It looks like the mother wants her 15 minutes of fame. Too bad it's at the expense of her son. I taught 3 and 4 year olds for years, and I never met a little boy who cared so deeply about his hair. Little boys do not want to look like little girls, and when I saw his photo, my first thought was that this little guy better be a good fighter*. Though the mother says this is what he wants, I bet he'd rather cut his hair (if he cares at all) and be with the other kids.
To the mother: your school (like society) has its norms and/or rules, good or bad, and if you want to buck the system, be prepared for the reactions of others. If that's ok with you, fine, but don't ostracize a 4 year old and set him up for constant in-school suspension so you can get attention
*sarcasm
Then you never met my kid. At 4 he did not want us to touch his hair, it is only after he started playing sports that he wanted it short, but he didn't like it, so it is long again.
I do not agree with people that say rules have to be followed, you can challenge rules and maybe this mom can get that rule changed.
Maybe the school should focus on more important things like keeping the truly delinquent kids out of school. There are so many problem kids out there, but they seem to have all the rights, yet a child with long hair, who apparently isn't doing anything wrong can get suspended. Talk about overkill. This is why the public school system is failing, They can't see the forest for the trees.