Maplewood child suffered ’emotional harm’ when her hijab was removed by teacher, suit says – NorthJersey.com

MAPLEWOOD —  A Seth Boyden Elementary School second grade student suffered “emotional harm” when her teacher removed her hijab in the classroom in front of classmates, a lawsuit against the district and the teacher by the Wyatt family said.

South Orange-Maplewood School District teacher Tamar Herman approached the student, who was sitting at her desk in the classroom on Oct. 6, 2021, “grabbed her hijab, pulling it back, touching her face and hair and exposing S.W.’s uncovered head to the class,” said the lawsuit.

The child then yelled, “That’s my hijab,” read the legal complaint, filed March 4 by the family’s attorney, Robert Tarver. 

Shortly after the incident, through a family friend, Herman said it was a misunderstanding. She said she asked the student to raise the hood of her sweatshirt because it was covering her eyes and she brushed up the front of the hood. The child, she has said, was not wearing her usual hijab underneath, so she left the hood on her head.

Herman could not be reached for comment on the lawsuit.

There is no mention of a hooded sweatshirt in the complaint.

The lawsuit said the Wyatt family is African American and Muslim, and that the child has worn a hijab since she was 9 months old, and to school every day. 

The lawsuit also alleges other “abusive” incidents involving Herman and African American students.

The school board and other school employees are also named in the lawsuit for deliberately not documenting and reporting Herman’s actions. Had those situations been documented and addressed, said the lawsuit, the episode involving the hijab might not have occurred.

The 7-year-old girl was emotionally harmed by the incident and its fallout, the complaint read. The student returned to class a few weeks after the incident, but in January her parents withdrew her from the school and asked that she be transferred to another school in the district, the suit read. The district has not transferred the student to another school, the suit said.

The lawsuit accuses the school district and Herman of negligence, intentionally causing emotional distress and violating state law against discrimination. It also accuses Herman of assault through offensive physical conduct. 

Herman has taught elementary school for 30 years. She was placed on administrative leave shortly after the incident and has not returned to school. Her lawyer at the time, Samantha Harris, has said her client hadn’t realized the student was wearing a hood in place of her hijab. Harris said in an email that she is no longer representing Herman.

The South Orange-Maplewood School District dress code does not permit hats or head coverings, except for religious or medical reasons.

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The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the alleged bias incident and declined to charge the teacher in January.

“Following a full investigation and a thorough review of all the available evidence and the applicable law, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has concluded that there is insufficient evidence to sustain a criminal prosecution in this case,” the office said in a brief, two-paragraph statement. 

“While we understand that many may find the incident troubling, as prosecutors we have a legal and moral obligation to only bring charges in cases where we believe we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed. For those reasons, we will not move forward with this case.”

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Herman received threatening emails and needed police protection shortly after the news broke.

The student’s mother, Cassandra Wyatt, has said her daughter has been unwilling to wear her hijab again and has had bad dreams after the incident.

The incident was again brought up during this week’s school board meeting by a speaker who asked the board members to apologize to Herman and clear her of all wrongdoing.

Talya Rothenberg, a resident of Maplewood, said during public comments that the mother of the child knocked on the door of the teacher’s home on Jan. 28 and apologized to her.

Rothenberg said Herman’s reputation and life as she knew it were “forever dismantled and destroyed” when the district and many in the Maplewood community, including local rabbis, rushed to judge her and unfairly linked her behavior to Islamophobia when it was actually well-intended.

No one connected to the incident confirmed the apology. 

Tarver said he was not able to comment due to the ongoing lawsuit.

South Orange-Maplewood Superintendent Ronald Taylor told Rothenberg this was a personnel matter under litigation and the school district could not comment.

The incident gained international attention last year after Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, a Maplewood native, posted about it on Instagram. Muhammad was the first Muslim American Olympian to compete for the U.S. in a hijab.

Mary Ann Koruth covers education for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news about New Jersey’s schools and how it affects your children, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: koruthm@northjersey.com

Twitter: @MaryAnnKoruth