Father Files $1 Million Lawsuit After School Staff Cuts Daughter’s Hair

A Michigan father filed a $1 million lawsuit against a local school district after a teacher cut his daughter’s hair without his permission.

Jimmy Hoffmeyer is suing Mount Pleasant Public Schools (MPPS) as well as a teacher’s assistant and a librarian, arguing that the incident led to his daughter’s constitutional rights being violated, according to the Detroit Free Press.

In the lawsuit, Hoffmeyer also alleges that his daughter Jurnee, who is biracial, was affected by racial discrimination, ethnic intimidation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and assault and battery due to the incident.

According to Hoffmeyer, his 7-year old daughter came home with the hair on one side of her head cut off, saying that a classmate used scissors to perform the cut on the school bus. He later took Jurnee to a hair salon to have her hair styled in an asymmetrical cut in order for the differing sides to look more uniform.

In the following two days, Hoffmeyer reportedly said that his daughter came home once again with a haircut, this time with the other side of her hair cut off.

“I asked what happened and said, ‘I thought I told you no child should ever cut your hair,’” he told the Free Press. “She said, ‘But dad, it was the teacher.’ The teacher cut her hair to even it out.”

The MPPS Board of Education conducted an investigation and said although cutting hair is a clear violation of school policy, the teachers had good intentions and were not racially motivated.

Hoffmeyer was very skeptical about this investigation.

“They never questioned my daughter or me,” Hoffmeyer said. “Who did they talk to? Did they really do an investigation?”

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Grand Rapids.