Veteran teacher is STILL on unpaid leave 16 months after she pushed hijab off student

A veteran teacher is still banned from work 16 months after she was accused of purposefully pushing a hijab off a second-grader’s head in class, sparking months of ugly confrontations.

Tamar Herman remains on paid leave from Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, after the October 2021 incident with eight year-old Sumayyah Wyatt.

Herman claims she thought Sumayyah was wearing a hoodie, which she wanted to remove in class. 

But Sumayyah’s parents, Cassandra and Joseph, said the action was intentional and accused the teacher of being Islamophobic.

Tamar Herman, who worked at Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, New Jersey,  was placed on administrative leave and had to relocate and seek protection after getting threats on her life after the October 2021 incident

Joseph launched into a vile anti-Semitic rant against Herman, who’s Jewish, when approached about the incident by the Washington Post.

Accusing Herman of deliberately pulling away the head-covering, he said: ‘They (Jews) think they’re chosen by God.

‘They come with the money. They monopolize a lot of stuff for money.

‘The Jews — the Semitics — they run Hollywood. They run a lot of stuff. It’s all Jewish names.’  

‘There’s always been a conflict with the Muslims and the Jews … That’s why they are fighting in Palestine. He also claimed the teacher ‘never apologized.’ 

Herman says Cassandra Wyatt showed up to her door in early 2022, saying Sumayyah missed her, and that the incident had been blown out of proportion. 

She has now filed two lawsuits; one against her employer for not affording her due process.

Despite the length of time that’s passed, there has been no efforts to begin an investigation to lift.

Another suit was filed against Selaedin Maskut of Muslim rights’ group CAIR’s New Jersey chapter.

Also included in that second lawsuit is Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, a local Muslim woman who turned on Herman following the incident and who publicly shamed her online.

Shockingly, Herman and Muhammad had previously been friends, with Herman citing the hijab-wearing sportswoman as an inspiration to her students. 

Herman says both Maskut and Muhammad defamed her by branding her racist.  

Muslim Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad shared the claims publicly on social media. She is pictured at fencing event at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio 

Sumayyah Wyatt, 8, is the second grader who is in the center of the hijab controversy 

CAIR intervened calling for Herman’s immediate firing. Muhammad also started a petition on Change.org that garnered nearly 1,000 signatures to bring attention to the matter.  

‘Herman told the student that her hair was beautiful and she did not have to wear hijab to school anymore,’ Muhammad wrote to her thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram. 

‘Imagine being a child and stripped of your clothing in front of your classmates,’ she said. ‘Imagine the humiliation and trauma this experience has caused her.’

The 2016 Olympic medalist, who graduated from the South Orange-Maplewood, New Jersey school district, is also a children’s book author and has written books celebrating the hijab.

Herman and Muhammed were once friends. The women both worked out at the same gym and Muhammed even spoke at Herman’s class one year. 

Herman said she felt betrayed and hurt and confronted Muhammad about the posts asking her why she would not approach her first.

She than asked her to remove them since she deemed Muhammed influential and alleged that her ‘misinformation has turned my life upside-down overnight.’ 

‘I considered you a friend,’ Herman wrote, as per The Washington Post.  ‘Not only is it 100% untrue, it was very hurtful to read.’

Muhammad quipped: ‘So Sumayyah is a liar?’ 

Herman responded that ‘anyone making these accusations would be a liar and that she doubted Sumayyah actually said that.

But, Muhammad never responded back to Herman, and has since filed a lawsuit claiming Muhammed’s smear campaign has ruined her teaching career and had led to threats on her life.

Herman’s attorney Samantha Harris said the ‘the misinformation shared on social media has caused tremendous harm to Ms. Herman.’

She continued ‘after more than 30 years of devoting her heart and soul to children of all backgrounds, [Herman] has now had to ask for police protection due to the threats she is receiving following the dissemination of false information on social media.’

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Sumayyah Wyatt’s mother, Cassandra Wyatt, told ABC7 that the teacher needed to ‘pay’ for the incident

Seth Boyden Elementary School teacher Tamar Herman was accused of removing a Grade 2 student’s hijab, and her lawyer says the ‘false narrative’ resulted in threats 

Sumayyah Wyatt’s mother, Cassandra Wyatt, told ABC7 when the incident first took place that the teacher needed to ‘pay’ for the incident.

‘She had to know that was a hijab,’ she said. ‘She has to pay for that. I’d love for her to apologize to my daughter, and then my daughter would feel better.’

‘I have to go introduce her to a different world that I’ve been trying to protect her from,’ Cassandra Wyatt said.

She added that she had told her daughter that her hijab is her protection.

‘Now she’s asked me, ‘Well, if this is my protection, my teacher took this off of my head.’ So how can you explain to your child?’ she said. 

The family’s lawyer branded the incident as ‘incredibly disturbing’.

‘It is very, very, symbolic of disregard of her religion and certainly something that has affected my clients overall.’ 

When Cassandra learned that Herman was Jewish she posted on Facebook her reaction and noted her religion in a Facebook Live post stating, in part ‘that’s why I believe she did it now I’m furious,’ The Washington Post reported.

When she was asked about the remarks, Wyatt -whose family is black- alleged that Herman should have been more sensitive to a head covering since Jewish people wear them too.

But, then added, ‘I think that she’s racist. I think she’s anti-Muslim.’  

Later, she modified her comments to say she wasn’t sure if Herman was racist or anti-Muslim, the news outlet said.

Months after the incident, Cassandra went to Herman’s home unexpectedly telling her that her daughter adored her as a teacher and revealed to her how the matter had gotten out of hand.

The young girl’s mother would not confirm or deny whether she went to Herman’s home, the news outlet reported.

Sumayyah Wyatt’s father said that he initially wanted his children to attend private school, but then decided on Seth Boyden Elementary School at his wife’s urgency.

Both of his children- Sumayyah and her other daughter – are now attending private school.

Since the allegations Herman said she had to relocate and now lives in fear that someone may hurt her. 

She is experiencing ‘devastating headaches’ and has trouble sleeping,’ according to one of her lawsuits. 

‘She has been damaged,’ it states. 

Herman has filed two lawsuits, both of which are pending. 

The first suit alleges that the district violated her due process rights by putting her on administrative leave without a hearing, and discriminated against her based on her religion, among other charges.

The second lawsuit, a defamation suit, was also filed against Muslim Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Selaedin Maksut of CAIR New Jersey.

The 2016 Olympic medalist graduated from the South Orange-Maplewood, N.J., school district is also a published author, who has written one of two children’s books celebrating the hijab

Herman said ‘he past year + has been a nightmare,’ in an email response to questions. 

‘For the past 20 years, I have given my heart and soul to all of my students. In the blink of an eye, my reputation as a dedicated and caring teacher was destroyed.’

 She added: ‘A false accusation was posted online, and my life was turned upside-down overnight.’

One of Herman’s friends and allies said in a school board meeting during a January 2022 school board meeting and right after the prosecutor announced there would be no charges.

She described Herman as ‘a gentle person who could never have done what she was accused of.’

She also asked that the district address the antisemitism connected to the case.