Teacher Accused of Mocking 7-Year-Old's Hairstyle on Facebook

When 7-year-old Ukailya Lofton saw a picture in a magazine of a fun hairstyle she loved, the second-grader begged her mother, a hairdresser, to create the same look for her.

Her mom agreed, attaching colorful Jolly Rancher candies with elastic bands to the ends of her daughter's braids for picture day at school. The little girl enjoyed her friends' admiring comments and allowed her computer teacher to take pictures with a cellphone.

But the pictures apparently were posted on the teacher's Facebook page along with comments mocking the girl. Now her mother, Lucinda Williams, has hired a lawyer and said Friday she will sue the Chicago Public School District.

"This was a good teacher, but this was a case of poor judgment," CPS spokeswoman Monique Bond told the Chicago Tribune. "It will warrant disciplinary action."

The case began last week, when another Overton Elementary School parent who is Facebook friends with the teacher saw the comments and saved and forwarded them to Williams, she said.

The photos apparently showed the girl from the side and back of her head and included the teacher's comment, "Right, this is for picture day," ABC News in Chicago reported.

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One of the teacher's Facebook friends commented, "If you are going to make your child look ridiculous, the least you can do is have them matching." Another wrote, "I laughed so hard that my contact popped out."

Williams told reporters she complained to the school principal; the teacher apologized and told Williams she had taken down the page. But Williams said she is not satisfied.

"She never apologized to my daughter. She is still in the school. She wasn't suspended. I mean, it's like nothing happened," Williams told ABC. "She just apologized and that's it. That's not enough."

As for Ukailya, she said she was disappointed in her teacher's reaction to her hairstyle.

"I feel sad that she put my picture on Facebook," she told the Tribune. "I don't think she liked it."