7-Year-Old Biracial Girl In Trauma After Teacher, Student Chop Her Hair On Separate Occasions

A father has moved his 7-year old biracial daughter from one school to another after a schoolmate and a teacher cut her hair in two consecutive incidents, in Michigan.

When Jurnee returned home from Ganiard Elementary on March 24, she had much of her hair on one side trimmed. Jimmy Hoffmeyer said that a classmate cut his daughter's hair with scissors on the school bus, NBC New York reported.

Following the incident, Hoffmeyer raised a complaint with the principal and had Jurnee’s hair styled in an asymmetrical fashion to conceal the lengths of the hair that were earlier trimmed by her classmate. Two days later, she returned home with another side of her hair cut and she was terrified and afraid of getting in trouble for getting her hair cut, Hoffmeyer said.

He had told his daughter that no child should be allowed to cut her hair. When he asked the sobbing child what had transpired, she said that the teacher cut her hair.

On the first account, the school called Hoffmeyer after the bus incident and explained that the “little girl stole the scissors off the teacher’s desk, and they were going to talk to the parents and deal with it accordingly,” Hoffmeyer told ABC News. The school’s principal told him that the most she could do was to write a note in the library teacher’s file who had cut Jurnee’s hair. Unconvinced and irked by the school’s response, Hoffmeyer filed an incident report with the Mount Pleasant police.

Hoffmeyer was clear that he didn’t want to make this about race but was infuriated with the lack of action against the unsolicited haircuts the child was subjected to. The child’s mother is white and the father is biracial.

District Superintendent Jennifer Verleger confirmed the incident in a statement released late Tuesday, reported the Independent, “Regardless of their good intentions, these actions were unacceptable and show a lack of judgment on the part of our two employees,” she said in the statement. ” Both the employees are being evaluated for further disciplinary action under school policies and procedures, she added.

Hoffmeyer is coordinating with the National Parents Union, a national network of parent groups and advocates dedicated to improving children's lives. "JusticeForJurnee" is trending on Twitter as users are showing support to brings those involved to book.