- Aaquilah Perez was shocked to see her daughter’s braid ripped off her head one day last month when she came home from school
- Five-year-old Zuwena, who has ADHD and special needs, was reportedly attacked by a teacher’s aide in her kindergarten class on March 15
- Her mother says the school did not handle the issue with the necessary urgency
A New Jersey mother is sharing her harrowing story after she says her daughter came home from school several weeks ago after her hair was 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 reports that, according to official documents, Perez’s daughter, Zuwena, came home from school last month with a bald spot on her head after a teacher’s assistant allegedly ripped a braid from the child’s head.
Perez snapped a photo of her five-year-old daughter’s head as soon as she got home from school — she attends PS 26 in Jersey City, also called Patricia M. Noonan Elementary.
The mother said she had put her daughter’s hair in cornrows up to the neck, but when she got 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 was left behind. .
The empty spot where the braid used to be on her daughter’s head was so disturbing to the mother that she called doctors to her home when Zuwena came home.
Zuwena is a kindergartener who, according to her mother, has ADHD and other special needs.
The empty spot where the braid used to be was so disturbing to the mother that she called doctors to her home when Zuwena came home.
Perez said the teachers at school tried to convince her that Zuwena’s braid was missing when the child took a nap and slept messily. A story that Perez does not believe for a second.
The concerned mother told police the alleged hair-tearing incident happened after her daughter refused to take a time-out.
Zuwena did not return to school after the incident, which took place almost three weeks ago. Her mother says she quit her job to care for her full-time.
She also says she is outraged by the apparent lack of urgency the school has shown in investigating the alleged attack on her child.
“I think they really need to take this matter seriously because I don’t want anyone else’s children to get hurt or for other parents to have to go through what I just went through three weeks ago,” she said.
“It’s a terrible feeling to send your child to a place where he or she should be safe and to come home with their hair pulled down and sad because the teacher hurt them. It’s really heartbreaking.’
The attack allegedly occurred in a pre-K class at Jersey City’s PS 26 on March 16
“It’s a horrible feeling to send your child to a place where he or she should be safe and to come home with their hair pulled down and sad because the teacher hurt them, it’s really heartbreaking,” Aaquilah Perez (right) said
Perez wants immediate action against the instructor who allegedly pulled out her child’s braid. She also hopes her daughter can transfer to another school.
The Jersey City Board of Education is investigating allegations Perez made against the teacher’s aide, whose identity remains unknown at this time.
“The administration is reviewing all the facts surrounding this unfortunate news because we must ensure that all of our students receive an education in a safe, nurturing environment,” BOE President Dejon Morris said in a statement to a local sales point.