Syracuse.com
by Anne Hayes
Lafayette, N.Y. – On Thursday afternoon, Okwaho Patterson, an eighth-grader, was sitting in his technology class at LaFayette Junior-Senior High School working with scissors to help build a model bridge.
All of a sudden, Okwaho, 12, turned around and saw his friend clutching a fistful of Okwako’s hair in one hand and scissors in the other. The student, in a moment of impulsiveness, had forcibly cut Okwaho’s hair.
Okwaho was mortified. He texted his mother immediately, setting off a chain of events that reached the top of the school district and prompted a call for better cultural understanding.
Sarah Patterson, Okwaho’s mother, said she hopes this incident will become a teaching moment for the LaFayette schools. Her family does not want the other student punished, she said.