MAPLEWOOD, N.J. — A New Jersey family is expressing outrage after they say a teacher pulled the hijab off the head of a 7-year old Muslim girl.The mother of Sumayyah Wyatt’s mother, Cassandra Wyatt, told our sister station WABC-TV that her daughter is no longer interested in wearing the Muslim garb after the incident at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, a suburb about 15 miles west of New York City.
“I have to go introduce her to a different world that I’ve been trying to protect her from,” Cassandra Wyatt said.
The family’s lawyer said the second-grader has always worn a headscarf to school as a part of her Muslim faith.
But on Wednesday, the teacher allegedly told her to remove it. When she resisted, the teacher yanked it off in front of the entire class, the attorney said.
“Ultimately, the teacher succeeds in pulling the hijab off her head, followed by a bizarre statement which is, ‘Your hair is beautiful,'” the attorney said. “It is incredibly disturbing. It is very, very, symbolic of disregard of her religion and certainly something that has affected my clients overall.”
Cassandra Wyatt said she’s always told her daughter that her hijab is her protection.
“Now she’s asked me, ‘Well, if this is my protection, my teacher took this off of my head.’ So how can you explain to your child?” she said.
The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations compared the alleged incident to “harassment” and “assault.”
“The hijab is much like any other article of clothing for a Muslim woman. To remove that publicly can be very humiliating,” said Selaedin Maksut, CAIR-NJ’s executive director.
The teacher’s alleged actions sparked public backlash after fencer and Olympic medalist Ibtihaj Muhammad, who is also from Maplewood, took to Facebook to shed light on the incident. Muhammad became the first American Olympic athlete to wear a hijab during the 2016 Summer Games.
“This is abuse,” she wrote. “Schools should be a haven for all of our kids to feel safe, welcome and protected — no matter their faith.”
The New Jersey school has since received hundreds of calls asking for the elementary school teacher’s removal.
“Anyone that thinks it’s OK to do this to a student clearly is not fit to be a teacher,” Maksut said.
Ron Ricci, an attorney who said he represents the teacher, told NJ Advance Media “the allegations posted by the Olympic fencer are 100 percent untrue.”
The South Orange Maplewood School District, however, said it has launched its own investigation.
“The district takes matters of discrimination extremely seriously,” officials said in a statement. “We remain committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout our schools, including providing anti-bias and anti-racism training for all educators in the district on a regular basis.”
Cassandra Wyatt said the teacher’s actions must have consequences.
“She had to know that was a hijab,” she said. “She has to pay for that. I’d love for her to apologize to my daughter, and then my daughter would feel better.”
The family’s attorney said he is working to help the family get a resolution, but their focus is now on Sumayyah.
The school district has not confirmed the teacher’s identity, WABC-TV reported.
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