A 12-year-old girl was left frightened and upset after three boys pinned her arms and cut off her dreadlocks in a school playground.
The students allegedly ambushed Amari Allen during recess on Monday (September 23) at Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia.
Amari said she was about to go down a slide when one of the boys grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth. Another boy held her arms while a third started to chop at her hair.
Watch the student talk about the bullying below:
The 12-year-old told NBC 4 the boys called Amari ‘ugly’ and her hair ‘nappy’ during the ambush.
The ordeal reportedly lasted about five minutes before the school’s bell rang and the three sixth-graders ran away, laughing. It’s unclear where the school staff were at the time.
Amari was too afraid to tell anyone until two days later, when her grandmother, Cynthia Allen, noticed long portions of the child’s hair missing. The youngster started crying and told her family the whole story.
Speaking to CBS affiliate WUSA9, the 12-year-old recalled:
They kept laughing and calling me names. They called me ugly [and] said I shouldn’t have been born. They called me an attention-seeker.
They ran off laughing, and I was just sitting there.
Amari’s grandfather, Dewaune Allen, spoke of the moment he found out about the bullying, saying:
My heart just broke. I was just paralysed. I couldn’t get myself together.
The family called Fairfax County police, who took a report of the incident, and met with school administrators to address the disturbing incident.
The same boys have allegedly bullied Amari in the past, stealing her lunch and calling her names.
Amari’s grandmother Cynthia added:
It’s very painful. I want to see them dismissed from the school. I want to see something done.
Stephen Danish, the headteacher of Immanuel Christian School, said administrators were ‘deeply disturbed by the allegations.’
In a statement about the incident, he commented:
We take seriously the emotional and physical well-being of all our students, and have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of bullying or abuse.
We… are in communication with the family of the alleged victim to gather information and provide whatever support we can.
We have also reached out to law enforcement to ask them to conduct a thorough investigation, and further inquiries should be directed to the Fairfax County Police.
The teacher is urging police to conduct a thorough investigation.
Immanuel Christian School has caused controversy in the past for banning gay and transgender students and requiring job applicants to pledge marriage is only between a man and a woman.
Amari’s family pay nearly $12,000 per year for the 12-year-old to attend the school but her grandparents have said she won’t return until action is taken.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.