A mother has slammed her daughter’s teacher for combing her locs out of her hair without permission and replacing them with braids.
Micaela Varlack, from Columbus, Georgia, claimed four-year-old Londyn was left with painful inflammation following the bizarre incident.
She said she and her daughter got their hair braided professionally at a salon for $150 three weeks earlier.
But she told how when she picked Londyn up from pre-k at Childare Network on May 6 she was shocked by what the teacher had allegedly done.
Micaela Varlack of Columbus, Georgia is outraged after a teacher combed her daughter’s locs out without consulting her first, injuring her daughter in the process (Pictured: Varlack’s daughter Londyn after she originally got her hair braided)
The mother said she and her daughter got their hair braided professionally at a salon for $150 three weeks prior (Pictured: Londyn’s hair after her teacher tampered with it)
‘Monday, on May the 6th, I go to pick her up from the daycare,’ she said. ‘There’s a little child who looks like my child with her hair braided.’
‘Why would you comb out 32 locs out of a child’s hair, to sit down and braid them, part them…’
When Varlack asked the teacher why she didn’t call her first, she said her response was simply, ‘I just didn’t.’
Victoria Sunmola, a hairstylist specializing in locs, said Londyn’s teacher ‘went overboard’ and didn’t consider the effect of tampering with a hairstyle like hers.
‘It’s very disrespectful because she did not have the parent’s permission to do it,’ Sunmola said.
‘The mother spent money on this service, and she crossed the line…more than anything it wasn’t her place.’
Londyn had to be rushed to urgent care to manage her daughter’s scalp irritation, which Sunmola said could have been a direct result of the improper removal.
‘So here we are and now there is inflammation in the baby’s head,’ Sunmola said. ‘All of this could have been avoided if she had consulted the parent.’
Varlack’s mother demanded a refund from the school for the money she spent on her daughter’s locs, but she said her request was refused.
Londyn had to be rushed to Urgent Care to manage her daughter’s scalp irritation, which experts said could have been a direct result of the improper removal of the locs
Varlack’s mother demanded a refund from the school for the money she spent on her daughter’s locs, but she said her request was refused
In a statement to WTVM, Childcare Network’s corporate office wrote: ‘On Monday, May 6, a currently enrolled child asked a teacher to braid her hair.
‘After speaking with her mother at pick-up, our staff immediately offered to reimburse the family.
‘Please know that the physical and mental well-being of the children and families we care for is of utmost importance to us, and we are sorry that this was upsetting to the family as it was not our intent.’
It comes one month after a New Jersey mother said her daughter came home from school several weeks ago having had her hair pulled out by a teacher’s aide.
Aaquilah Perez took her story to the local news because she says she doesn’t want what happened to her daughter to happen to anyone else.
ABC7 reported that, according to official documents, Perez’s daughter, Zuwena, returned home from school in March with a bald spot on her head after a teacher’s aide allegedly tore a braid off of the child’s head.
Perez took a picture of her five-year-old daughter’s head as soon as she got home from her school, PS 26 in Jersey City, also called Patricia M. Noonan Elementary.
The empty spot where the braid used to be on her daughter’s head was so alarming to the mother that she called medics to her residence when Zuwena arrived home
‘It’s a terrible feeling to send your child to a place where they’re supposed to be safe and for them to come home with their hair pulled down and sad seeing that their teacher hurt them, it’s really heartbreaking,’ Aaquilah Perez (right) said
The mother said she’s put her daughter’s hair in cornrows all the way to the nape of her neck, but when she returned home from school on March 15, one of the braids had clearly been ripped out, leaving a noticeable bald spot on her child’s scalp.
Zuwena is a Pre-K student who has ADHD and other special needs, according to her mother.
The empty spot where the braid used to be was so alarming to the mother that she called medics to her residence when Zuwena arrived home.
Perez said the teachers at the school attempted to convince her that Zuwena’s braid had disappeared when the child went down for a nap and slept messily. A story Perez said she didn’t buy for one second.
The concerned mother told police the alleged hair-ripping incident occurred after her daughter refused to go into a time out.
Zuwena has not returned to school following the incident, which occurred nearly three weeks ago. Her mother says she quit her job to take care of her full time.
She also said she’s outraged by the apparent lack of urgency the school has taken in examining the alleged assault on her child.
‘I think they really have to take this matter seriously because I don’t want anybody else’s kids to get hurt or I don’t want any other parents have to experience what I just experienced like three weeks ago,’ she said.
‘It’s a terrible feeling to send your child to a place where they’re supposed to be safe and for them to come home with their hair pulled down and sad seeing that their teacher hurt them, it’s really heartbreaking.’
