Rhodes has previously been in trouble before for attempting to enforce a dress code that banned a Native American student from having long hair. He was overruled by the courts as having intruded on the child's freedom of religious expression. During the case, Rhodes made it abundantly clear that he saw the role of the school system is to instill obedience into children. Via the Houston Pressin 2008:
"I've never had a hair past my ears. I'm pretty much a rule follower. I'm not out to, just because there's a rule I got to try to break it. I wasn't raised that way, I wasn't genetically put together that way. If they say do this, I'm going to do it."