Updated: Tuesday, January 23, 2024, 9:17 p.m.
The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights said Tuesday that it has opened an investigation into possible "discrimination involving shared ancestry" in the Ann Arbor Public Schools district.
That announcement came a little more than a month after the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a formal complaint with the federal education department, alleging that an eighth-grade Muslim Palestinian-American student at Tappan Middle School was called a "terrorist" by a guidance counselor after the student asked to leave the office to get a drink of water.
The council said the "family of the student had made formal complaints to the school and the school board after the incident, but the school failed to address the concerns of the family."
“CAIR-MI welcomes the Office of Civil Rights opening a formal investigation into whether Ann Arbor Public Schools adequately addressed the alleged comments made by the counselor at Tappan Middle School,” CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said in a statement.
“Calling a Palestinian Muslim student a ‘terrorist’ is a very offensive and hurtful comment that was compounded by the school board’s seeming lack of concern for the student when it was brought to their attention. We are hopeful that the Office of Civil Rights investigation will prompt Ann Arbor Public Schools to take this matter and those like it, seriously," Walid said.
Ann Arbor Public Schools said it does not comment on personnel matters or pending legal complaints.
Original story: Monday, December 18, 8:27 p.m.
On November 14, a guidance counselor at Tappan Middle School in the Ann Arbor Public Schools district told an eighth grader, "I don't negotiate with terrorists," when he asked for permission to get a drink of water, according to a complaint filed with the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The student, the group said, is "a practicing Muslim boy of Palestinian origin."
Amy Doukoure, a staff attorney for the council's Michigan chapter, said said the student immediately complained to the counselor that he felt that her comments were discriminatory and inappropriate based on his religion and ethnicity.
Instead of apologizing, Doukoure said, the counselor reportedly asked other counselors to confirm that they often used that phrase with other students.
Doukoure said the school seemingly took no action and indicated that it was a private personnel matter and that they consider the issue closed. She said since the family’s complaint, no action has been taken to ensure the mental wellbeing of the Muslim student, and the counselor is still working in the school.
School and district officials have refused to meet with the student, his parents, and CAIR-MI staff, she said.
"When a counselor, a guidance counselor, says something that harms a student, to not even address the concerns of the student, it's unheard of," said Doukoure. "The school has an affirmative duty to take action and ensure that when the student is harmed, that harm is remedied."
Doukoure said the student now feels retaliated against by the school's guidance counselors, because they no longer greet him in the hallways. She said the student has missed several days of school since the incident because he feels targeted and fearful that others could consider him a terrorist because of his background.
Ann Arbor Public Schools says it does not comment on personnel matters and pending legal complaints.
