Teacher Cuts Child's Braid, Gets $175 Fine

i dont know if it was racially motivated or not but it sure smacks of a physical assault either way. some cultures like native american and some chinese have spiritual beliefs and reasons for having long hair.
This teacher had no right to do this. Based on her reasoning, she was twirling her hair, well then what if the child had been rubbing her eye? would the teacher have poked it out?
or biting her nails? would the teacher have chopped off the little girls finger?
and why would a little girl sitting there twirling her hair be such an issue anyway?
This teacher needs to be working as a night janitor at a bowling alley somewhere, not interacting with our children. What would she have done if someone did that to her child?
As for a $175.00 fine...WHOOO! There's a laughable punishment. I could piss that away at Walmart and carry it home in 2 bags. so is this the going rate for a childs safety and dignity? a lousy hundred and seventy five bucks?

I read this and debated it at length in other corners of the internet.

I think the teacher should have been fired immediately.  I hate that there are protections for blatantly unqualified people minding our children.  There is no defense for this action, in my mind.

The racism, though, in my mind was not about what color the teacher was/is and whether her actions were motivated by racism.  To me, the potential racism was that the victim was black and justice wasn't swift for her.  In fact, had the story not gone viral to the point where the authorities were forced to Do It Right, it might have all gotten quietly swept under the carpet.  That was the potential insidiousness of racism. 

JustLinda fabulously imperfect Nothing to See Here... Just Linda ( http://justlinda.net )

It doesn't matter what race a child is, you DO NOT CUT THEIR HAIR!  I think a parent of any race would be livid.  It is part of their body.  And a first grader at that.  Children can be extremely frustrating, but you should never exact that kind of rage on a 7-year-old.

Angela at mommy bytes ( http://www.mommybytes.com ) BlogHer Contributing Editor in Mommy & Family Cribsheet

Yeah. Whatever number it is, count me in as agreeing that this is assault. If a teacher were to cut a piece of my son's hair, I'd be, in short, livid. And I'd be at the school, at the city office, at the governor's office, wherever I needed to be, demanding her job.

Or her head on a platter.

Okay, maybe the last statement is taking it too far. But didn't she? Don't touch my child. Do not. Touch. My. Child. Oh, I'm so angry.

@FireMom ( http://twitter.com ) from Stop, Drop and Blog ( http://stopdropandblog.com ) and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land ( http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com )

I don't care what color a child is, what this teacher did was flat out wrong! A teacher has no right to ever touch a child in any way, shape, or form. To do this in front of every child in her class is humiliating and bullying. The teacher needs to be fired and not be allowed around children. If she easily cuts one child's hair, what else is she doing to other students?

This is NOT a colour issue and I wish black Americans didn't have such knee-jerk reactions but I understand the historical links and the pain-body that's immediately called into play.

I can't call that woman a teacher because none of the teachers I know and knew growing up would do such a thing. The woman assaulted a 7 year old child. I admire the girl's mother for keeping her cool but I would have beat the sh*t out of her, and accepted the consequences. Wouldn't pay a cent in fines though!

In Trinidad, any mother be she Indian, Chinese, Caucasian, Spanish, Syrian, or Brown would have been on her case like white on rice. The only question parents ask is "Who do you think you are putting your hand on my child?" She would not have been able to stay in the school any longer.

I remember one incident when my mother and I were travelling home in a taxi in Trinidad and she told the driver to slow down because her daughter was in the car - notice I didn't say ask. He ignored her. She said it again and just by her tone of voice you could see she was ready to rip the guy's head off.  He got scared and slowed right down. Gotta tell you, she scared me too.

A child fiddling with her braids... Excuse me!

Fire the cow!

Catherine

http://www.LifeChangeStartsNow.com

So this teacher got so frustrated that this little girl was twirling her hair and wouldn't stop that she couldn't think of any better way to handle the situation than to cut the girl's hair?  That right there is reason enough for her to be suspended pending further investigation, if not outright fired.  Imagine what she might end up doing if a kid was really acting out.

I generally have nothing but respect and sympathy for teachers and I do realize that they are being made to do a very important job with fewer and fewer resources because our society is far more willing to pay for what it wants than what it needs.  But that is no excuse for this kind of behavior.  Millions of teachers face the same kind of pressure and deal with it in ways that don't involve cutting a little girl's hair.

-Sara

www.inkandpixelclub.com ( http://www.inkandpixelclub.com )

"I apologize but I was frustrated."

That's the worst "apology" ever.  If this teacher gets "frustrated" that easily and can't stop herself from doing something totally inappropriate and wrong like this when it happens, then a classroom full of little kids probably isn't the place for her.

~Jezebel

The Evil Slut Clique ( http://evilslutopia.blogspot.com )

EvilSlutopia ( http://evilslutopia.blogspot.com )

That woman does not need to be teaching or have any children in her care whatsoever. 

What she did was mean and spiteful --- not how adults should behave.

FIRE HER and send her to counseling, too.  Her inner child is still in control!

Shame!

ɯoɔ˙ɹǝƃƃolquǝʞoʇ ( http://www.tokenblogger.com )

But wow.  WHY?  I'm just stupified by this, I really am!  WHY is that teacher not being punished in several different ways (i.e. termination of job and criminal charges).  A CHILD was involved in this scenario, a malicious scenario I might add.  A CHILD.  How is it even conceivable that the teacher's stress levels would make a legitimate excuse as to why she would cut a little girl's hair out of frustration?  Why was the teacher so annoyed with the little girl fiddling with her hair anyhow?  Wasn't the teacher, oh I don't know, TEACHING the class?  I'm sorry about all the caps, I usually try to stay away from the online screaming thing, but this is absolutely disgusting.  This woman cannot be trusted around children.  Why aren't more parents from this child's class speaking up?  I would!  I wouldn't want that lady anywhere near my son.  What will annoy her next?  What use will she put the scissors to the next time she is "stressed"? 

Where are the trusted adults at this school who need to come to the rescue of this little girl?  Where is the sympathy for her and what she endured?  No, these people are trying to cover their butts!  Racist idiocy like this is inexcusable when it happens to adults, and it is DOUBLY inexcusable when it happens to an innocent child.  The children in that class who witnessed this nasty act need to be taught that what the teacher did was MEAN and WRONG. 

That poor little girl. 

Somer blogs at Merry Wife of Canon ( http://www.merrywifeofcanon.com ) as well as Smell My Plate ( http://www.smellmyplate.com ).

I have been incensed ever since I read this and I still am. I keep thinking about what if this had been my daughter. I keep thinking her mom was EXCELLENT to keep her hands to herself. Not sure I would have been able to hold it back. She should be fired, pure and simple. Any other time, teachers are quick to call you about something. She couldn't have called the mom to complain (about this most petty of issues)? I hope to read she finally quit or better, got fired.

www.multiobjectmanipulation.blogspot.com ( http://www.multiobjectmanipulation.blogspot.com )

www.vwepuzzles.com ( http://www.vwepuzzles.com )

Assault.  If a teacher can't keep her scissors to the paper, that teacher should not be in a classroom with children.  Period.

www.MomsRising.org ( http://www.MomsRising.org )

WordyDoodles ( http://www.wordydoodles.blogspot.com )

That is plain and simply assault. I'm sitting here trying to imagine what my mother's reaction would have been if I had gone home and told her that a teacher had cut of one of my braids (my sister used to occassionally braid my hair into a hundred little braids - and yes she counted them). I can't even imagine my mother that angry. It would have been a thing to behold - a very frightening thing.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.ca ) and Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.ca ).

How dare anyone try to defend this. If the child had been tapping her fingernails repeatedly, would the teacher have cut off her fingers? Fire the teacher. End of debate.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool ( http://timesfool.blogspot.com )

This was assault.  A scissors was taken to a child's body out of frustration?  Assault.  That the teacher isn't behind bars is shocking to me, and obviously reveals racist bias and a disregard for children's rights to have their selves treated with integrity.  Ugh.

Deb
www.debontherocks.com ( http://www.debontherocks.com/ )blog
www.3smartgirlz.com ( http://www.3smartgirlz.com/ ) consulting