A New Jersey teacher is under fire after being accused of pulling a student’s hijab off.
Zaynab Wyatt says her daughter Sumayyah is now traumatized by the incident, which happened during the middle of class.
It happened at Seth Boyden Elementary school in Maplewood on Wednesday, Pix11 reported.
The 7-year-old has not returned to school since, and her mother wants the teacher — identified as Tamar Herman, who has been with the district for nearly 25 years — fired.
“She walked up to her and said, ‘You can’t wear this in here’ and Sumayyah was like ‘No that’s my hijab, that’s my hijab,’” Wyatt recounted to PIX11 News, describing the incident now under investigation by the school district.
“I think that she should be reprimanded, I think that she should be fired, and I think that she should feel disgusted because it was disgusting what she did,” she said.
Olympic medal-winning fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad posted about the incident on social media, which caused an uproar and helped it go viral.
The Council of American Islamic relations made a statement about the incident, saying it violates not only religious liberty, but human decency.
“Muslim women wear the headscarf out of modesty,” explained Salaedin Maksut of CAIR-NJ. “So to remove that is not only disrespectful but could also be humiliating for the one who wears the headscarf.”
While Wyatt says that the South Orange Maplewood school district hasn’t reached out to her about the situation, a district spokesperson stated to PIX11 News saying in part:
“Social Media is not a reliable forum for due process, and the staff member(s) involved are entitled to due process before any action is taken. We must abide by our legal obligations to keep personnel and student matters confidential.”
An attorney for the teacher claims the allegations being made are 100% not true.
The Wyatt family, and their attorney, will hold a press conference early next week to discuss the incident as well as other cases of discrimination that have taken place in the district.
