A seven-year-old Native American child was left in tears when two bullies chopped his hair while their teacher was on her laptop.
Andreas Garcia didn’t have his typical and traditional long locks when he returned home from Del City Elementary last week. Instead, the back of his hair had been cut close to his scalp, resulting in an unsightly patch with longer strands of hair on either side.
Talking while at the same time scouring his eyes, Andreas expressed that after he was finished getting his work done, they began trimming his hair. The teacher didn’t notice. She was merely working on her laptop.
Jamal Garcia, the boy’s father, chastised his son’s teacher for failing to see what had transpired, asking, ‘How can you not observe two kids hanging over someone and getting their haircut?’
Andreas has been mentally affected by the tragedy, as he has ‘not smiled’ once since losing his hair. ‘And he’s constantly smiling, and he’s never this way,’ Garcia explained.
He went on to say that his kid had been the victim of one of the worst incidences of bullying that he had known about.
Andreas’ mother Denise Gonzalez expressed that this is their custom. He had lovely, long hair, and out of nowhere it got trimmed.
The family also says that the primary school neglected to inform them about the episode until this previous end of the week, after students and staff had already been released for Spring Break.
‘Realizing that the school didn’t reach me by any means until Saturday morning but then they need to explore it, however not until Monday when school resumes, so I feel like they were simply attempting to hide it away from plain view,’ Garcia said.
Mid-Del Public Schools, on the other hand, issued a statement indicating that an inquiry was initiated on the same day the incident occurred and that the problem is being taken seriously.
It said that they appreciate the cultural significance of hair to our students’ identities and take this very seriously. Any pupils discovered to be participating will face discipline in accordance with the procedures stated in our student handbook.
The district also stated that it cannot settle the matter without first speaking with the pupils involved.
In the meantime, Garcia has taken steps to eliminate his child from Del City Elementary, admitting that this isn’t the first time his son has been bullied. He explained the only thing he can do is pull his son out of school and place him someplace else, or homeschool him.
Regardless of what happens next, Andreas says he plans to grow his hair back to its original length.
Share this story to spread awareness that bullying is never ok.
