DEARBORN (WWJ) - A Dearborn mother is beside herself after her 12-year-old daughter was beaten by a classmate in the school gym, and suspended for defending herself.
Mina Safieddine says 12-year-old Alena has a cut near her eye, her glasses are broken and she's suffering from headaches following the incident caught on cell phone video at O.L. Smith Middle School Monday.
What happened?
"Apparently he came up to her at gym time and told her: 'What's up? You and I are gonna do a 30 second fight.' And she's like, 'Huh?' And before she had a chance he had pushed her against her chest and she hit back to defend herself," Safieddine said.
"Then he started hitting her back and forth."
Safieddine told WWJ's Sandra McNeill she's filed a report with Dearborn police, while she does not believe school officials are taking the matter seriously.
In fact, Safieddine claims there was a teacher in the room when it happened who failed to intervene.
"As she was dropping, you could hear the gym teacher from a mile away, meantime as he was hitting her, 'Antoine stop!' And doesn't come to come to stop the fight, doesn't care to stop the fight, just screams 'Antoine stop!' which really hurts me because I wasn't there to protect my child, or anybody else's child for that matter," Safieddine said.
"If a child getting attacked, the first thing I'm going to do is stop it — especially when I see a boy versus a girl."
As for what may have prompted the attack, Safieddine said her daughter and the boy were at one time friends, had a falling out, and he'd smacked her once before.
Also, Safieddine said her daughter tells her "30 second fights" are a trend at the school.
"It's like a fight when you fight the person down until they fall on the floor; until you knock 'em out," Safieddine said.
"She was surprised that he wanted to fight her with it," Safieddine said. "And apparently it does go around, she said, but it's against boys, and it's been an ongoing situation and that school...and this school has not, I feel like, has not addressed it."
Because her daughter hit the boy back, Safieddine said, both students were suspended.
"I don't feel like they've taken this like it matters," Safieddine said. "You know, he had smacked her; this time he hit her in the head. So I'm going to send her back to school and I'm going to be worried at work that next time she's not gonna come home."
Alena told WWJ she's never really felt safe at the school, and now: "I'm really scared to go back."
The school acknowledged the incident in a letter posted on the school's website, after the video appeared on social media:
"Greetings O.L. Smith Community,
I’m saddened to once again have to share with you information regarding an event that took place at the end of the day on Monday, February 10, 2020.
By now, some of you may have seen video of two Smith students fighting with each other. The video only shows the final moments and the very unfortunate outcome of a situation that began as what was described by witnesses as 'fooling around and horseplay.' Our investigation and interviews with witnesses provide a more complete picture of what led up to this isolated event. These two students let their emotions get out of hand and made bad choices on how to resolve their situation.
Our legal obligation to protect the privacy of students does not allow us to provide details on disciplinary actions taken in response to this event but we can assure parents that we have spoken with all parties involved and followed the Dearborn Public Schools Student Code of Conduct.
Part of growing up is learning how to control our emotions and tempers and many middle school students are still working to develop those skills. However, there is no excuse for students to engage in this type of behavior and this will not be acceptable at our school. I know that the few seconds of video does not reflect the the overall conduct of our students or the culture and climate in our building.
I’m confident that our school community will continue to focus on the successes of our students and the accomplishments of our school while also being aware that we must continuously work together to create a safe and secure school for all O.L. Smith students.
Regards, Principal Jebril, O.L. Smith."
It's unclear at this time if the school plans to take any further action.
What does Safieddine want?
"They need to do better guidelines on protecting the children. You want to think your kids are going to be safe when they go to school," she said. "And kids shouldn't be suspended for self defending themselves. Like, that shouldn't be a rule; especially when it's a boy against a girl. That's not fair."
WWJ has a call out to school officials for comment.