Olff

ORDER

Plaintiff Olff brings an action in this Court for injunctive and declaratory relief to redress the deprivation of a Fourteenth Amendment right, and to obtain damages. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1343 and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 .

Plaintiff is a fifteen-year-old student in good standing at James Lick High School, East Side Union High School District, San Jose, California. On September 10, 1969, plaintiff was informed by a school official that he would not be permitted to attend classes until he had his hair cut, because his hair style and length violated a regulation of the East Side Union High School District, which states in pertinent part:

There is little question that school authorities have a legitimate governmental interest in promulgating regulations in order to insure the safety and welfare of high school students. It is a reasonable health regulation to require that a boy’s hair be “clean.” It would also seem to be a reasonable safety regulation were the school district to specify the circumstances when a boy’s hair must be of a certain length, e. g., in a welding class, in an automotive class, in a woodworking class, etc.

But such is not the case here.…