Jan. 28, 2010
 
Teachers Teasing Long Haired Sixth Grader Lands in Federal Court
 
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
 
Cincinnati, OH (HNN) – Two teachers at a grade school near Cincinnati have been accused of harassing a long-haired six grader who had just endured a death in the family.
 
According to the verified complaint, the teacher and teacher’s aide teased student “J.A.” about the length of his hair. One teacher had previously threatened to cut the boys hair off.
 
On or about September 29, 2009, the two teachers pretended to shave his head with a “pair of operable hair clippers.” They then grabbed his hair and “put three ponytails in it… and introduced J.A. to the language arts class as a new student with a female name.”
 
The federal court complaint alleges that the teachers violated the student’s civil rights, failed to protect his equal protection rights by failing to take decisive and appropriate remedial measures against the perpetrators of the offensive gender-based harassment, intentionally inflicted emotion distress on the student, and committed an assault and battery upon him.
 
Named in the suit are the Milford Exempted Village School District, Tori Bothe, Ms. Boyes, Superintendent Robert Farrell, and Dr. Jill Chin, principal of Boyd E. Smith Elementary School.
 
To download a copy of the complaint in PDF form, click HERE.