DEARBORN – With dress codes in place at countless high schools, it’s commonplace for administrators to force students to remove shirts with messages or graphics deemed “disruptive.”

But one such incident at Edsel Ford High School on Monday became the focus of intense media scrutiny as nine Arab American juniors were told to remove hooded sweatshirts with a design that appeared related to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The shirts made their peers uncomfortable, according to Dearborn School District Communications Director David Mustonen.

The shirts featured a Class of 2011-themed design on the back with each digit in the number 11 seemingly made to look like the World Trade Center towers with window graphics. To the right of the towers, a “thunderbird,” the school’s mascot, appears to be flying toward them. The words “You can’t take us down” were printed underneath the design along with nicknames for each student at the top and “Edsel Ford Class of 2011” on the front.

Mustonen said that the design was the result of questionable judgment by the students.

“The shirts had a message that they thought was a positive message and a bonding message but it was misinterpreted or perceived differently than what they thought it would be,” he said. “These were juniors, 15-16 year-old kids, and they made a mistake.”

Mustonen said that the school had no grounds to take any further action against the students other than to process them in the office and make them remove the shirts, which the students said they didn’t want anymore after the incident. The students also apologized for the disruption they caused.

The story was originally picked up by WDIV Local 4-TV in Detroit before spreading to other media outlets according to Mustonen.

Community reaction to the incident was strong as a crowd of 150-200 people showed up at Salina School in Dearborn on Tuesday, January 4 at 6 p.m. for a discussion with Edsel Ford Principal Hassane Jaafar, Dearborn Schools Superintendent Brian Whiston, and leaders from the Yemeni community about the shirt.

The goal of the 20-minute meeting was to explain the specifics of what happened in order to prevent rumors from spreading.

The meeting was deemed necessary because of the reaction Edsel Ford got from the local community from numerous phone calls.

“Parents have called and were upset about kids wearing the shirt,” Mustonen said. “They perceived the message as a negative one and that concerned them a lot, but I know the students didn’t mean it that way and totally understand that how some people perceived it that way.”

In addition to the meeting, Jaafar sent out a letter to parents in order to address the situation on Tuesday. Here is an excerpt from the note:

“After talking with the students, it became clear that (the shirts had) no intentions of harm, rather a very inappropriate and distasteful attempt to draw attention to themselves and to the class of 2011. I want to reassure everyone that the safety of our students and staff will always remain our prime priority here at Edsel Ford. Edsel Ford administration, the district’s student services and communications offices and our school police officer have all been involved in addressing this incident.”