A mother is filing a discrimination complaint and a lawsuit against the Sachem Central School District over a teacher's alleged comments about her daughter's hair.

According to an attorney for the family, the cosmetology teacher at Sachem East High School referred to the African American student's hair as "ethnic," while calling her own hair "American" and "normal." He says the high school senior was the only Black person in the class.

The family's attorney Andrew Lieb says his clients want systemic change throughout the whole school system so the school understands that this can't be tolerated.

"She got told she's not like everyone else, she got told that she's an outcast, she got told that she has different hair, and she should work in different place when she's going into cosmetology," Lieb says.

Lieb says the discrimination continued after the student's mother contacted the school.

He says the teacher violated New York's CROWN Act, which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. The law is meant to eliminate discrimination on the style or texture of someone's hair.

A spokesperson for Sachem Central School District says they don't comment on pending litigation.