When you take the time to read the whole story, it evolves that it was his father who shaved the "offensive" signs on the head of his 11 year old. While I probably agree that the counselor went to far, the father should have had the intelligence to know that what he was doing was destined to get noticed. The school is in a "troubled" neighborhood where things can easily be interpreted as "gang" signs which leads to major trouble.
As I read it, the father had more "art" to apply but ran out of scalp.