ANN ARBOR — The family of a middle school student has filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education against the Ann Arbor Public Schools through a local Muslim civil rights organization, claiming a school counselor allegedly referred to a 12-year-old Palestinian Muslim student as a “terrorist.”

The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, filed the complaint on Monday, Dec. 18. The family of the eighth grade student at Tappan Middle School retained CAIR-MI. You can read the full complaint here.

The alleged incident took place on Nov. 14 at Tappan Middle School, when the student, who was waiting to speak with his guidance counselor, asked another counselor if he could leave the office to get a drink of water, according to the complaint.

The counselor allegedly told the student he could not leave to get a drink of water because she “did not negotiate with terrorists,” the complaint states.

The student immediately complained to the counselor that he felt her comments were discriminatory and inappropriate based on his Muslim and Palestinian religion and ethnicity, the complaint states.

As a result of the alleged comments by the counselors and staff, the student no longer feels comfortable attending the school or participating in meetings in the counselor’s office, the complaint states. CAIR-MI said it is speaking out on behalf of the family, who has asked to keep their name private for fear of retaliation.

Ann Arbor Public schools did not say whether the staff member was disciplined following the incident.

“The words of the guidance counselor referring to an eighth grade student as a ‘terrorist’ were not only discriminatory, but also deeply painful to the student,” CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said in a statement. “For the school administration and school district to be so dismissive of the pain and harm this caused the student and his family is equally hurtful.”

When complaints were made to the district and school board, the school indicated it was a “private personnel matter and they consider the issue closed,” CAIR-MI said.

Ann Arbor Public Schools Spokesman Andrew Cluley said the district “does not comment on personnel matters and pending legal complaints.”

Ann Arbor School Board President Rima Mohammad said the board learned of the incident that occurred in November and is “deeply concerned and dismayed” by the alleged incident.

“Islamophobia, antisemitism and anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and all forms of hate speech and rhetoric are not welcome in our community and schools,” Mohammad said in a statement on behalf of the board. “We stand firmly against discrimination as stated per our Board policy 5010. We are very sorry to hear about how this incident has impacted the child and the family. As always, we will take all allegations seriously and address them promptly.”