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New Orleans • A Louisiana honors student and standout athlete who was blocked from participating in his graduation ceremony last month because of facial hair is getting the graduation celebration he was denied.

Democratic state Rep. Katrina Jackson, of Monroe, and the Rev. Roosevelt Wright III, of New Orleans, are sponsoring a ceremony for Andrew Jones after news spread that he was prevented from attending his graduation ceremony because of a Tangipahoa Parish Schools System policy about facial hair.

Jackson said the dress code policy, found in the Student Handbook for grades 4-12, states the following:

"Hairstyles and mustaches shall be clean, neatly groomed and shall not distract from the learning environment nor be a safety factor for any of the school's curricular offerings. Beards will not be allowed. Any hairstyle that distract from the unique environment of a school shall be dealt with by the principal or his/her designee of that school."

The new celebration is scheduled Friday at 7 p.m. at the African-American Heritage Museum in Hammond. Some students from Jones' class and other graduates from the area are expected to participate in his special ceremony.

Superintendent Mark Kolwe has defended the decision to prohibit Jones, a 4.0 student and summa cum laude graduate, from walking with his class at Amite High School, saying rules have to be enforced and Jones received enough warning before the ceremony to shave.

A telephone message from The Associated Press left for Kolwe was not immediately returned.

Kolwe in an earlier statement noted that Jones was one of four graduates who arrived at the ceremony unshaven. Three of them shaved in a restroom at the site where the ceremony was held with a razor provided by the school. Jones, who had a professional shave off the sides of his beard and neatly trim his goatee, refused.

"The policy of the Tangipahoa Parish School Board (and many other school systems) is that male students cannot have facial hair. This policy was explained to the student in question on multiple occasions prior to graduation day, and the consequences for failing to comply with that policy were explained to him and his parents on multiple occasions on graduation day. The student's parents tried to convince him to shave, but he ignored their requests and the requests of school officials whose duty was to seek compliance with Board policy.

"It is regrettable that any student — particularly an honor student like Andrew — would not get to participate in his high school graduation ceremony, a ceremony that comes only once in the lifetime of every student. In this case, however, Andrew made that decision for himself by failing to comply with the reasonable requests made by his parents and school officials that he comply with the rules applicable to all other students."

Amite High School Principal Renee Carpenter declined to discuss the situation when contacted by The Associated Press.

Jones and his family have told other media outlets that the rule was not enforced throughout the school year and they know of students with facial hair at other schools in the district who were able to participate in their graduation ceremonies.

They refused comment when contacted by The Associated Press, citing a pending lawsuit.

"He was unfairly excluded from the most important day of his life," Jackson and Wright said in a statement. "A beard should NEVER upstage academic excellence."

Jackson said when she initially heard about Jones' situation, she believed he should have submitted and shaved because he didn't follow the rules. But after hearing that he was allowed to participate in other school activities with facial hair, she believes the prohibition was unfairly enforced on what is generally considered a student's biggest day.

"It's wrong to enforce that policy on a young man who had worked so hard to achieve his goals," Jackson said. "Students are responsible for following rules, but we as adults are responsible for enforcing them. As adults, we can't arbitrarily enforce the rules. This was a rule that was never enforced until graduation."

"Anytime a young man such as Andrew has shown academic excellence, it's unfair to not reward him," Wright said. "His academic achievements are incredible."