Principal Fixes Student’s Haircut Instead of Sending Him Home: ‘A Touching Moment’

A principal in Indianapolis, Indiana, went above and beyond recently for a student who felt uneasy about how he looked.

Students at Stonybrook Intermediate and Middle School are not allowed to wear hats in the classroom, so when an eighth grader was sent to principal Jason Smith’s office because he would not remove his hat, Smith wanted to know why, the Indianapolis Star reported.

“He just let me know his parents got him a haircut recently, but he didn’t like how it came out. I’m assuming he just didn’t want kids to laugh at him,” Smith recalled.

Instead of sending the boy home, the principal took out his phone and showed him photos of his son, whose hair he cuts on a regular basis, to prove he knew how to use a pair of clippers.

Smith has cut hair for many years and used to give teammates cuts prior to their high school and college basketball games.

He offered to touch up the student’s hairline and once the boy and his parents agreed, Smith drove home and got his clippers.

School resource officer Lewis Speaks Sr. shared the now-viral photo of the principal and eighth grader (pictured left) to his Facebook page on February 18:

“I came back and lined him up, and he went on to class,” Smith noted, adding that cutting hair “ended up being a useful skill.”

Although the incident was “a touching moment,” it was not the first time the principal helped a student, Speaks explained.

He said a few weeks ago, a fifth grader came into the principal’s office complaining about his shoes because the soles were tearing off.

According to Speaks, Smith gave the student another pair.

“He doesn’t really like the publicity,” the school resource officer commented. “But it’s definitely not out of the normal for him to do such a gesture.”