A 12-year-old girl in Northern Virginia claimed a group of boys attacked her at the school where Karen Pence teaches at. On the left, her grandmother. (NBC Washington)
A group of white students where Karen Pence teaches are have been accused of pinning down a black girl and cutting off her hair.
Pence, the wife of US Vice President Mike Pence, teaches art at the conservative Immanuel Christian School in Virginia.
But NBC Washington has reported that three sixth-grade white students cut the hair off a student of colour and called her hair “ugly” and “nappy”, the girl claimed.
Three boys pinned down a 12-year-old, restrained her, and cut off her hair.
Amari Allen, 12, told the outlet that as she was about to go down a slide during recess when a boy allegedly grabbed her and placed his hand on her mouth.
The second boy then restrained her by the arms while the third cut off some of her dreadlocks, she claimed. When the bell rang, the boy ran off and laughed.
She said the three boys had routinely bullied her since the beginning of the school year.
In the past, they have pushed her around, insulted her and even stolen her lunch.
Allen said the attack happened on Monday, but was too afraid to speak out until Wednesday that week after her grandmother was doing her hair and noticed the missing locks.
She said she broke down in tears when asked by her grandmother, Cynthia Allen, about what happened.
“My heart just broke,” girl’s grandfather says.
“It was like she just died. That’s how painful it was for me,” Cynthia Allen said.
“My heart just broke,” the grandfather said.
“I was just paralyzed. I couldn’t get myself together.”
Allen, a straight-A student and budding violin player, has attended the school since kindergarten. But her family has said that they won’t be seeing her back until the school takes action.
“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,” Head of School Stephen Danish said in a statement.
He said that he has asked local police to investigate the attack.
But Allen’s grandmother said: “Consequences should be implemented so that the school will send a strong message: ‘We will not tolerate this’.”
School actively discriminated against LGBT+ students, families and staff.
Pence, the Second Lady, is an illustrator and an advocate for art therapy. She announced she will return to teach at the Immanuel Christian School in January.
However, the school’s admission and employment policies discriminate against LGBT+ students, families and staff members.
Families of prospective students are required to follow a parental agreement that reads, in part: “I understand that the school reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse admission to an applicant or to discontinue enrollment of a student if the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home, the activities of a parent or guardian, or the activities of the student are counter to, or are in opposition to, the biblical lifestyle the school teaches.
“This includes, but is not limited to contumacious behavior, divisive conduct, and participating in, supporting, or condoning sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity, promoting such practices, or being unable to support the moral principles of the school.”
One of Pence’s daughters, Charlotte, was named as a graduate of the school on its website.
Prospective school employees are required to sign a document in which they pledge to “maintain a lifestyle based on biblical standards of moral conduct,” which includes understanding that marriage can only occur between a man and a woman and that sexual intercourse can only take place between a married heterosexual couple.