Father of biracial 7-year-old girl whose hair was cut by white teacher without her parents’ permission files $1 million lawsuit against MN school district
One day when Jimmy Hoffmeyer’s daughter, Jurnee Hoffmeyer, came home from school, he noticed that her beautiful flowing curls had been cut on one side. He asked her what happened, and she said that another student on the bus cut her hair.
The dad wasn’t upset at the student, but he made sure his daughter knew that other students should not be cutting her hair. He took her to a salon to get her hair cut. The stylist gave her an asymmetrical style which seemed to satisfy the dad and daughter.
Then the daughter went to school again, and once again she came home with more of her hair missing. This time, Jurnee said a teacher cut her hair. Jurnee was upset and embarrassed about the haircut. Her father was furious.
Jimmy is Black and White. His wife is White.
That makes Jurnee bi-racial and partially Black. Jimmy believes that the haircut may have been racially motivated, but the school district claims that isn’t true
According to the suit, the first-grader arrived home with nearly all her hair cut off, down to a couple of inches from her scalp, leaving her father – who is also biracial – and mother, Christie – who is white – horrified.
‘Our kind of hair, you can’t just wet down and cut it,’ he told WJRT. ‘Even if they were trying to do it in the kindness of their heart, once they [saw] the outcome, they should have been like, “Yeah, we messed up. We should probably call him and let him know what just happened.”‘
Hoffmeyer immediately contacted the school to complain, but was told that the teacher responsible – school librarian Mogg – would not be subjected to disciplinary action, aside from a note in the staffer’s file.
What’s more, the furious father even claimed the principal tried to get the incident to disappear instead of attempting to correct it.
Jimmy isn’t just complaining about the haircut; he’s doing something about it. He filed a lawsuit for $1 million. According to the lawsuit, the school district is responsible because the district “failed to properly train, monitor, direct, discipline, and supervise their employees, and knew or should have known that the employees would engage in the complained of behavior given the improper training, customs, procedures, and policies, and the lack of discipline that existed for employees.”
Watch the video below for more details about this lawsuit.
Jurnee currently goes to a different school.
How would you react if your child came home and told you that a teacher cut his or her hair without asking your permission first? Do you think a $1 million lawsuit is appropriate for this situation?
Source:tiphero.com, dailymail.co.uk
