Taking a Whack at Student Punishment: Teacher Cuts Off First Grader’s Braid
Dec 16, 2009 | Filed Under: In the News,K-6,Kids | Tags: Fine Education System
A Milwaukee teacher received a $175 ticket for “disorderly conduct” when she cut off a seven-year-old student’s braid.
Whoa. Talk about hair rage.
First grader Lamya Cammon says she is scared by the incident last week in which the apparently frustrated teacher cut one of her braids off in front of the entire class after she wouldn’t stop playing with them in class.
“She told me to stop playing with it. Then cut it off and sent me back to my desk,” Lamya said.
Good thing she wasn’t playing with her feet.
“I went to my desk and cried. And they was laughing,” Lamya added. “She threw it away, and she said, ‘Now what you gonna go home and say to your momma? ‘ And I said, ‘That you cut off my hair.”
Not surprisingly, her mother is none too pleased. She went to the school and confronted the teacher.
“I said, ‘Well, you know, you cut a lot of her hair off.’ And she was like, ‘Well, I do apologize.’ She said, ‘But I was frustrated,’” Lamya’s mother said.
The Milwaukee Public Schools District said it is going through the disciplinary process with the teacher, who remains in class, although Cammon has been moved to a different classroom by the principal. Milwaukee police investigated the case and referred it to the district attorney for possible physical or mental abuse of a child charges. When the district attorney’s office decided not to file criminal charges, police issued the teacher a $175 ticket for disorderly conduct.
I once had a mean viola teacher who violently cut my fingernails, and somehow we still ended up paying HER!
Lily
says:
I’m a substitute teacher and somedays I’d love to cut something, anything, off some kids.
December 16th, 2009 at 5:29 pm -Deeva
says:
LOL @ Lily! I guess the girl should consider herself lucky all the teacher cut off was a braid.
December 16th, 2009 at 10:54 pm -Vaughn
says:
What possible disciplinary motive would warrant the deliberate destruction of a 7 year old girl’s hair? In most cases, yes, we should consider both sides, but I contend that we already heard both sides! The teacher admitted to the parent that she was frustrated with the little girl. Frustration was the cause, and the chopping of the little girl’s braid was the effect. It is called a lack of self control and this teacher is not fit to facilitate classroom instruction without supervision.
Would she cut the hair of an adult if she were a college professor? Would she cut the hair of a horrible 17 year old boy with corn rolls if he was being troublesome? Face it: She did it because the little girl was too small to retaliate. She did it because she wanted to show the little girl that she could make her pay for her disobedience. Sad.
December 17th, 2009 at 2:36 pm -