Christoval ISD Lifts Beard Ban as NAACP Enters Conversation

Christoval ISD’s Board of Trustees held a special meeting Wednesday evening and decided to rescind the ban on facial hair for male instructional employees.

Just before rescinding the ban, the board voted unanimously to renew the district’s teaching contract with Darrington White, Christoval High School’s band director, who has been placed on administrative leave with pay since April 15 for sporting a goatee.

Christoval ISD’s problem with facial hair on male employees was highlighted when an Odessa-based CBS affiliate TV station aired a segment on the plight of the band director. The district had a strict policy against facial hair on any instructional employee. White claimed that a medical problem forced him to have the small beard and mustache.

Superintendent David Walker kicked off the discussion of rescinding the ban on male employees’ facial hair by quoting something that he said a former trustee told him when he was hired. He said, “If you’re not setting your own standards, someone else will be setting them for you.” Walker recalled what the trustee said, about four years ago, when Christoval did well, but rarely excelled in much. Today, Walker explained, the standards have been raised, the pupils and his staff are meeting them and the community has greater expectations of them. Part of those expectations is the district’s dress and grooming standards.

“When I was hired, professional dress and grooming was one of the concerns expressed to me,” Walker said. It didn’t happen overnight. The previous superintendent set high standards and expectations, he said. “It is one of the components of why we do so well as a district."

But, Walker admitted, the current policy has issues with perception. Teachers in the classroom are regulated by the ban; bus drivers and other support staff are not.

“When I talk to various members of our community, there really isn’t a perception of delineation between the different types of employees, whether they be instructional or suppor," the superintendent said. "They just see them as employees." 

Walker agreed with the criticism that some employees who are not teachers in the classroom, for example, Christoval High’s golfing coach, are allowed to have a beard by the current rule, while classroom teachers cannot. He said that the staff members at the schools see everyone as just an employee, not different kinds of employees, and to them, “it’s an all or none thing.”

Board President Duff Hallman called other school districts in the area and found that none of them had a policy on facial hair.

Walker said that since rescinding the rule was a regulatory change as opposed to a policy decision, board action was not required and that he is rescinding the ban, effective immediately. Regardless, no one on the board objected.

Afterwards, during the public comments section of the meeting, Craig Meyers, stating that he represented the local National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), rebuked the board for their suspension of band director Darrington White for wearing a goatee.

White showed a letter from Dr. Dawn Gonzalez informing the district that the goatee was required to mitigate a skin condition on the TV newscast. White has a skin condition called “Tinea Barbae”.

“He (White) felt that the discipline that was meted out to him was discriminatory…" Meyers said. "We researched it a great deal, and I think we found some of the support (for his position) in terms of the information we got from other organizations, such as Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo ISD, and others. Our examination of the federal law in terms of civil rights and discrimination indicates that he (White) was accurate."

Meyers was complimentary of the district in saying that representatives from the local chapter of the NAACP, Walker and two members of the board had a “very cordial” meeting about the issue. But, Meyers hinted, rescinding the ban on facial hair isn’t all that needs to be done to rectify the situation.

“I am hopeful that remedies will be put into place that would put the relationship (between White and the district) back into compliance with the law…" he said. "What we found is that there was quite a willingness to do that [on the district’s part], and I’m very pleased by that."

Then Meyers spoke on behalf of himself. “I think that when you’re dealing with regulations, policies and procedures, you still need to understand that you’re dealing with people." Darrington White was running up against a “zero tolerance” policy that put him in a very bad situation, Meyers said.

“When he complained, he exhausted his complaints, it was over and punishment was meted out. But remember, we’re talking about a person," Meyers continued. "Teachers in particular are people whose reputations are as much a currency as their competence.

“When you have a complaint that’s against you, your reputation is in jeopardy. And when you are escorted off the campus, it means that there is humiliation in that. You are separated from the young people you’ve worked with all year to bring them to their peak performance level… It just seems to me that as you go forward, and you look at relationships, that you might think of your procedures and your regulations as guidelines, [recognizing] that you’re dealing with people,” he concluded.

Meyers said that the NAACP itself does not litigate, but if the US Department of Justice decided to pursue the case, the NAACP would support them.

We informed White of the board’s decision via email when it occurred. “Then why am I still on administrative leave?” he asked.

Here is the Christoval High School Band under White's direction competing in the Heart of Texas Marching Festival in Oct. 2014: