Teacher Cuts Disabled Girl's Hair, Mother Waiting for Answers
A mother in North Carolina is upset after her disabled daughter returned home from school with a much different hair cut after the girl's teacher allegedly cut it during class.
Jessica Stirewalp, the mother of 7-year-old Millbridge Elementary School student Jesslyn, said her daughter's hair was cut without her consent, Jessyln has Down syndrome. The Rowan County teacher allegedly cut the child's hair 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 told WSOC. "Of course, I got mad, but I asked her how much, and she said four inches."
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When Jessyln arrived home from school something just didn't add up as her mother noticed that more hair seemed to be missing from the child's head.
"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," adding that her daughter is "always brushing her hair, always doing something with her hair."
Stirewalp explained that she has heard several different explanations as to why her daughter's hair was cut and doesn't know exactly what happened in class that day.
Stirewlp stated that she was first told that her daughter's hair was cut because she got food stuck in her locks, but she later received a letter from the school which said that Jesslyn wouldn't stop taking her hair down resulting in the teacher cutting it.
The Rowan-Salisbury School district has yet to issue and official statement.
The event is taking a toll on the young girl as her grandmother revealed she doesn't like to see herself now.
"She doesn't even get in front of the mirror anymore," Mary Poole told WSOC.
