Ohio teacher, aide say boy's ponytails were joke

CINCINNATI (AP) — School administrators gave verbal reprimands to a teacher and teacher’s aide who were accused in a lawsuit this week of humiliating an 11-year-old by tying his long hair into ponytails, according to personnel records.

The records released by the school district also show that two employees said they considered the Sept. 29 incident a joke, that the boy didn’t seem to mind it and that he laughed about it.

The boy’s mother, Amanda Anoai, filed the federal lawsuit this week in Cincinnati against the sixth-grade teacher, the aide, the Milford Exempted Village School District, the superintendent and the principal.

It alleges the boy’s constitutional rights were violated and that the employees and school officials intentionally inflicted emotional distress.