The next day, Broussard met with Grosey to discuss the haircut.

“I brought pictures of Michael Strahan and other African-Americans who had the style. I said, ‘maybe you aren’t familiar with African-American styles, since my son is only one of five African-American kids at the school,’” she says. “I was not trying to get them to change the policy, I just didn’t feel my son fell outside of it. I did feel there were many other students whose hair was longer on the middle than the sides — maybe it was less noticeable because it was straight and fell to the side, whereas my son’s hair is curly, so it stays in place. But just because their hair lays down doesn’t mean there should be different enforcement of the rules. I was trying to say ‘maybe you aren’t aware, let’s talk about it and have a dialogue.’ She wasn’t open to that.” Broussard says Grosey didn’t entertain the idea that perhaps the rule wasn’t being enforced equally across the student body.

Grosey did not respond to Yahoo Parenting’s request for comment.

Broussard says that after that conversation, the matter was essentially put to rest. “I stated my piece, we cut his hair, it could have been over,” she says. But when Jalyn and his brother returned to school after winter break, an eighth grade student showed up to school with a very similar haircut to Jalyn’s. “I figured he would be asked to change his haircut before he came to school the next day. But instead, the next day he read at Mass in front of the whole church and school. I didn’t understand — my son was going to be an undue influence, but he could stand up in front of the entire church and read?”

The student in question was Asian-American, and the son of a teacher at the school. When Broussard brought up the issue of this student’s haircut, which was short on the sides and longer on top, Grosey told her his was a “modern crew cut” and it was ok because it was tapered in the back. “The only distinguishing factor was the texture of the hair — his hair is straight and my son’s hair is curly,” Broussard says. “Her explanation was that Jalyn’s haircut was just more noticeable, but he doesn’t have the same options as kids with straight hair. That’s not inclusive of different ethnic backgrounds and different hair textures.”

Jennifer Bezoza, an attorney for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, who is representing the Broussards, says the different treatment amounts to discrimination. “We think this is a really clear case of race discrimination,” she tells Yahoo Parenting. “Jalyn was treated differently than other students who had more extreme haircuts.”

By the end of January, Broussard had removed her sons from Immaculate Heart of Mary and enrolled them at the local public school. She did so, she says, because of “the administration’s lack of willingness to come to the table and have a conversation. How you are in small things is how you are in big things. If they are not willing to have a conversation, it’s worrisome. It means I don’t trust them in a bigger issue.”

In the complaint filed last week, the Broussards are seeking reimbursement for the year’s tuition for both children, totaling about $16,000, and a reevaluation of policies so as to prevent discrimination going forward, Bezoza says. “They want more recognition  of cultural differences, and some plan in place to ensure other students with differences are not treated in this manner.”

Larry Kamer, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which oversees Immaculate Heart of Mary, tells Yahoo Parenting he has not yet seen the complaint so cannot comment on it. Still, he addressed some of the issues at hand. “At this school and at Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese, one of the highest values that teachers and the community work to impart on the children is tolerance and diversity and the worth of every human being. This is obviously something we take quite seriously when someone says they had a different experience.”

Kamer says that the issue of the hairstyle is cut and dry, so to speak.

“There is a very clear policy about dress and hair and personal appearance that is well understood. The parents read, acknowledge, take hard copies home, and agree to the policy in order to send their kids to school.” Still, he says, the issue of unequal treatment will be looked at closely. “With regards to the issue of how this boy was treated — that’s something we can’t comment on since it’s the basis for the complaint — but anytime anyone raises an issue concerning race, diversity, and alleged unfair treatment, that’s something we take very, very seriously and will certainly do so in this case.”

Bezoza says the complaint is about more than just a haircut. “The bigger issue is that schools need to treat all students equally,” she says. “Students should not be singled out by an immutable characteristic. The only difference between Jalyn and the other student is the texture of their hair — he’s African-American and his hair has a different texture.”

For now, Broussard says her sons are looking forward to returning to the local public school in the fall, where there is a stronger focus on global community. And both are sporting their modern fades. “I think its important to stand up for our kids,” she says. “We need to make sure that in the future this doesn’t happen — whether it’s about race or something else, we need to be sure schools have a procedure in place so treatment is equitable.”