Texas city rocked after girl, ten, said bullies chopped her hair off as she slept on school bus… only for very different story to emerge
A Texas girl shocked her city after claiming bullies had chopped off her hair as she slept on the school bus.
But now it’s been revealed the 10-year-old chopped off her locks herself.
Taylor Castillo said that bullies at the Compass Rose Legacy school in San Antonio had cut off ‘a big part’ of her hair ‘in the middle and front,’ according to social media posts by her mother Andie Rae Castillo.
In a now-deleted TiKTok, the mother said: ‘It’s gone [too f***ing] far now. This is beyond bullying. This is assault.
‘Kids are so cruel and mean. My baby is the sweetest damn kid. She is so nice and sweet to everyone, I don’t understand why anyone would treat my sweet girl this way.’
A video shared by Castillo on Facebook showed her fifth-grade daughter at a salon, getting a new haircut.
Castillo captioned the post: ‘She ain’t letting no bullies stop her.
‘First thing tomorrow morning is raising hell at that school.’
Taylor Castillo, 10, claimed bullies at the Compass Rose Legacy school in San Antonio had cut off ‘a big part’ of her hair
The alleged incident happened as the elementary schooler slept on the school bus
Her mother Andie Rae Castillo took the story to social media in a series of TikTok and Facebook posts
Castillo took the story to social media earlier this month, posting that Taylor had been bullied for years at the San Antonio public charter school.
She added that ‘this bullying thing’ with Taylor was affecting ‘everything,’ alongside a crying face emoji.
Castillo received an outpouring of support from her community, with dozens of comments on Facebook, TikTok and Instagram supporting her daughter.
Local outlets in south Texas picked up her anti-bullying pleas, forcing Compass Rose Legacy to issue a response.
The school said on Tuesday: ‘After carefully reviewing hours of bus footage and speaking directly with students and staff, we confirmed that false information had been shared.
‘The evidence clearly showed that there was no bullying or misconduct by others.’
The institution’s full statement said that a ‘thorough investigation’ had been launched ‘immediately’ following Castillo’s claims.
Her mother said Taylor had been bullied ‘for years’ at the San Antonio public charter school
A video shared by Castillo on Facebook showed Taylor getting a new haircut at a salon
Castillo captioned the post: ‘She ain’t letting no bullies stop her. First thing tomorrow morning is raising hell at that school’
Compass Rose added that it would typically ‘handle an incident like this privately’ but was responding publicly since ‘some media outlets and social media posts shared incomplete and inaccurate information, which caused understandable concern within our community.’
In a follow-up TikTok video posted Tuesday, Castillo addressed the school’s response after meeting with the principal and admitted bullies hadn’t ruined her daughter’s hairstyle.
She said: ‘The school acknowledged, “We know she’s been being bullied for the last three years” but school policy is if it’s one person bullying one kid, that’s when they can address it as bullying.
If it’s multiple kids, which her bullying situation has been multiple kids, they don’t consider it bullying.
I guess it’s just considered being picked on, and there’s nothing they can do about kids being picked on.’
Castillo said that she had noticed her daughter’s hair and asked her what happened.
The mother said her daughter responded: ‘I don’t know, I fell asleep on the bus. Someone cut it.’
Compass Rose said: ‘The evidence clearly showed that there was no bullying or misconduct by others’
The school posted that ‘false information had been shared’ about Castillo
Her mother claimed that she had asked to meet with the school for ‘almost the last three years’
Castillo added that she had been asking for ‘almost the last three years’ to meet with school officials but had never gotten a response until taking her daughter’s bullying claims to social media.
She said: ‘I’m that mom when it comes to my kids.
‘Nobody f**ks with my kids. I’m always going to believe my daughter.’
In the follow-up TikTok, Castillo claimed Taylor had said sorry to ‘everybody she needed to apologize to,’ including the principal of the school.
However, the principal allegedly requested a public apology, outraging the mother.
Castillo said: ‘She knows she did wrong, but I am not going to have my 10-year-old do a public apology.
‘I’m doing the apology because I jumped the gun.’
That included the social media posts about her daughter’s story and, according to the TikTok, also going to a police station with the claims.
Castillo claimed ‘many parents’ had reached out to her, saying ‘they had to withdraw their students from that school’ due to bullying.
She said: ‘If my daughter’s lie is what it takes to bring light to the bullying situation at the school and what’s not happening [there], I believe everything happens for a reason.
‘Maybe that was this reason because a lot of parents are coming forward and saying they had to remove their kids from that school because the bullying was so bad.’
The Daily Mail reached out to the Compass Rose Legacy school in San Antonio and Compass Rose Public Schools for comment.
