CRUEL CUT: A 14-year-old Oak Park High...

CRUEL CUT: A 14-year-old Oak Park High School football player has sued the school district, alleging that the football program’s haircut policy is discriminatory (C8). . . . Freshman Robert Green said he has been subjected to harassment because his hair is too long. His locks touch his ears on the side and his collar in back, despite three haircuts since the start of summer. . . . “I’m making a stand,” he said. “I love football, otherwise I would have quit already, but I’m not going to cut my hair anymore.”

HIGH MARKS: Off the football field, Oak Park ranked fifth academically in a survey of the top 100 high schools in the state. . . . The rankings are based on results from the California Learning Assessment System tests. Oak Park was the only Ventura County school to crack the top 100. . . . “We knew we were doing a good job,” said Principal Jeff Chancer. “This just validates that what we have been doing to prepare our students for the 21st Century is working.”

BOSOM BUDDY: Enough already with the Tom Hanks comparisons. That’s what Ojai’s Peter Scolari says about constantly being compared to the back-to-back Oscar winner (F1). . . . Since the two co-starred in the sitcom “Bosom Buddies,” Hanks has vaulted to movie stardom while Scolari has done a series of TV roles. . . . “There have been moments when I’ve been irritated and offended,” he said. “It was really unsettling for a while that people try to use Tom’s success to belittle mine, or characterize it as less significant.”

GREEN ACRES: The lawyers and the politicians were there. So were the farmers. The only ones missing from Thursday’s debate over the preservation of Ventura’s farmland were the people who work the land (B4). . . . Legal aid attorney Lee Pliscou said farm workers are rarely included in such issues despite the fact that they rely on farmland for their livelihood. . . . “When we lose farmland, farm workers lose jobs,” Pliscou said. “Unfortunately, these debates are among people in power.”