FAIRFAX, VA (WUSA/CBS NEWSPATH/WBTW) – Cynthia Allen is overwhelmed with frustration after learning what her 12-year-old granddaughter Amari went through on a school playground.
Amari is a sixth-grader at the private Immanuel Christian School in Springfield, Virginia.
Amari told WUSA9 she’s been bullied for weeks.
“I sometimes think that I don’t deserve to be there and I’m ugly,” Amari said.
She says three six grade boys won’t let up, taking her school lunches, calling her names, and more recently, an attack on the school playground.
“One put my hands behind my back, one of them covered my mouth,” said Amari.
All while she says a third student pulled out scissors, then cut her hair. Her lengthy dreadlocks, now hanging unevenly.
“He took big chunks of my hair and just cut,” Amari said.
Amari’s grandmother wonders where the teachers and other students were when this happened.
Amari says she never told anyone because she was scared. But, her grandmother noticed her hair and questioned her a couple days later.
“I saw where they just chopped them up and everything and she said I did, I did! She was on the defense. I said ‘no’ you didn’t cut your hair,” Allen said.
Amari’s family pays nearly $12,000 a year for her to attend the private school, which on its website outlines a strict-no bullying policy.
In a statement, Head Of School Stephen Danish wouldn’t address WUSA’s questions directly, but stated “we are deeply disturbed by the allegations” and that the school has a “zero tolerance policy for any kind of bullying or abuse.”
Danish also said they have reached out to law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation.
“I want to see them dismissed from the school. I want to see something done. I want to see whatever the policies are for bullying. I want to see them implemented because apparently they’re not being implemented,” Allen said.
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