VALLEY VIEW, Texas (KXII) – There are around 1,000 students in Valley View ISD (VVISD), and high school 12th grader Trent Sampson is one of them.
“Trent is a great humanitarian, everyone at school would fight for him, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Jareth Vickery, a 12th grader at VVISD.
Trent was diagnosed with cancer at the end of his freshman year and lost his hair during treatment.
He beat cancer and grew his hair to celebrate. He hasn’t cut it since.
“Whenever it started growing again, it was a sign of survival for him,” said Trent’s mother, Jodie Sampson.
But now Trent is faced with a decision: Should he cut his hair or leave the district where he grew up?
“These rules have been in place since my kids were in school,” said Deanna Vickery, grandparent of VVISD. “My kids were allowed to have long hair, and now he’s not allowed to?”
Last month, Valley View ISD and new Superintendent Jason Womack announced dress code changes that prohibit male students from having long hair.
Trent and his family told the district their story and asked for a compromise, but they were told nothing.
“We tried talking to the principal and the school board and asking if we could just tie it up in a bun or a ponytail, but they told us that wasn’t possible,” Jodie said.
Despite News 12’s repeated attempts to contact the superintendent, he was unavailable for comment.
But Trent’s family says they received an email response from Womack in July in which he said, “The intent of the updated dress code is to support a conservative, modest learning environment.”
“I want to watch him walk across the stage,” Deanna Vickery said. “You’re taking that away from him, you’re taking that away from his mother, you’re taking that away from me?”
Jareth has long hair like Trent and also hopes that the dress code will change.
“I imagine it ends with them changing the dress code,” Jareth said. “And if it doesn’t end that way, damn it, I guess I’ll be spending my senior year at ISS or OSS or wherever they send me.”
And Trent says no matter what happens, he won’t part with his locks.
“My hair is curly at the ends, which I really like and I don’t want to lose it,” he said. “It’s from the chemo and can never grow back.”
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