Accoridng to WSAZ News a mom from Georgia is upset her daughter’s teacher combed out her locs without permission.
Micaela Varlack said she and her 4-year-old daughter, Londyn, started her hairlock journey in April.
“I went and got her hair washed…,” Varlack explained. “…It was detangled, conditioned, the locs were started and blow dried.”
She spent $150 on the service on April 14. Just three weeks later, Londyn walked out of school with a different hair style than the one she paid for.
“Monday, on May the 6, I go to pick her up from the day care,” she said. “There’s a little child who looks like my child with her hair braided.”
Londyn attends pre-kindergarten at Childcare Network in Columbus, Georgia, where she says her daughter’s teacher took out her locs and rebraided the child’s hair without her permission.
Varlack was shocked by what her teacher had done.
“Why would you comb 32 locs out of a child’s hair, to sit down and braid them, part them…,” Varlack said. “…You didn’t call me, and her literal response was, ‘I just didn’t.’”
Victoria Sunmola, who specializes in styling locs believes the teacher “went overboard.”
“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.”
Varlack also said she had to take her daughter to Urgent Care for possible scalp irritation. Sunmola said removing locs and tight braids could be some potential reasons.
“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 requested the school to refund the money she spent on Londyn’s hair, but she said she was denied.
The Childcare Network corporate office sent the statement below in response to the incident:
“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.”
Should the school have given mom the $150?