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 ten-year-old actually cut off her own locks.
Taylor Castillo alleged that bullies at her San Antonio school had cut off a significant portion of her hair ‘in the middle and front,’ as detailed in social media posts by her mother.
In a now-deleted TiKTok, Andie Rae Castillo said: ‘It’s gone [too f***ing] far now. This is beyond bullying. This is assault.
‘Kids can be so cruel and mean. My child is the sweetest kid. She is always nice and kind to everyone, I can’t understand why someone would mistreat my sweet girl like this.’
A video shared by Andie on Facebook showed her fifth-grade daughter at a salon, getting a new haircut.
She captioned the post: ‘She ain’t letting no bullies stop her.
‘First thing tomorrow morning is raising hell at that school.’
Taylor Castillo, ten, claimed bullies at the Compass Rose Legacy school in San Antonio had cut off a large chunk of her hair
The alleged incident happened as the elementary student slept on the school bus
Her mother Andie Rae Castillo took the story to TikTok and Facebook with a series of posts
Andie claimed that Taylor had been bullied for years at Compass Rose Legacy public charter school.
She added that ‘this bullying thing’ with Taylor was affecting ‘everything,’ alongside a crying face emoji.
Castillo received tremendous support from her online community, with numerous comments on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram in support of her daughter.
Local outlets in south Texas picked up her anti-bullying pleas, forcing the school to issue a response.
Compass Rose Legacy stated on Tuesday: ‘After thoroughly reviewing hours of bus footage and speaking directly with students and staff, we confirmed that false information had been circulated.
‘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’
The school further mentioned that it would usually ‘address an incident like this privately’ but was responding publicly since ‘some media outlets and social media posts shared incomplete and inaccurate information, leading to understandable concern within our community’.
In a subsequent TikTok video uploaded Tuesday, Andie addressed the school’s response after meeting with the principal and admitted that bullies had not 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.’
The school said its evidence showed that there was no bullying or misconduct by others
The school suggested that ‘false information had been shared’
Her mother claimed that she had asked to meet with the school for ‘almost the last three years’
Andie 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, Andie 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.
Andie said: ‘She knows she did wrong, but I am not going to have my ten-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.
Andie 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.
