Luke's fight to grow his hair.

Hello Everyone!

We are Ben and Alyssa McCorkle, and we are starting this GoFundMe on behalf of our son, Luke. In 2018, Luke was eight years old, and his younger sister was hospitalized with an unknown viral infection. She was in the hospital for over a week and as Luke was visiting his sister one day, he noticed that a few kids didn't have any hair. He asked why, and we explained to him that they were sick and the medicine they had to take to get better made their hair fall out. He looked us both in the eyes and selflessly asked if he could give them his hair. His beautiful idea sparked us to research how we could help Luke achieve his goal, and he began his hair donation journey.

For two years, Luke worked on growing his hair out, despite much ridicule from kids and adults alike. In March 2020, he donated 14 inches of his hair to Wigs for Kids, an organization utilized by our local children’s hospital in Fort Worth, Texas. What made this extra special was that this was the same hospital where Luke’s sister was hospitalized, and the drive to donate his hair began.

He was so proud of himself, and we were incredibly proud of his dedication. It warmed our hearts to watch his hard work come to fruition, which is why we were so supportive of him when he approached us in the summer of 2022, asking to donate his hair again. We told him it would be difficult, but we would absolutely support his efforts as long as he was up for the challenge again.

Unfortunately, we have run into a major roadblock in our quest to support our son in growing his hair again, as long hair for male students is against the dress code at Luke’s public school. In January of 2023, Luke’s hair was deemed to be outside of the school’s dress code, and he started receiving detentions with threats of an in-school suspension if his hair was not cut shorter. We, his parents, made sure that Luke’s cause and reason for growing his hair was conveyed to the school, but they were unmoved by our explanation. I, Alyssa (Luke’s Mom), woke up extra early to ensure his hair was within the dress code standards every day he was at school, which meant tight braids with a neutral headband around his hair to keep the braids in order. But even then, the school deemed this effort “breaking the spirit and essence of the rule.”

We did everything we could to go through the proper channels, attempting to get the principal and administration to give Luke a reprieve from the rule until the end of the 2023 school year, but they denied us. We then started the grievance process with the school board, stating that the dress code violated Federal Statute Title IX. We created an exemption document and presented it to the school board to allow male students, under certain criteria, to have long hair. This went to the highest level of appeal at our local level, and we were still denied.

Throughout the grievance process, Luke continued to be punished with multiple days and weeks of detention and in-school suspension. In February we were given an ultimatum, cut his hair or expulsion would be the next disciplinary action.

Throughout each level of the greavence process we were told we would be a part of a committee to help change the dress code over the summer, as the superintendent repeatedly said the code could not be changed in the middle of the year. This opportunity was never offered to us, and during the summer, the school changed the dress code directed explicitly at Luke’s situation, tightening up the male grooming standards and no longer allowing braids and headbands for male students. We tried to get on the agenda for the July 2023 school board meeting again to present the exemption for male students' hair and were denied again. We were told that because we had already grieved the issue, it could not be brought up again. We have worked so hard to give the school and the school board many opportunities to do the right thing and allow Luke to follow through with his selfless mission, but we have been shut down at every turn. Our only option now is to sue the school district to get the dress code changed.

This is where we need your help. Legal fees are very expensive, and Title IX lawyers are not cheap either. We are humbly asking for monetary support to help Luke on his quest to donate his hair again and ultimately have the school district’s dress code altered. Simply put, we are fighting to allow male students the same grooming standards as females. To be completely transparent with donations, and to be clear on exactly what the money will be utilized for, here's how we have come up with the initial donation level. $350 will help us cover the initial consultation fees plus 10-15 hours of work at lawyer rates of $300/hour. We estimate we will need to raise approximately $5,000 to cover legal fees. If the legal fees exceed this amount, we will work on finding more donors and funds, and if the donations exceed this number, all extra funds will be donated to the Wigs for Kids organization in Luke's name.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for considering helping us to support our son in his noble efforts. If you cannot financially support us, we would appreciate your prayers to help us fight!

Ben and Alyssa McCorkle