A Florida mother noticed that her 13-year-old son had a very horrified look on his face along with a black mark down his head. Obviously concerned, she wanted answers about what happened and what that was for. Once her son explained why his teacher drew it on his face, she was very angry and became angrier with what occurred the next day.

Jovany Rivera (left), Yasmin Rivera (right)

Jovany Rivera is a middle school studen who hasn't had any propblems at school and has continued to maintain good grades at Varsity Lakes Middle School in Lehigh Acres, Florida. So when he recently came home from school with a big black line drawn down his head, he explained that he was humiliated in class, his mother wanted immediate answers from the school, but she didn’t get the response she wanted.

Before the first incident happened, the teen got a new haircut. His mother took him to the salon get a popular retro-revised style referred to as a “hard part,” which is clean-shaven on the sides with a defined part on top that is actually cut in a bit to add definition. Its a cool yet preppy hairstyle but evidently, it’s not allowed on campus. Excited to show off his new look, Jovany was instead made an example of in front of all of his peers.

Jovany Rivera showing his “hard part” hair cut

According to WINK, the boy was kicked out of class and sent to the school office, where administrators took matters into their own hands to remedy the dress code violation. The school prohibits students from sporting “lines/designs in eyebrows or hair” as well as “hair coloring, style, and accessories that may cause a disruption to the educational environment.” This clean side part made the straight-A kid a rule breaker, and administrators colored on his scalp to disguise the line, then sent him back to class like that, much to his embarrassment.

After the damage was done, the school called Yasmin to let her know of the issue and informed her that they fixed it. The mother couldn’t fathom how a “gentleman’s cut,” as she referred to it, would be a problem, when unkempt kids aren’t disciplined. When she saw her son later that day, she was disgusted by what they did to her child.

“It looked like a crayon that you use on your face,” Jovany told the news station about what administrators used on his head. “Like when you want to draw cat whiskers. I felt dirty, I just didn’t feel like it was right.”

With a clean scalp and freshly combed hair the way he intended it to be, Jovany returned to school the next day with the same style he got in trouble for a day earlier. He was kicked out of class a second time, which his mother should have seen coming, but she was angered just the same. “I was not happy with the teacher touching my son, putting product in his hair without my permission,” Yasmin said.

For now, the school is standing by their antiquated dress code. Although it’s well-meaning, it extends beyond the point of reason when it comes to a boy’s hair part and a respectable look. This cut is actually very conservative and should be encouraged, not punished. To pull a child out of class, when really there is no harm caused by his hair, is a waste of time and harmful to his education and self-esteem — all for having done nothing wrong.

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