Guards deny boys with braids, ponytails from high school

SOUTH BEND -- Security guards at a city high school kept at least 30 boys wearing their hair in braids and ponytails from entering the school on Friday.\nSome parents of those Washington High School students were angry after their sons were turned away at the school's doors as they arrived.\nThe parents were told by a security guard that Principal George McCullough, in his first year at the school after being principal at crosstown Riley High School, made the decision because such hairstyles were gang identifiers, parent Jacqueline Reed said.\nMany of the boys were black, the parents said, but some were white.\nReed said her son, Jamaal, was not told about the hair rule Thursday on the first day of school.\n"I don't care for the braids," she said, "but my son is an honor student, and his hairstyle doesn't keep him from getting good grades."\nThe school's student manual says "Hairstyle or hair coloring braids or ponytails on male students which draw undue attention to a student or cause distraction in a school environment will not be tolerated."\n"It does not say that braids cannot be worn," said Irene McLeod, whose son was kept outside the school.\nThe South Bend Tribune reported that a reporter was not allowed to enter the school Friday to speak with McCullough, and he did not return phone calls seeking comment.\n"He is the principal," district Superintendent Joan Raymond said through a spokeswoman. "He is in charge of the building, and he has my full support"