DEARBORN — Several hundred concerned students, parents, educators and community members gathered during the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, May 28, in a show of solidarity and support for Fordson High School Principal Imad Fadlallah.  Fadlallah, who had been facing an allegation of slapping a student at the school, was declared innocent of the charge during the meeting.

The allegation stemmed from an email complaint made by Trey Hancock, an evangelical pastor and former assistant wrestling coach.  While Hancock was not present at the time of the alleged events, he said that a teacher in the building reported to him that she “heard” a slap, but did not actually see any action. The events surrounding the allegation came to a head at the previous board meeting when a student stood before the board and gave a cryptic speech about wanting the harassment at Fordson to stop. Dr. John Artis, the superintendent, met with the student at length and the student provided a sworn affidavit that stated that he did not have an altercation with his principal. That was also the testimony of the four adults who were present in the office when the alleged incident took place.  The student later admitted that he was pressured by a few staff members at the school to go along with the fabricated story that Fadlallah had assaulted him.

During his short tenure at Fordson, Fadlallah has succeeded in essentially turning around a school that a few years ago was without stable leadership and suffered many problems. The change in environment has led to a few staff members retaliating against the new standards of accountability, which could be the motivation for the allegations against Fadlallah in an attempt to drive him out of Fordson. Their goal also seems to be coinciding with that of an outside group of Christian evangelizers who proudly boast about converting Muslim students.

Fadlallah decided not to renew the contract of Jerry Marszalek, a wrestling coach at the school, because he did not follow a directive from the principal to keep Hancock away from the students. Hancock’s son is on the team and community members allege that Hancock uses the opportunities he has to assist the coach to proselytize the students. Hancock openly admitted trying to convert students and Marszalek was quoted in The Detroit News saying he has known for ten years that Hancock’s activity “might be a problem,” although he said he had never personally witnessed the activity.

After patiently waiting for almost four hours, community members had an opportunity to voice their concerns and ask questions during the audience participation portion of the agenda.  Dozens of parents and students spoke emphatically about the improvements that Fadlallah has made to the school and the positive changes he has made in the lives of the students. 

A concerned parent echoed the feelings of the hundreds of attendees when she said, “Principal Fadlallah is someone who represents and understands this community.  Since coming to Fordson he has demanded a higher standard of learning and higher expectations both academically and behaviorally.”

While many in attendance were relieved that Fadlallah was cleared of the assault charge, they were eager to confront the larger issue of the role that the small group of staff members played in the conspiracy against him. The same staff members have allegedly made disrespectful and discriminatory remarks to Arab and Muslim students about politics and/or religion on a regular basis, and parents say their continued harassment has led to a hostile environment that is detrimental to the students’ learning process.  The general sentiment among community members was that something needed to be done to put an end to the ongoing harassment and malignant treatment that the students were being forced to endure.

Fordson student Abbas Alawieh spoke openly about the issue, stating that the behavior of the staff members in question is unacceptable. Alawieh, surrounded by a crowd of his classmates, addressed the board directly, imploring them to take a close look at what has actually been happening at the school.

“Your actions, or lack thereof, with regards to the misconduct that occurs daily at Fordson High School, are disheartening,” he said.  “We as students are here today to take a stand and say that it is unacceptable for teachers to consistently demoralize us through the use of their power.  Your main purpose is to make sure that the students are provided with quality education, and we as a family at Fordson demand an investigation, regardless of who it comes from.  The actions of some of our teachers are hindering our learning process. You need to investigate this for our sake. ”

Alawieh and other students stood before the board and recounted numerous occurrences that involved staff members making derogatory comments to the students, many of which were politically and/or religiously motivated. Students stated that some teachers consistently discouraged students from seeking higher education at major universities.

Artis said that he was extremely disturbed by the harassment claims, stating, “Without equivocation, if these charges are documented, we will take action.”

Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) Michigan, expressed his grave concern over the matter and urged that an investigation take place to help remedy the issues.

“We call upon the school’s administration and human resources department to investigate and take action against the abuse of authority by Fordson staff members who are maliciously spreading hate, bias and intimidation among students.”

While Board President Sharon Dulmage said that the board does not get involved in investigations within the school or the school’s administration, they would be open to the idea of hiring an outside entity to investigate and asses the situation.  Artis added that he would like to examine the possibility of hiring a civil rights attorney to assist in the investigation.

According to attorney Abed Hammoud, former chair of the Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO), the overwhelming presence of local community members at Tuesday’s meeting was a testament to the community’s ability to unite in the face of adversity.

“What stood out about Tuesday’s gathering was the fact that the community was able to respond to this issue in a very short amount of time,” Hammoud stated.  “This is important because it sends the message that our community will not sit idly by as our children face injustice.”

Said Fadlallah: “While I am immensely grateful for the support I have been receiving, I tried for a long time to keep these issues from becoming public out of respect, concern and love for the students. However, it now seems that the parents and the community are fed up. My main concern is and always will be the well-being of every single student in my school.”