Nashville Teacher Fired After Student's Hijab Ripped Off In Class

NASHVILLE, TN — A Nashville charter school fired a teacher who posted a video on social media of a student's hijab being pulled off in a classroom.

New Vision Academy Charter School initially suspended the teacher while conducting an investigation.

In the videos posted via the teacher's Snapchat account and sent to WSMV by a concerned viewer, the student can be seen covering her face as her headcovering is removed in a classroom. Other students can be seen playing with her hair. The videos were captioned "pretty hair" and "lol all that hair cover up."

The school's principal, Tim Malone, initially told the station that the teacher denied making the video and that exposing the girl's hair was not mean to be disrespectful. The student's mother and teacher were shown the video and told WSMV "This should never happen."

The Council on American-Islam Relations called for a criminal investigation after the story broke.

"The video depicts a criminal assault, evidently motivated by the religious identity of the student, which makes this a possible hate crime," said CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas. "We call on local law enforcement authorities to investigate this incident, determine who removed the student's hijab, and take appropriate action to hold that person accountable."

An attorney for New Vision told WSMV that while the teacher did not remove the head-covering, her hand can be seen touching the hijab and the student's exposed hair.

In a statement sent to the station confirming the teacher's dismissal, New Vision's executive director Dr. Tim Malone said that there was no "malicious intent," just a lack of judgment.

After talking with everyone involved and receiving consistent accounts from all who were present, we feel confident that there was no malicious intent behind what occurred. Exactly how the headscarf was removed was not depicted in the video, but we know it was not the teacher who removed it. However, actions the teacher did take -- including taking video and posting it to social media -- show a severe lack of judgment and a lack of cultural sensitivity. The teacher is no longer an employee of New Vision Academy. We are deeply sorry to the student and her family for the embarrassment this has caused them. We value and celebrate our school’s diversity. It’s a big part of what makes our school a special place. This incident does not reflect our school’s values in any way. We view this as a learning opportunity for our entire school community to better understand and respect the many cultural differences reflected in our school, and we welcome the opportunity to work with our local Muslim community on that effort.

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