Teacher forced boy with alopecia to remove cap, mom says

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WJXT) - A Jacksonville mother is speaking out after she said her son, who has alopecia areata, was forced to remove his cap.

“I’m going to be very honest I was angry,” Sarra Brown said.

Brown that’s how she felt when she got a call from her 11-year-old son Cameron Murray last Thursday from his school, Westview K-8.

“So, my concern was why did the teacher tell him to take his cap off?” She said.

Brown said the teacher, who does not teach a class her son is in, also cursed at him.

“Like, I felt sad,” Cameron said.

Cameron wears caps at school because he has alopecia areata. Brown said he has permission to wear them and has worn them all year long.

Alopecia is a disease that leads to hair loss.

Cameron started losing hair around 7 years old, and now he just has a few stands of hair left.

Brown said the reason the incident with the teacher is so upsetting is because her son has been bullied by other students because of his condition.

Some students have even snatched his hat off.

According to the latest data from the National Institute of Health released in 2017 on children with alopecia, 23% of them said they had been bullied.

Brown said the latest incident with her son is something she takes seriously because she said she doesn’t want him to be bullied and become depressed or have something worse happen to him.

“Anyone that works around children, they need to be able to maintain a professional demeanor at all times,” Brown said. “And I understand at times it’s hard working with children because there can be a lot going on, but I feel that they should have immediately removed him.”

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