An Oklahoma mother was shocked to see her son come home from school looking much different than he did when he left. Rachelle Plumley's 7-year-old son, Asiah, is autistic and nonverbal, so he could not explain to her what happened.
As part of their family's Native American heritage, Asiah wears his hair long and often slicked back in a ponytail. On August 21, Asiah went to school with his typical hairstyle but came back with a haircut.
Plumley shared her frustration on Facebook, writing that Asiah has only had one haircut in his life, but now he has bangs. The mother claimed Frontier Public Schools said her son cut his own hair, and she demanded to know what happened.
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Asiah's class was working with scissors.
Plumley told KFOR that Asiah was in a special education class, and his teacher informed her at drop-off that the class would be working with scissors that day. Asiah's hair was fully intact when she left, and she expected him to look the same when she returned. But that wasn't the case.
"When he walked in the door, we noticed obviously his hair was cut," Plumley explained. "A simple I'm sorry, or even a phone call would have helped and made me feel a lot better, but still nothing has been said."
Asiah couldn't tell his mom what happened.
Because he is nonverbal, Asiah can't give an explanation for his mom. Plumley asked the teacher, who allegedly told her the boy cut his own hair.
"Even if he did do this to himself, I feel like the school is still held accountable for not paying attention and being there for my son that I'm trusting them to do everyday," she told KFOR.
Plumley was heartbroken.
She told KFOR that long hair is important to her Native American heritage.
"In Native American culture, it does represent strength and it means a lot to us and he wouldn't have done this to himself," Plumley said.
She took to social media to raise awareness about the situation and to seek an explanation from the school.
She wrote on Facebook, "they had the nerve to tell me he did it to his self but asiah is afraid of haircuts, hints why we let it grow so long & not only that but he's autistic so in the special education classroom with THREE teachers aids, why is no one watching my f—–g kid?! the fact that it's so straight like bangs makes me think someone did it to him. I can't stop crying and he keeps telling me it's okay mom.. like no son, it's not."
Her post got the attention of Native American community activists.
AIM Indian Territory Oklahoma posted its frustration with the situation on Facebook.
"How sickening that the teacher aids and school is blaming they non verbal autistic child for cutting his own hair in a perfectly straight line , but claimed they Did NOT SEE HIM DO IT ACCORDING TO THIER OWN WORDS, further more they also lied about doing a  intensive investigation," the post reads.
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Frontier Public Schools denies the mother's claims.
According to Frontier Public Schools Superintendent Erron Kauk, an investigation determined that Asiah cut his own hair.
"We take a lot of pride in what we do here in Frontier about our Native American heritage as well as any other heritage we have," Kauk told KFOR.
"But there was accusations that a student got their hair cut by a school employee. We took that very seriously and we checked into it and investigated. That did not happen."
The superintendent decided not to provide details but assured the news outlet that Asiah cut his own hair.
"I can't go into detail on the student's situation, but we did do a thorough investigation and a school employee did not cut a student's hair," Kauk said.
