Teacher’s "goes bald" to face the bullies.

[marylander1940]

Teacher Tori Nelson and student Matthew Finney show off their shaved heads. (Photo: Tori Nelson)

 

When Tori Nelson arrived at Winlock Miller Elementary School in Washington state, where she works as a fourth-grade teacher, she noticed a lone student sitting crying outside her classroom earlier this week.

 

Matthew Finney, a shy boy in her homeroom, had his coat on and his head down, covered in a winter hat. “I could see the back of his neck had been shaved, and since Matthew usually has very thick brown curly hair, I realized that he’d had a haircut over the weekend,” Nelson tells Yahoo Parenting.

 

“I asked him what was wrong, and he said he’d gotten a buzz cut for the summer. But this morning, a fifth grader on the bus made fun of him, and he didn’t want to come to class and get teased by other kids.”

 

Nelson tried to convince Matthew to come inside. School rules prohibit kids from wearing hats indoors, so she told him that if he didn’t take it off, he could get sent home. That didn’t work, so she suggested he take some time to wash up in the rest room. Matthew, holding up a binder to shield his head, didn’t budge.

 

“Finally I said, ‘if you take off your hat off and come to class, I’ll let you give me a buzz cut too,” says Nelson. “I figured it’s just hair, and mine is already short anyway. I might as well get it shorter in time for the warm weather.”

 

Matthew practicing his barber skills on Nelson in front of the entire fourth grade (Photo: Tori Nelson)

 

Matthew excitedly took her up on the offer. After lunch, during recess, Nelson and another teacher gathered all the fourth graders together. A school employee brought in scissors and clippers, which Matthew used to the cheers of his classmates, excitedly watching as her hair fell away onto the ground in the schoolyard.

 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/teachers-answer-to-bullies-shaving-her-head-119531229912.html

[+ quoththeraven]

What a great way to defuse bullying, and what a great teacher!