Middle School Teacher Allegedly Cut Special Needs Student's Hair

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Middle School Teacher Allegedly Cut 8 Inches Off Student’s Hair

A parent of a special needs student at Redlands Middle School in Grand Junction, Colorado is making allegations that his son’s teacher cut off about eight inches of his hair without their permission. According to reports from ABC8, this goes against the family’s beliefs, since they are naturalists and they 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 Scotland, 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.

The father said that he is surprised the teacher was not immediately fired following the incident. “It’s about consent,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate that something like this could happen in a public school.”