A New Jersey mother who has been letting her 4-year-old son's hair grow out since birth to benefit cancer patients says he was expelled due to his long locks.

ADVERTISEMENT

Renee Szablewski of Brick Township said her son Jack was expelled from pre-kindergarten at St. Dominic School for violating the hair section of the dress code, which she said was altered to ban long hair for boys after she had already paid half of Jack's $2,500 tuition, the full $75 registration fee, a $10 student activities charge and made $520 in donations, the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press reported Wednesday.

Szablewski said school officials told her the boy's hair, which was being grown as a donation to the National Children's Leukemia Foundation in New York in memory of his grandfather and a child friend of the family, would not be a problem so long as she had it cut before he entered kindergarten.

Rayanne Bennett, spokeswoman for the Diocese of Trenton, said the family was given 13 months to cut the boy's hair due to the circumstances of the charity effort. She said the mother refused to discuss the issue when Jack's second year of pre-kindergarten began Oct. 1.