A mother and father in Texas say their 5-year-old son should be allowed to keep his hair long despite a school policy against it.

Adriel Arocha is Apache from his father's side, according to the family. "His dad is of Native American descent, so we have chosen to raise him with certain beliefs in place, one of them being that his hair is sacred and we don't cut it," mother Michelle Betenbaugh told The Houston Chronicle.

Officials in the rural Needville school district aren't buying it. They have not produced any information except they are Native American Indians," said superintendent Curtis Rhodes.

Betenbaugh said she will go to court if necessary to allow Adriel to keep his long hair.

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Native American beliefs clash with rural district's dress code (The Houston Chronicle 7/15)