DEARBORN HEIGHTS — Evidence gathered throughout the course of an investigation by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission into the Crestwood School District shows Arab Americans were discriminated against. 

The EEOC has determined that the District violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by discriminating against Arab Americans in recruitment and hiring.

The federal agency has also issued a conciliation agreement, containing the type of relief necessary to remedy the violations of the statute.

The EEOC’s finding comes more than one year after a student counselor at Crestwood High School filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, the U.S. Department of Justice and the EEOC, alleging discrimination by the school district.  

In the complaints filed with the federal agencies, the counselor, Hiam Turfe Brinjikji, also voiced concern over the dire need to provide English as a Second Language (ESL) students with adequate resources to succeed academically.   

Brinjikji’s attorney, Shereef Akeel, says the district has not yet responded to the EEOC’s finding or the conciliation agreement. “The ball is in their court right now to respond to the government,” Akeel said. 

Crestwood School District Superintendent Dr. Laurie VanValkenburg denied any claims that the District discriminated against Arab Americans in hiring and recruitment. 

She says the District plans on entering discussions with the EEOC regarding the Conciliation Agreement. 

“We deny any wrongdoing,” Dr. VanValkenburg said.     

The Arab American News has learned that other federal agencies who were handling the complaints may also release findings soon. 

Akeel says that the EEOC’s finding is an incredible vindication for Brinjikji, who complained about systematic discrimination that prospective Arab American teachers, who were seeking employment with the District faced. 

When the complaints were filed, Brinjikji had been working at CHS for 10 years.  She first made her concerns public at a press conference, where she was joined by two other school counselors from CHS, Bill Ebbitt and Joann Kohler who supported her claims. 

While more than half of the student body in the District is comprised of Arab Americans, Brinjikji says that only herself, and four other Arab American teachers were employed by it. 

Since the controversy started, more Arab Americans have been hired in the District, although it is not certain whether it is a result of the complaints. 

   According to the EEOC, Brinjikji’s concerns regarding the treatment of ELL (English Language Learner) students is not protected under Title VII, but is covered in the Equal Education Opportunities Act, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  

Crestwood High School.

When the complaints were first filed there was reportedly only one certified ELL teacher in the entire District available to serve the significant number of foreign students, along with some para-pros. 

Since then, several other certified ELL teachers and additional para-pros have been hired.  

Sources say there is now one certified ELL teacher to serve students at every school. 

In 2012 there were 351 ELL students in the district.  At one meeting last year the Crestwood Board of Education members said the money provided by the state for the program was barely enough to pay for one teacher, and money from the district’s general fund had been allocated towards the ELL program.

One issue that initially emerged was that para-pros are not licensed, and by law all students are required to receive educational services from licensed educators.  

Brinjikji says that she voiced her concerns about the District only having one certified ELL teacher after parents, teachers and students complained about the issue.  

She says that as a counselor, she had some ELL students complain about needing help with their school work, and not having anyone available to assist them. 

“Some of them were not learning at the levels that they should have,” she said.  

Although other ELL teachers have been hired, Brinjikji says it still isn’t enough to meet the needs of the all ELL students, according to a staff member who works with foreign students.  

Dr. VanValkenburg says the District has never denied ELL students services, and the state of Michigan has standard performance levels set in place for ELL students to meet, and CSD is actually exceeding them. 

Dr. VanValkenberg says many ELL students who come out of the program have great success stories, and are among students to graduate at the top of their class.  

Zainab Hussein, a member of the Dearborn Heights Community Organization says the EEOC’s finding is no surprise in the discrimination case against the CSD.  

“As a resident of Dearborn Heights, a previous candidate for the Crestwood School Board of Education and as an active member of the Dearborn Heights Community Organization (DHCO), the outcome of the investigation by the EEOC confirmed the District’s neglect and discrimination against Arab Americans.  From the perspective of many parents in the District the ongoing issues and needs of the community resulting from the demographic changes have not been taken into full consideration by the school board and administration,” Hussein said. 

The DHCO has been committed to advocating for the students and parents by bringing concerns to forefront. Hussein says although the District has made some changes, it has not met the satisfaction of the community.

The Conciliation Agreement requests that the District make changes in recruitment and hiring procedures, by engaging with the local Arab American community, with respect to recruitment and hiring, by advertising all employment vacancies in The Arab American News; sending notice concerning all position vacancies, written in both English and Arabic, to the parents or guardians of all students in the Crestwood Schools; and forwarding a copy of all employment vacancies to ACCESS, the Council on American Islamic Relations, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, at a minimum. 

After Brinjikji filed the complaints, others felt compelled to break their silence as well. Parents and concerned residents started attending school board meetings 

to voice their concerns to the District’s Board of Education. 

Several parents have said that, even before Brinjikji had filed the complaints, they had raised concerns to school officials about a number of issues, that were ignored and not taken seriously.  

“I refused to have my voice silenced,” Brinjikji said, noting that throughout the whole ordeal she always knew she was doing the right thing.  

The conciliation agreement calls on the District to create and disseminate an internal complaint process to receive and resolve complaints. 

The process will specify to whom complaints can be submitted and how complaints will be investigated, and resolved. 

Brinjikji says that she was retaliated against for voicing her concerns about ELL students and the lack of recruitment and hiring of Arab Americans in the District. 

Akeel says that administrative officials removed Brinjikji from emails that were sent to school staff, and she was prevented from attending certain meetings. 

Akeel adds that Brinjikji was retaliated against through letters of reprimand that were placed in her employment file by school administrators.  

“Why did she need to be subjected to such retaliation? She should be awarded not reprimanded,” Akeel said.  The EEOC is also asking for the letters of reprimand to be removed from Brinjikji’s employment file.

Akeel says that many of Brinjikji’s colleagues also acted differently towards her for voicing her concerns about ELL students and the lack of diversity among staff members. 

The conciliation agreement calls on the District to establish and conduct an EEO training program and disseminate a copy of its anti-harassment and non-retaliation policy to all employees.  

ACT scores in the District have also improved according to Dr. VanValkenberg. She says CHS recently earned a national ranking by U.S. News and World Report. The school was rated 45th among Michigan high schools.   According to the report, only 206 of 826 public high schools in the State ranked nationally, and CHS is 1,629th.  

The report is based on the 2010-2011 school year.  The report by U.S. News concludes that students at the school have a reading proficiency of 59 percent and a math proficiency of 49 percent.

More than 600 students will be taking an AP course next year, according to a school official. “We value diversity, and think it enriches our district,” Dr. VanValkenburg said. 

Brinjikji says that she hopes the terms of the Conciliation Agreement serve the needs of the students. 

“What I really want is what is best for the kids,” she said. “I am very hopeful and optimistic that the kids will get what they need.”