Middle school teacher allegedly cut 8 inches of hair off special needs student

A parent of a special needs student claims that his teacher at Redlands Middle School cut off eight inches of his hair. (Photo: Google)
A parent of a special needs student claims that his teacher at Redlands Middle School cut off eight inches of his hair. (Photo: Google)

A parent of a special needs student at Redlands Middle School in Grand Junction, Colo., alleges that his son’s teacher cut off about eight inches of his hair without the parents’ permission. According to ABC8, this goes against the parents' beliefs as they are naturalists and are of Cherokee heritage.

Xander Scotland's son, also named Xander, is a new student at the District 51 school. He told his father that he felt he would be in trouble if he did not allow his teacher to cut his hair.

"He's having a hard time adjusting," the father told the station. "He's doing his best to follow all the rules, and this lady told him his split ends were bad."

"I cannot believe that this happened," added the dad, who says that hair holds a spiritual meaning to their family. "I cannot believe that it got to the point that she was actually cutting hair off of my child and still hadn’t crossed her mind that she was doing something wrong."

According to the father, everyone he has talked to "seems to agree that it’s just completely outrageous," but nothing has yet been done. "He’s not being compensated and we just kind of feel molested," he said.

A representative for the school informed Yahoo Lifestyle that the situation is currently under investigation and that they have no comment at this time.

The father Xander said that he is surprised the teacher was not immediately fired.

"It’s about consent,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate that something like this could happen in a public school."

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