DEARBORN HEIGHTS — The civil rights division of the Department of Justice (DOJ), working closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan, reached a comprehensive settlement agreement with the Crestwood School District in Dearborn Heights to improve educational services for students who are English Language Learners (ELLs), establish a system for recruiting and hiring faculty and staff and ensure that individuals who complain about discrimination do not face unlawful retaliation.

Several parents in the district have complained about raising concerns to school officials regarding a number of issues that were ignored or not taken seriously.

The settlement agreement comes after Hiam Turfe Brinjikji, a counselor at Crestwood High School, filed complaints with the DOJ and other federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, alleging discrimination and retaliation against the district in 2012. 

“I got into education because I care about children and I care about the success of children,” Brinjikji said. “I made a difference. We can all make a difference.”

Barbara L. McQuade, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said schools have an obligation to provide equal educational opportunities for students from diverse cultural backgrounds. 

“We will continue to work cooperatively with the school district to monitor its compliance with the agreement,” McQuade said. 

With the district’s cooperation, the DOJ conducted a thorough investigation of the district’s policies and practices under multiple provisions of the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 (EEOA). 

Most of the ELL students in the district are native Arabic speakers. The department concluded that the district failed to provide adequate services and materials for ELL students, employed an insufficient number of qualified teachers and administrators and did not monitor and evaluate its ELL program effectively.

In addition, the department found significant shortfalls in the district’s communications with Limited English proficient (LEP) parents. 

Lastly, the department responded to allegations of employment discrimination in the hiring of Arab American and African American teachers and claims that individuals who complain about discrimination were subject to retaliation in violation of the EEOA.

The agreement requires the district to implement programmatic changes at the start of the 2014-15 school year and will remain in place for at least four years. 

Under the agreement, the district will:

• Provide all ELL students, including students with disabilities, with appropriate English as a Second Language (ESL) and sheltered content instruction taught by teachers who are properly qualified and trained;

• Develop a kindergarten through-12th grade ESL curriculum and conduct a comprehensive inventory of the instructional materials to ensure that each school has appropriate resources available;

• Provide ELL students and LEP parents with meaningful access to important information, including discipline and special education materials and procedures;

• Monitor the academic progress of current and former ELL students and implement protocols to collect and evaluate the data concerning the effectiveness of ELL programs;

• Work with the Department of Justice Community Relations Service to improve parental outreach and community engagement by establishing a community advisory panel and implementing training on cultural competency;

• With the assistance of a qualified consultant, draft a comprehensive recruitment and hiring policy and implement best practices for recruiting, hiring, and retaining a qualified and diverse faculty and staff; and

• Institute internal complaint processes and designate and train employees to investigate and resolve allegations of employment discrimination and/or retaliation.

“We applaud the United States for addressing the needs of the students…This is a victory for the Arab American community and for students in the Crestwood School District,” said Shereef Akeel, an attorney for Brinjikji who has worked on the case for more than two years. 

Akeel said he hopes the settlement agreement sends a strong message that school districts with large populations of minorities need to be serious about accommodating the needs of bilingual students. 

“The big picture here that can’t be lost is that we have these students who want to assimilate in society and learn English so they can contribute to this country and make it a better place,” Akeel said. 

In 2013, The Arab American News (TAAN) reported that the EEOC had made findings that the Crestwood School District discriminated against Arabs in hiring and recruitment. At that time the district’s Superintendent, Dr. Laurie VanValkenburg, denied any wrongdoing. 

When Brinjikji first filed the complaints with federal agencies in 2012, there was reportedly only one certified ELL teacher in the entire school district and a few para-pros to serve 351 ELL students. Brinjikji complained that bilingual students were being denied adequate educational services because of the shortage of certified ELL teachers. 

Last year, VanValkenburg told TAAN the district never denied ELL students services, that the state of Michigan has standard performance levels set in place for ELL students to meet and that the district was actually exceeding them.

More than 65 percent of the Crestwood School District’s student body is comprised of Arab Americans. 

Since the complaints were filed, more Arab American teachers have reportedly been hired to reflect the diversity of the student body and according to Brinjikji more ELL staff has been hired as well.  

Brinjikji said the settlement agreement is a major victory for students in the district and will help give them the support they need, and grant them their educational rights. 

“I feel relieved to know this,” said Hassan Bazzi, the president of the Dearborn Heights Community Organization (DHCO). “The school district’s board of education kept denying that anything was wrong, and then the Department of Justice got involved.” 

In 2012, members of the DHCO, ADC and the ACRL met with officials from the DOJ at the Caroline Kennedy Library to voice concerns about issues in the district. 

Bazzi said there are still other issues the group hopes to address with the district, and one includes expanding the halal lunch menu. 

“All students, regardless of their proficiency in English, deserve the opportunity to succeed and thrive in school,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Molly Moran for the Civil Rights Division.  “This robust and multifaceted agreement will eliminate barriers that obstruct the path to success for English language learners in the Crestwood schools.”