Mom says 10-year-old bullied after cutting hair short to donate to charity

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Girl bullied after cutting hair short to donate to charity

Students torment 10-year-old Ohio girl who donated her long blonde locks to Wigs for Kids

An Ohio mother is speaking out after she says her 10-year-old daughter was bullied at school because she cut her hair short to donate it to charity.

Fox 45 reported Tuesday that Jetta Fosburg decided on her own to cut 14 inches off of her long blonde hair and donate it to Wigs for Kids, a charity that helps children with cancer and other hair loss issues.

“I have some family members who have cancer so I thought it was the right thing to do,” Jetta told Fox 45.

However, her mother Heidi Fosburg told the station that ever since Jetta cut her hair, “things have not been good.” Fosburg pulled her daughter out of her school, Pathway School of Discovery in Dayton, after she said Jetta was bullied about her short hair.

“They said things like she wants to be a boy, she's ugly now, a lot of hurtful things,” Fosburg told Fox 45.

Fosburg said she took her concerns to her daughter’s teacher, and filled out a bullying report. Although the school promised to address the issue, she said the bullying continued. She also contacted the principal, who she said told her to “tough it out,” according to Fox 45.

"And (he) told me that he didn't know of any child that had ever died from words. And that we needed to toughen up and deal with it, and he would deal with it how he saw appropriate, which was obviously not the response we were looking for," Fosburg told WHIO.

National Heritage Academies, which runs Pathway School of Discovery, told WHIO in a statement that they are investigating the case after a complaint was filed.

Meanwhile, support has poured in for Jetta. Her mother has set up a Facebook page to encourage her, and Fox 45 reported Thursday that supporters gathered outside her school to stand against the bullies.

“This is about building Jetta up and sharing this message so other kids that are bullied can know we’re behind them,” school show choir director Sara Reynolds told Fox 45.