Fashion police ... school student Cruise Walsh has been banned from classes after a dispute about the colour of his hair.
A SCHOOLBOY has been banned from classes in Tasmania after a dispute over the colour of his hair.
Cruise Walsh, 16, claims he is being discriminated against at Hobart`s New Town High School after he dyed his hair black with red streaks.
He says the school told him on Friday that until he changed his hair to suit policy guidelines, he would be banned from class.
But the well-spoken Year 10 student said he could not understand why he was isolated.
"I felt surprised and shocked, made an outcast by a teacher," he said, after he left school upset only 15 minutes into the school day.
"It`s just two red streaks, there are people in the school with five different colours in their hair, and patterns."
Cruise said his hair was dyed to help an apprentice hairdresser from a Hobart salon who needed a volunteer for a training assessment last Tuesday.
The hairdresser passed her test.
"Many people have said it looks good. Some teachers said they liked it," he said.
Cruise said his workplace, Salamanca Bakehouse, did not have a problem with it.
New Town principal Darryl Moir said Cruise walked out on assistant principal Ian Cordwell.
Mr Moir said Cruise`s hair and behaviour was "unacceptable" when Mr Cordwell tried to talk with him.
He said the school had a student code of conduct.
He said the code clearly detailed the student uniform and stated that extreme hairstyles and colours were not acceptable.
"Natural-coloured dyed hair is fine. Cruise dyes his hair black and that is fine, but bright colours are against our policy," he said.
Cruise`s mother Jennifer Walsh described the school`s actions as "disgusting and outrageous".
Ms Walsh said she could not understand what the fuss was about.
"There are a lot of different hairstyles at the school, so I don`t see why he should be picked out of a bunch of hairstyles," she said. "Other kids have blond tips. What`s the difference?"
Ms Walsh said she was strict about appearance.
"If Mum thought there was a problem then I would have fixed it," Cruise said.
He said he would keep his hairdo and hoped to negotiate with the school.
The Education Department said each school had the power to develop its own student code of conduct and enforce it.
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