A mother whose 11-year-old son had his hair tied in ponytails by his teacher and her assistant for a joke has launched a lawsuit against the pair.
Apparently the women said they thought it would be amusing to tie up the child's long hair but obviously his mum failed to see the funny side.
Now there's claim and counter claim, leaked school records and a whole sorry mess. The incident does beg the question – why wasn't the teacher busy teaching?The mum, Amanda Anoai, filed the lawsuit last month claiming her son was mistreated by a teacher and an assistant at an elementary school near Cincinnati in September.
According to school records released to the Cincinnati Enquirer, teacher Tori Bothe and assistant Lori Boys admitted putting the child's hair in ponytails but wrote it off as a joke.
The women were officially reprimanded the next day by the school district's human resources director, Tim Ackermann and these were placed on their personal records, states the Enquirer.
Court records obtained by the newspaper show the two women told their class they were going to play a prank on the boy who had been sent on an errand.
When he returned they pretended to cut his hair with clippers before putting it in three ponytails. They introduced him to the class as a girl and he was then taken to other classrooms to show off his hair.
In the files obtained by the newspaper, it states the women believed the boy thought it was funny too, requesting to show other pupils in the school his new hairstyle and even asking for a photograph to be taken for the school yearbook.
They added, in their statements to Ackermann, that they encouraged the boy to send a photo to his mother who they thought would find it funny. Turns out they were wrong.
In yet more documents obtained by the Enquirer, she says her son suffered "embarrassment, humiliation, intimidation, breach of trust, anxiety and pain," and had trouble sleeping.
As well as the teachers, school principal Jill Chin and school district superintendent Bob Farrell are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Farrell tells the Enquirer that he takes all reports of bullying seriously: "If anyone submits a complaint about bullying, we act on it right away. We talk with them, investigate and take appropriate action."
Source (ParentDish US)