" which hadn't caused any problems for students to comply with in the past, principal Mike Schwass said.

They wouldn't be reviewing the rules in light of the decision, he said.

"We believe we have a clear and logical set of school rules so we won't be changing them at this stage," he said.

Meanwhile the principal of Tararua College, which recently suspended student Demetric Blank for shaving a tribal design on his head, failed to reply to repeated messages left by the Times-Age.