A discrimination lawsuit will be filed against the Vicksburg Warren School District, said the lawyer for a student who claims he was told his dreadlocks hairstyle wouldn’t be welcome at a homecoming football game.

Attorney Ramel Cotton of Jackson said Friday, hours before 16-year-old Patrick Richardson Jr. had been set to escort a Vicksburg High homecoming maid across the field during halftime ceremonies, that the teen’s rights had been violated.

Cotton plans to file the suit next week in U.S. District Court in Jackson.

Patrick’s mother, Tammie Mason, on Thursday filed an injunction against the school district in Warren County Chancery Court. Chancellor Jane Weathersby of Sunflower County denied the injunction. Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes would have otherwise presided, but recused herself because she had represented members of the school board before.

Weathersby was unavailable to comment Friday.

Reached Friday, VWSD Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford said, “After the judge denied the injunction, we did contact (the mother and son) to tell them he would be allowed to participate. The school district was not obligated to allow him to walk. But, in good faith, the board president called and told him he can participate.”

Reached Friday, Richardson said he would attend the game only as a spectator, and declined further comment. His mother declined to comment, as well.

Cotton, a 1993 VHS graduate, said the teen’s decision to bow out was because he couldn’t find a tuxedo in time. A fitting had been scheduled, he said, but was canceled when the dreadlocks dispute began.

Swinford said Mason nor her son contacted her, instead approached the media and court system first.

“In this case, perhaps, we could have found common ground,” Swinford said, “instead of the subsequent events that happened.”

Swinford has been on the job for about a month.

“I hope that, in the future, parents will know that I am always approachable,” she said. “They can call me, and I will sit down with them and with school officials and facilitate things and do what’s right.”

VWSD policy does not address dreadlocks or other hairstyles. The rule is that a student’s appearance must not be a distraction to learning. However, each principal can write an appearance policy for the school handbook.

In Vicksburg High’s handbook, nothing is written about dreadlocks and formal functions. Dreadlocks is a Rastafarian style in which hair is braided in tight rows along the scalp and allowed to hang around the head.

Swinford said all school officials wanted was for the Patrick, a junior, to look professional and groomed during Friday night’s coronation.