The ACLU of Virginia announced today that a settlement agreement was reached in Burke v. Clarke, a federal lawsuit on behalf of Randy Burke, a practicing Rastafarian who was put in solitary confinement for over five years for refusing to cut his hair.

Alliance Defending Freedom and its clients are casting this as a free speech and religious freedom issue, but each public school teacher has an obligation to comply with the law and policies of their school district and to respect, protect, and educate all their students.