14-year-old Deyab Houssein Wardani, a freshman at Cypress Bay High School in Weston.

WESTON, Fla. — A Muslim family is demanding that a local public school properly discipline a teacher for humiliating their son during class when she called him a “rag head Taliban.” 

Youssef Wardani, the Lebanese father of 14-year-old Deyab Houssein Wardani, a freshman at Cypress Bay High School in Weston, is speaking out against the school board for failing to take proper action against a French teacher who verbally insulted his son when she made multiple derogatory remarks.

On Tuesday, March 17, The Broward School Board approved a five day suspension for teacher Maria Valdes and added that she must also attend a diversity training course. However, Wardani said that the district’s verdict is not enough.

“A five day suspension is nothing more than vacation time for her,” he said. “I don’t care how long it takes, I want to make sure people realize what was done. At this point in time that’s all I’m going to keep doing. If they don’t want to protect my son, then I will.”

Like many other high school kids, Deyab enjoys extra curricular activities and likes to socialize with his friends. Wardani described his son as a model student who demonstrates good behavior and excels in academics.

However, on Feb. 1, Deyab was allegedly targeted by Valdes when he walked into her class wearing a hoodie.

“He walked into class and she said ‘here comes the rag head Taliban,’” said Wardani.  “He had just gotten out of gym and had taken a shower. He wasn’t feeling well. He decided to just shrug it off at first.”

But that wouldn’t be the last time Deyab would be referred to as “Taliban.” In the days following the incident, Valdes continued to target him, according to Wardani. When he raised his hand to answer a question, she responded with, “Yes, Taliban?”

Students in his class began to laugh at him following the remarks and Valdes continued to refer to him as “Taliban” during the week. 

Deyab asked his parents to explain to him what “Taliban” meant. Wardani said when he discovered that his son had been verbally insulted by his teacher, he was outraged. 

“I was irate,” Wardani said. “I grilled the heck out of him to make sure it happened. He had people in the class who could testify.”

After his son’s revelation, Wardani contacted school administration with his concerns regarding the incident. School faculty were able to coordinate a meeting with the assistant principal and Valdes. But, according to Wardani, it only made matters worse. 

Wardani said Valdes apologized to him for making those remarks during the private meeting, but added that the apology appeared forced. He compared her actions to a parent forcing a child to apologize. He said she rolled her eyes during the meeting and was constantly checking the clock because she had to leave.

“When I asked her why she would say such things, she said ‘I don’t know, it was just a joke,'” Wardani said. “She apologized, but didn’t appear to have remorse. She was not giving me any eye contact.”

Following the meeting, Wardani asked the assistant principal how soon they would determine what consequence Valdes would face for her actions. 

He said he felt disrespected by the assistant principal’s response; she spoke to him like a foreigner, telling him, “in this country, we have something called ‘due process’ that we have to follow.” 

In the days following the private meeting, Wardani was told that the school couldn’t fire Valdes. At 64-years-old, she had worked at the district for 11 years and had a union contract. 

Wardani was finally able to meet with the principal, where he expressed his disappointment with Valdes’ apology and the school’s lack of action against her. 

He was told that either firing or suspending her was not on the table. The best form of action the school would be able to take was to put a “letter” in her file. 

When Wardani realized that neither the school nor the district were going to take proper action, he went public with the incident. 

He created a Facebook page called “Our son is NOT a rag head Taliban” that now has more than 1,700 likes and spoke to multiple media outlets about his son’s incident.  

The same day the story began making the media rounds, Wardani received a call from the district’s “services and accountability” department. Despite having contacted them on numerous occasions, this was the first time he was able to speak to a proper representative.

Wardani was told that the school board was considering suspending Valdes for five days without pay, and that she would most likely challenge any further penalties. 

In the meantime Wardani was told that he had the option to remove his son from her classroom, but he said it wasn’t his son who needed to be removed. Deyab is still a student in Valdes’ classroom and his classmates are all aware of the publicity that has transpired. 

“He’s going to show up to class every day and let her eat her words,” Wardani said. “If she doesn’t like Muslim people or Lebanese people, she can leave. It’s been a little hard on him because he has to deal with her every day.”

Wardani said Deyab continues to be a model student, despite having been thrust into the public eye. He has supportive friends at school and has received an outcry of support on social media as well, but not all of it has been positive.

“He reads the feedback and comments online and every once in a while there are negative ones,” Wardani said. “Unfortunately, this served as a lesson for him and he grew up a little bit faster than I wanted him to.” 

The family is hoping the incident doesn’t lead to further ignorance in their community. Weston, located west of Fort Lauderdale, barely has any Arab American residents. Wardani was hoping the school would hold a special diversity training assembly to inform students about the incident, but that still hasn’t happened.

“I wanted to explain to students who don’t know what any of this means and I wanted a public apology at a school event, but none of that ever manifested,” Wardani said.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement looking to investigate the incident as well. 

“We are sickened to learn a Broward County school teacher is bullying a Muslim student, referring to him as a ‘Rag-head Taliban,’” CAIR said. “This type of hate speech is rooted in bigotry and misinformation and cannot be tolerated.” 

Wardani is pursuing legal avenues as well as reaching out to civil rights groups to assist him with the case.  He added that they will continue challenging the district until Valdes is either fired permanently or receives a one-year suspension without pay.