Akin

Petitioners are mother and son. During the summer months of 1965, the 15-year-old minor, hereafter designated as “petitioner,” grew a beard which was neat in appearance and trimmed regularly. On September 8 he enrolled at Polytechnic High School in Riverside, one of the secondary schools within the respondent-board’s jurisdiction. He was suspended shortly thereafter solely for the reason that he refused to shave his beard as required by the board’s “Good Grooming Policy” adopted on September 20, 1965. He then attended a private school for the balance of the 1965-1966 school year where he was permitted to wear his beard. An appeal initiated in March 1966 to the board of education proved unsuccessful.

On September 12, 1966, the minor, who had then attained the age of 16 jmars, agáin endeavored to enroll at Polytechnic High School but was denied admission by order of the high school principal and the district superintendent because he refused to remove his beard.

On September 16, 1966, the minor, acting through his mother as guardian ad litem, filed a petition for writ of mandate in the Riverside Superior Court, wherein he sought a decree directing the respondent-board to allow him…