Fordson High School in Dearborn has a student body made up of over 90 percent Arab Americans.

DEARBORN — A report by the Michigan Leadership Institute (MLI) has recommended that Dearborn Public Schools “prohibit the use of any language other than English within” Fordson High School, except when needed for effective communication with students or parents.
School officials have said the district will not follow the recommendation.

“You can’t create a rule that’s impossible to enforce,” said Board of Education Vice President Aimee Blackburn.

The district hired the MLI in September to evaluate its three high schools. A review team of three former education professionals studied the internal operations of each high school and presented recommendations of measures to improve student achievement at the end of December.

Superintendent Brian Whiston said Thursday he was offended by news reports that the district planned to ban the use of Arabic.

He said he understood that parents, students and staff at Fordson and throughout the district could be offended by the measure.

“I’m Irish, and I am very proud of my heritage,” he said. “We should respect other people’s cultures and languages… You can speak any language you want…. We only intend to interpret the report in an instructional setting.”

A statement released by DPS Communications Coordinator David Mustonen read “Dearborn is not banning Arabic or any other foreign language and is not at odds with the Arab community.”

Whiston was quoted in the release as saying “The district will continue to do what we have always done, teach students in English, and when necessary and appropriate use native languages to help students understand a specific concept so they can be successful in the classroom.

“The goal of the district is to build a culture of learning in each school so that students, staff, parents and community members are focused on the academic success of students and feel welcome in our buildings.”

Michael Wilmot, an MLI staff member, said Fordson was singled out for the recommendation because of a higher number of staff members that commented on the use of Arabic and its negative effect on team-building.

“Several staff said that under another recent (Fordson) principal, there was an understanding that only English would be spoken in non-instructional settings,” he said.

Wilmot referred to poor Adequate Yearly Progress goals and test scores at Fordson and said the review team believed the sooner staff can get students into an English-speaking environment, the sooner they can be adequately instructed in subjects that need improvement.

Neither the text of the report nor Wilmot cited any academic research showing any negative educational or social effects of speaking Arabic at school.

The Fordson report also took particular aim at Principal Imad Fadlallah.

“For many staff, a culture of fear and uncertainty exists,” the report said, “and for them, we believe the work environment at Fordson has been in the recent past, and remains now, very hostile… We believe that some staff has interpreted the principal’s passion as anger.”

The report recommended assigning Fadlallah a mentor or coach.

Unlike the language prohibition recommendation, the district does plan to respond to the recommendation for a mentor.

Blackburn said a mentor and a new assistant principal are to be assigned for the school.

“I think that his passion has been misinterpreted,” she said about Fadlallah. “That school is unlike any other that we have in Deaborn. There are 2,500 students in that school… in a building designed to hold 2,100. By having another assistant principal — full-time — and by having a mentor, it will allow him to refocus his attention, and it’ll give him someone to brainstorm with… I think that everyone should have a mentor, personally.”

Fordson High School