A Michigan father transferred his seven-year-old biracial daughter to another school after her hair was cut twice—first by a student and second by a librarian—without his permission.
Jimmy Hoffmeyer was upset when his daughter, Jurnee, came home on March 24 from school to find about 2 to 3 inches of her hair was cut off from the right side of her head by a classmate on the school bus.
Hoffmeyer, told ABC 12:
"I mean, I chalked it up because it was a child and you're not thinking of any serious consequences having to do with a kid."
He took Jurnee to a hairstylist who adjusted her hair in an asymmetrical style and offered free haircuts until her hair grew back.
Said, Hoffmeyer:
"So what we did is we took her to the salon to get a cut as an asymmetrical. She had a little short here, but long still talking about her shoulders on this side."
But two days later, Jurnee returned home in tears after a library employee allegedly cut the curly locks from the other side of the young girl's head.
The furious father said Jurnee "was so embarrassed because she had to go back to class like that."
He explained why randomly cutting his daughter's hair was an issue.
"Our kind of hair, you can't just wet down and cut it because and that's when I feel like they should have, even if they were trying to do it in the kindest of their heart, once they seen the outcome, they should have been like, yeah we messed up."
"We should probably call him and let him know what just happened."
After calling the school multiple times and not getting answers, Hoffmeyer said he called the police.
According to USA Today, the Mount Pleasant Police Department said Hoffmeyer did not file a report.
The news outlet said a school assistant eventually contacted Hoffmeyer with an apology but advised him the Principal was out of the school and would not be available to be reached until after spring break.
You can watch the news report, here.
The Principal called Hoffmeyer on April 5 and informed him the librarian who cut his daughter's hair would face no other disciplinary action beyond marks on her report.
The district's superintendent, Jennifer Verleger, called Hoffmeyer 45 minutes later and offered to send Jurnee an apology card in the mail.
But the father did not find that to be sufficient.
He asked:
"An apology card to a 7-year-old who is humiliated and has to be around her classmates like this?"
Hoffmeyer demanded the school "own up to their responsibilities."
"Like, we've been asking as a public apology, for the most part, to let Jurnee know that yes they acknowledge that it was wrong and that it should have never been done and that she should never have been through something like this."
The school board is meeting on Monday where Hoffmeyer will be attending in the hopes of getting some answers for what happened.
He said:
"I still want to know what justifies a teacher cutting a child's hair without their parents' permission? Any of this could have been resolved with a phone call."
"She doesn't understand what's wrong with her hair."
Hoffmeyer, who also identifies as biracial, said the student and the librarian who cut Jurnee's hair were both White. But he is not trying to make this an issue about race.
He said:
"It's hard to come to any decision when you don't have answers to why it was done."
Hoffmeyer sent Jurnee to attend Vowles Elementary School—the school she attended prior to redistricting last year.
He said she is doing okay but does not want to go back to school.
