A 5-year-old Muslim boy has allegedly suffered an extreme case of discrimination, bullying by a schoolteacher, who allegedly called the boy a ‘bad Muslim boy’ on multiple occasions and choked him in front of another teacher.
The series of events occurred to the Muslim kindergarten student at David Cox Road Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina. The alleged Kindergarten school teacher under investigation is Alma Simpson, she reportedly started bullying the 5-year-old boy at the start of the year and encouraged other school children to do the same.
A letter was written by Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Civil Rights Staff Attorney Maha Sayed and sent to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School board, it read:
“During the first two months of the school year, [the Muslim student] was subjected to relentless bullying and harassment not only by his classmates but by [the teacher]. For example, she would routinely single out [the student] from his classmates and require him to carry a heavy backpack throughout the day. The backpack contained a large textbook and headphones, which caused [the student] to develop significant back pain. . .[The teacher] would also treat [the student] harshly and reportedly called him ‘bad Muslim boy’ on multiple occasions. . ."
The mother of the child requested for her son to be removed from his class with Ms Simpson, her request was accepted but on October 12th he was placed back into the classroom with the alleged bullying teacher.
The letter highlighted the most recent incident of when Alma Simpson grabbed the child by the neck in front of another teacher, “On November 16, 2016, [the teacher] reportedly approached [the student]. . .grabbed him by the neck and began choking him. [Another teacher] then separated the two and began consoling [the student] who was crying and extremely shaken.”
After the choking incident, the boy's mother contacted Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and also contacted CAIR who demands that the school board launches an "immediate and thorough investigation" into Alma Simpson's alleged assault.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools spokeswoman Renee McCoy confirmed investigation of the incident is underway, the school boards have stated that the allegations detailed by CAIR’s letter to school officials seriously.