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Mom pulls 11-year-old daughter out of Avondale school after boy rips out her hair

Avrie Ballard's hair after fight
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CINCINNATI — An Avondale mom has pulled her daughter out of school after she said a boy ripped hair from her scalp.

Shannon McCoy said that when she arrived at Phoenix Community Learning Center Tuesday, her daughter was "screaming and crying."

"They have her in the office," McCoy said. "I check her hair out. It's completely gone."

McCoy took photos of her daughter Avrie's hair, showing where it was ripped from her scalp. Avrie said days later she is still reeling from the incident.

"I'm still mad about the whole situation," Avrie Ballard said. "Every time I look at it, I just start to cry and everything."

McCoy said the incident started as a fight with a boy. She said she spoke with the boy's mother.

"She knew her son was wrong, she was very apologetic," McCoy said.

Two teachers were inside the classroom during the fight, McCoy said. But when she spoke to the teachers, McCoy said they told her they did not see what happened. Instead, she said other students had to break up the fight.

"If teachers were present, the student should have been removed as soon as the first hit was thrown," McCoy said. "And that did not happen."

McCoy said the school told her that nothing would be done on Tuesday. Superintendent Melissa Brown said they followed procedure — the school resource officer was called in to investigate and the boy was disciplined the day of the incident.

"She arrived on the scene and I contacted the child's parents ... they get here and they do a full investigation," Brown said, explaining the process.

But McCoy said this is just one of many incidents to plague the school this year, claiming the school is not being held accountable.

"She acknowledged that her staff was negligent," McCoy said. "I know it's happened to other kids, but I'm the mom that's gonna stand for my daughter. I send her to her to be safe and to learn and she has not done any of that this year at this school."

Now, McCoy said she is removing Avrie from the school to ensure she has a safe learning environment.

"If I can't wake up in the morning to send her and make sure she's safe at school, then that's a problem," said McCoy.

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