Caspar v. Micken

54 Pa. D. & C.2d 218, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 172
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Chester County
DecidedApril 8, 1971
Docketno. 2262
StatusPublished

This text of 54 Pa. D. & C.2d 218 (Caspar v. Micken) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Chester County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caspar v. Micken, 54 Pa. D. & C.2d 218, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 172 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1971).

Opinion

MARRONE, J.,

On March 24, 1971, this court issued an injunction restraining defendants from prohibiting the attendance in classes by plaintiff, John Caspar, for an alleged violation of the school dress regulations in regard to hair length. A hearing was held and the question to be determined is whether or not the injunction should be continued, modified or dissolved.

Testimony before the court discloses that there exists in the Downingtown Area School District a set of “dress regulations.” The preamble recites that “good grooming and practical dress will be encouraged at all times. Inasmuch as school should be thought of as a place where good grooming is essential, the following regulations are proposed by a representative group of the faculty and student body.”

The regulations were adopted by a committee consisting of students, faculty members, and administrators. The student members of this committee were appointed by the president of the student council who was elected by all the students. Also recommended by the council president were the faculty members to serve on this committee. In addition, an administrator from each of the four schools comprising the junior and senior high schools in the area served as members. [220]*220After much discussion, a code was agreed upon and this was submitted to the School Board of the Downing-town Area School District. The board, at a meeting held on February 11, 1970, approved the adoption of the dress code for a period of two years.

Plaintiff here is a 13 year old male student. He is a member of the seventh grade class at Lionville Junior High School and became aware of the regulations on the first day of school, having been advised of them by the principal of that school, Thomas Stoner. The evidence discloses that plaintiff was in violation of the provision of the dress code involving hair length on at least three occasions starting in November, 1970. On two prior occasions, after having been given reasonable time to do so, he had his hair cut to within the required length. However, on February 23, 1971, he again was advised he y^as in violation of the code and on this occasion he refused to comply with the regulations. There followed the usual administrative procedures ending with a hearing before the School Board. Follow-this he was excluded from school.

Plaintiff complains that he has been unlawfully prevented from attending school in that the regulation allegedly broken by him is illegal and unconstitutional on its face. In addition, the complaint alleges that the regulation denies him rights secured by the constitution and statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and further denies him due process, equal protection, freedom of expression, his right of privacy and privileges or immunities secured by both the Constitutions of the United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

This court again is faced with the consideration of whether school authorities may properly enact and enforce regulations concerning the clothing pupils may wear or otherwise regulating matters going to [221]*221the personal appearance of the students. In this case the section of the regulations under attack is as follows:

“Boys must be clean shaven with sideburns of reasonable length. Mustaches of extreme proportions and beards are prohibited. Hair should be washed, combed, and worn so it does not hang below the collar line in the back, over the ears on the sides, or below the eyebrows.”

Our court has already decided that the imposition of a restriction on appearance by reason of the length of a boy’s hair which exceeded that permitted in a school dress code was an illegal exercise of regulation of the appearance of a student: Cirker v. Yohe, et al., 19 Ches. Co. Rep. 52 (1969). However, since that decision the issue has been raised often and discussed by not only local courts but our federal courts all over the country.

Cirker properly decided that there were no constitutional grounds involved in that case. This view has been echoed in many cases since then: Gere v. Stanley, 320 F. Supp. 852, page 855 (M. D. Pa., (1970)). Recently Mr. Justice Black of the Supreme Court of the United States, acting as the Supreme Court Justice assigned to the Court of Appeals of the Fifth Circuit, refused to vacate a stay of injunction pending an appeal in the case involving the hair length of a student. Intimating that it was an area of local concern he expressed the opinion that neither the due process nor equal protection clauses of the Constitution forbid the enforcement of local rules requiring public school students not to wear hair hanging over their collars or obstructing their vision: Karr v. Schmidt (as yet unreported). Plaintiff here stresses his reliance on the Cirker case, (supra), and has indicated to the court that his main avenue of attack is [222]*222that the regulation is one which is unreasonable and not necessary for the conduct of school business nor can it contribute in any way to good deportment of pupils attending the public schools.

What must be decided here is whether or not the regulation in question is one that is reasonable regarding the conduct and deportment of all pupils attending the public schools in the district.

The statutory provision involved provides that “the board of school directors in any school district may adopt and enforce such reasonable rules and regulations as it may deem necessary and proper . . . regarding the conduct and deportment of all pupils attending the public schools in the district, during such time as they are under the supervision of the board of school directors and teachers”: Act of March 10, 1949, P. L. 30, Art. V, sec. 510, as amended, 24 PS §5-510. (Italics supplied.) We stress the latter part of this statutory provision because the Cirker case, supra, placed much importance on the fact that the regulation in question, i.e., cutting a boy’s hair to the necessary length, had a decisive effect beyond the school. Therein it was stated that “to prohibit a length of hair in class is necessarily to prevent the length worn at any time or place, and hence so much more the reasonable degree of purpose required.” The instant regulations are distinguishable in that they do not require a cutting of the hair to the required length. On the contrary the regulations say only that the hair should be washed, combed and worn so it does not hang below the collar line in the back, over the ears on the sides or below the eyebrows. This being so, it does not necessarily regulate the length of hair off the school premises. It falls more in the categories of the examples given in Cirker whereby a prohibition on smoking might be reasonable since when the pupil leaves the grounds he may [223]*223smoke, or if there is a rule prohibiting attending school bare to the waist a boy need only remove his shirt as he leaves the grounds. That this is defendants’ interpretation of the regulation is proven by the testimony which indicates that there are male students in attendance at the Downingtown Area Junior-Senior High School whose natural growth of hair exceeds the limitations of the regulation but who either wear wigs or take other measures to conform with the regulations. Thus, upon leaving the gounds, there is not the deleterious effect discussed in Cirker.

As stated earlier, our only function at this stage of the proceedings is to decide whether to continue the injunction against defendant school district.

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Related

Michael Jackson v. C. R. Dorrier
424 F.2d 213 (Sixth Circuit, 1970)
Lovelace v. Leechburg Area School District
310 F. Supp. 579 (W.D. Pennsylvania, 1970)
Gere Ex Rel. Gere v. Stanley
320 F. Supp. 852 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1970)
Richards Ex Rel. Richards v. Thurston
304 F. Supp. 449 (D. Massachusetts, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 Pa. D. & C.2d 218, 1971 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caspar-v-micken-pactcomplcheste-1971.