Teacher mailed Afro wig and white face paint to 7-year-old mixed-race student: complaint

A teacher at a New Jersey school sent a seven-year-old mixed-race student an Afro wig and white face paint, according to a complaint filed by the family, The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday.

"According to the July 6 complaint, Denise and Kevin Anderson say the package was sent to their seven-year-old son — only referred to as 'J.A.' — by Amazon on July 9, 2021, but there was no sender information," reported Brooke Leigh Howard.

"During the 2021-22 school year, administrators of Woodland School in Warren had access to students’ addresses for remote learning, the complaint says. Denise determined that the package was ordered by her son’s second-grade teacher, Christine Rzasa, after speaking with Amazon’s customer service, the suit says. The complaint says J.A.’s 'appearance easily identifies him as a member of the mixed-race community.' His mother is Afro-Latina, and his father is white."

The complaint further alleges that when the family reported the incident, J.A. was retaliated against by school staff, with the result that “[J.A.] was so fearful, humiliated and intimidated that he suffered emotional and mental damages for which he had to receive therapy, change of schools and suffer other damages. Rzasa’s conduct can be described as nothing short of outrageous.”

Rzasa, who won the 2006 Governor’s Teacher of the Year award, declined to comment. However, the Warren Township School District issued a statement saying that it "rejects hate and racism in all forms" and intends to defend against the claims in the suit.

Racial and other intolerance incidents involving teachers have made national news from around the country in recent years. In May, a Richmond, Virginia middle school teacher was suspended after demanding that a student who wasn't speaking English "go back to wherever that Spanish-speaking country is."

Many schools, however, have not reacted with understanding over the incidents. After a Missouri high school student recorded her teacher using the N-word, she was suspended for violating policy about electronic devices in class.