N. Carolina Teacher Allegedly Cuts Disabled Student's Hair

[kakteed]

Quote:

The North Carolina mom of a 7-year-old girl with Down Syndrome is accusing a teacher of cutting off several inches of her daughter's beloved hair without her consent.

"Most of the time, she's always brushing her hair, always doing something with her hair," Jesslyn's mother, Jessica Stirewalp, told ABC News' Charlotte affiliate, WSOC-TV.

Stirewalp claims that a Millbridge Elementary School teacher in Rowan County, N.C., cut Jesslyn's hair in class on Friday.

"Her assistant teacher calls me and says, 'I hope you don't mind, but I cut your daughter's hair because she got food in it,'" Stirewalp said. "Of course, I got mad, but I asked her how much, and she said four inches."

Stirewalp says that she was shocked when Jesslyn got home from school.

"Instead of four inches, it was more [like] eight inches. And when she walked in the house, you could tell that she thought she was in trouble," Stirewalp told WSOC. "I mean, it hurts my feelings, and I know it hurts her feelings."

The mom said that she has heard conflicting explanations for why Jesslyn's hair was cut. She said the teacher initially told her on the phone that it was because of food in Jesslyn's hair. But a letter from the teacher said that Jesslyn wouldn't stop taking her hair down, so the teacher trimmed it, Stirewalp said.

When asked about the incident, school principal Christopher Smith told ABCNews.com, "I cannot comment on that." He directed questions to the Rowan-Salisbury School district spokeswoman, who did not respond to a request for comment.

Jesslyn's family said the haircut has changed the little girl.

"She would look at it and she would say, 'Pretty,'" her grandmother Mary Poole told WSOC.

"She doesn't even get in front of the mirror anymore."

Source

[Vampirate Kitsune]

I looked at the article, and she is a pretty little girl. I can see why she's so upset about having her hair hacked off.

But what's with that teacher: "I hope you don't mind, but I cut your daughter's hair because she got food in it"? WTF? Is there no running water at the school? Did she have a palm-size patty of bubblegum in her hair? scream

[Blood Valkyrie]

Oh ... if I were the mother of that child ... the fury I would unleash ... the fury ...

[David2074]

Blood Valkyrie

Oh ... if I were the mother of that child ... the fury I would unleash ... the fury ...

Can not tip you enough or agree more.
DOES NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO ALTER MY CHILD!

Contact me if there is a problem, inform me of rule changes, what ever but you do not have permission to 'do things' to my child's person without permission. I was going to type more but just the thought of how mad I would be if someone cut off 8" of my daughters' hair (or now my grankids) makes me so pissed I'm going to move on to some other article.

[kakteed]

Vampirate Kitsune

I looked at the article, and she is a pretty little girl. I can see why she's so upset about having her hair hacked off.

But what's with that teacher: "I hope you don't mind, but I cut your daughter's hair because she got food in it"? WTF? Is there no running water at the school? Did she have a palm-size patty of bubblegum in her hair? scream

I dunno about you, but I don't think my mouth could accommodate a palm-sized wad of gum.

[kakteed]

Blood Valkyrie

Oh ... if I were the mother of that child ... the fury I would unleash ... the fury ...

David2074

Can not tip you enough or agree more.
DOES NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO ALTER MY CHILD!

Contact me if there is a problem, inform me of rule changes, what ever but you do not have permission to 'do things' to my child's person without permission. I was going to type more but just the thought of how mad I would be if someone cut off 8" of my daughters' hair (or now my grankids) makes me so pissed I'm going to move on to some other article.

D'aww the amount of angry parental cuteness :3

[David2074]

kakteed

Blood Valkyrie

Oh ... if I were the mother of that child ... the fury I would unleash ... the fury ...

David2074

Can not tip you enough or agree more.
DOES NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO ALTER MY CHILD!

Contact me if there is a problem, inform me of rule changes, what ever but you do not have permission to 'do things' to my child's person without permission. I was going to type more but just the thought of how mad I would be if someone cut off 8" of my daughters' hair (or now my grankids) makes me so pissed I'm going to move on to some other article.

D'aww the amount of angry parental cuteness :3

I had two foster sisters with really long beautiful hair.
If some teacher had just arbitrarily decided to chop off 8" of it, it would have been a BIG deal.
My best friend used to have hair below her butt. She cut off some of it to donate for wigs for cancer patients. Part of that was an experiment about the weight of it - she used to get a lot of migraines.

[kitten tea]

GET YOUR

Though the photo doesn't show all of her hair, it looks like she had beautiful hair.
I can't believe this was done. It's easy to wash food out of hair, why did she have to cut it???

But reading on, I saw it said that she wouldn't stop taking her hair down. Big deal!! Then let her take her hair down. I'd remove her from that class..

CRAYON

[Affilana]

WTF.

You know what, I'm so SICK of people abusing disabled children, and eventhough this "TECHNICALLY" isn't abuse, this girl DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS WRONG.

WHAT THE ******** IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE.

Who becomes a teacher and then abuses and hurts innocent children?

[kakteed]

David2074

kakteed

Blood Valkyrie

Oh ... if I were the mother of that child ... the fury I would unleash ... the fury ...

David2074

Can not tip you enough or agree more.
DOES NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO ALTER MY CHILD!

Contact me if there is a problem, inform me of rule changes, what ever but you do not have permission to 'do things' to my child's person without permission. I was going to type more but just the thought of how mad I would be if someone cut off 8" of my daughters' hair (or now my grankids) makes me so pissed I'm going to move on to some other article.

D'aww the amount of angry parental cuteness :3

I had two foster sisters with really long beautiful hair.
If some teacher had just arbitrarily decided to chop off 8" of it, it would have been a BIG deal.
My best friend used to have hair below her butt. She cut off some of it to donate for wigs for cancer patients. Part of that was an experiment about the weight of it - she used to get a lot of migraines.

Mm, I can't say that any of my friends or family really felt the same about their hair. I can see that cutting it off arbitrarily is terrible, but my mom's side of the family liked my hair the best when it was short, and my dad's side of the family wants me to get it styled and permed. Plus, none of my friends really took care of their hair until college hit; and by that point most of them cut it short anyway because of all the damage.

[Blood Valkyrie]

kakteed

David2074

kakteed

Blood Valkyrie

Oh ... if I were the mother of that child ... the fury I would unleash ... the fury ...

David2074

Can not tip you enough or agree more.
DOES NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO ALTER MY CHILD!

Contact me if there is a problem, inform me of rule changes, what ever but you do not have permission to 'do things' to my child's person without permission. I was going to type more but just the thought of how mad I would be if someone cut off 8" of my daughters' hair (or now my grankids) makes me so pissed I'm going to move on to some other article.

D'aww the amount of angry parental cuteness :3

I had two foster sisters with really long beautiful hair.
If some teacher had just arbitrarily decided to chop off 8" of it, it would have been a BIG deal.
My best friend used to have hair below her butt. She cut off some of it to donate for wigs for cancer patients. Part of that was an experiment about the weight of it - she used to get a lot of migraines.

Mm, I can't say that any of my friends or family really felt the same about their hair. I can see that cutting it off arbitrarily is terrible, but my mom's side of the family liked my hair the best when it was short, and my dad's side of the family wants me to get it styled and permed. Plus, none of my friends really took care of their hair until college hit; and by that point most of them cut it short anyway because of all the damage.

My hair was so long it was past my butt. Only until my sophmore year in high school (I think) did my mother cut it to the middle of my back. My parents made a big deal about my hair. If some teacher did this to me, there would have been hell to pay.

[kakteed]

Blood Valkyrie

kakteed

David2074

kakteed

Blood Valkyrie

Oh ... if I were the mother of that child ... the fury I would unleash ... the fury ...

David2074

Can not tip you enough or agree more.
DOES NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO ALTER MY CHILD!

Contact me if there is a problem, inform me of rule changes, what ever but you do not have permission to 'do things' to my child's person without permission. I was going to type more but just the thought of how mad I would be if someone cut off 8" of my daughters' hair (or now my grankids) makes me so pissed I'm going to move on to some other article.

D'aww the amount of angry parental cuteness :3

I had two foster sisters with really long beautiful hair.
If some teacher had just arbitrarily decided to chop off 8" of it, it would have been a BIG deal.
My best friend used to have hair below her butt. She cut off some of it to donate for wigs for cancer patients. Part of that was an experiment about the weight of it - she used to get a lot of migraines.

Mm, I can't say that any of my friends or family really felt the same about their hair. I can see that cutting it off arbitrarily is terrible, but my mom's side of the family liked my hair the best when it was short, and my dad's side of the family wants me to get it styled and permed. Plus, none of my friends really took care of their hair until college hit; and by that point most of them cut it short anyway because of all the damage.

My hair was so long it was past my butt. Only until my sophmore year in high school (I think) did my mother cut it to the middle of my back. My parents made a big deal about my hair. If some teacher did this to me, there would have been hell to pay.

Haha, I don't even think I can grow hair that long. I had hair to the middle of my back when I was much younger, but my mom had it cut to shoulder-length. If a teacher did this to me, my parents probably wouldn't care. They'd just take me to a hair salon to fix it up.

[Blood Valkyrie]

kakteed

Blood Valkyrie

kakteed

David2074

kakteed

D'aww the amount of angry parental cuteness :3

I had two foster sisters with really long beautiful hair.
If some teacher had just arbitrarily decided to chop off 8" of it, it would have been a BIG deal.
My best friend used to have hair below her butt. She cut off some of it to donate for wigs for cancer patients. Part of that was an experiment about the weight of it - she used to get a lot of migraines.

Mm, I can't say that any of my friends or family really felt the same about their hair. I can see that cutting it off arbitrarily is terrible, but my mom's side of the family liked my hair the best when it was short, and my dad's side of the family wants me to get it styled and permed. Plus, none of my friends really took care of their hair until college hit; and by that point most of them cut it short anyway because of all the damage.

My hair was so long it was past my butt. Only until my sophmore year in high school (I think) did my mother cut it to the middle of my back. My parents made a big deal about my hair. If some teacher did this to me, there would have been hell to pay.

Haha, I don't even think I can grow hair that long. I had hair to the middle of my back when I was much younger, but my mom had it cut to shoulder-length. If a teacher did this to me, my parents probably wouldn't care. They'd just take me to a hair salon to fix it up.

I would care because a teacher decided he/she had the right to cut a part of my child's body. While cutting hair doesn't physically hurt, forcing a haircut can be psychologically damaging, and it's just ******** cruel.

[kakteed]

Blood Valkyrie

kakteed

Blood Valkyrie

kakteed

David2074

kakteed

D'aww the amount of angry parental cuteness :3

I had two foster sisters with really long beautiful hair.
If some teacher had just arbitrarily decided to chop off 8" of it, it would have been a BIG deal.
My best friend used to have hair below her butt. She cut off some of it to donate for wigs for cancer patients. Part of that was an experiment about the weight of it - she used to get a lot of migraines.

Mm, I can't say that any of my friends or family really felt the same about their hair. I can see that cutting it off arbitrarily is terrible, but my mom's side of the family liked my hair the best when it was short, and my dad's side of the family wants me to get it styled and permed. Plus, none of my friends really took care of their hair until college hit; and by that point most of them cut it short anyway because of all the damage.

My hair was so long it was past my butt. Only until my sophmore year in high school (I think) did my mother cut it to the middle of my back. My parents made a big deal about my hair. If some teacher did this to me, there would have been hell to pay.

Haha, I don't even think I can grow hair that long. I had hair to the middle of my back when I was much younger, but my mom had it cut to shoulder-length. If a teacher did this to me, my parents probably wouldn't care. They'd just take me to a hair salon to fix it up.

I would care because a teacher decided he/she had the right to cut a part of my child's body. While cutting hair doesn't physically hurt, forcing a haircut can be psychologically damaging, and it's just ******** cruel.

*shrug* I don't really know what I'd do. I don't think I'd be too angry, just perplexed. Ya know, immediate parent-teacher conference or I'll call the cops; hair-cutting is assault, you know. I would hope to raise a girl around boys though, so I can't really see my future daughter crying about it unless she was angry that some random b***h cut her hair unevenly.

[Tigrosharu]

Just disgusting, if I were the mother that teacher would be out of a job by now..or worse.

So what if the girl kept taking her hair down? I used to wear my hair down all the time as a child it's normal!

What makes it worse is that she has Down's Syndrome, children with that are very sensitive to change and have very strong emotional attachments to things they love.
They tend to respond negatively when people try to force them change or things they love(the girls hair) or altered or taken from them.
The reaction of refusing to look in the mirror makes sense for any child, but the long term consequences may be worse than they appear now.
Chances are she associated her hair with her being pretty, and was very proud of it; removing it in such a way probably has caused moderate to severe trauma.

I mean having what you view as most likely the best part of yourself cut off?
Imagine what that is like..

I am personally in approval of this teacher being severely reprimanded, but most likely it won't happen.