Mother of suspended football player tells other side of story

The mother of the Belleville High School freshman who was suspended for alleged sexual harassment of two cheerleaders came to the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education meeting on Monday to tell the other side of the story.
She said she moved to the district in 2011 with three sons. She said she has found systematic racism in the Van Buren Public Schools and this last incident she has encountered has affected her son’s reputation, so she has decided to speak out.
She said on Oct. 4, her son was publicly confronted after a freshman football game by the football coach and cheer coach and accused of touching the backside of a cheerleader.
“I believed what they said,” she said, but her son said, “I didn’t touch that girl’s backside. Someone else did that.”
She said the next day she sent her son to school and she was told he had been suspended for 10 days. There had been another charge of choking a young lady.
“Putting his hands on a girl is not him,” she said.
She learned school officials asked if he ever touched a girl at school and he admitted touching another girl, his girlfriend, in the past. That’s when he was suspended, she said.
“If this is an offense, a lot of others should be suspended, as well,” the mother said.
As far as the girl who said he choked her and she had bruises on her neck, the mother said asked to see the video. She said it was seven or eight seconds long and showed the three of them all together, smiling and touching one another. She said it shows him putting his hand on her neck for a brief time, but not a choking incident.
The father was going to press charges.
“I couldn’t believe the administration didn’t take the time to hear my son’s story,” she told the board. She said the girls, who were friends, were questioned together in one room.
She said on Oct. 9 she was able to meet with an assistant principal, who told her, “I want to make it safe for my girls.” The mother said, she wants it safe for the boys as well as the girls.
She said what happened should be labeled as “horseplay,” playing around.
The assistant principal said the video had no sound, which the mother didn’t understand as an excuse.
When the mother said she would go to a lawyer or the school board, she did hear from the principal who said the suspension was reduced from 10 days to five days.
The mother wanted to know which day her son would be able to come back and she was told the school would let her know, but it didn’t.
On Oct. 12, she said she was helping in a concession stand when friends told her of the Detroit Free Press article that said an unnamed freshman football player was sexually harassing a cheerleader. She said everyone knew who it was referring to and her son was ashamed, embarrassed, and angry to be labeled and accused.
She said she learned in an Oct. 15 meeting at the school that the story had been given to the media by parents of the girls and it was said a parent of the girls was a Belleville Police officer.
The mother said she learned the newspaper called the school and School Supt. Pete Kudlak corroborated the story.
“How can we protect our sons?” she said she asked school officials. “The school just took her word.” She said the administration had no reply.
She told of her son borrowing a pencil from a girl in class and he and the girl were batting the pencils back and forth. She said a teacher told him to “Stop harassing that girl.” Her son replied they were just being kids.
She told of other instances in class where he was humiliated.
“I am concerned about my son being labeled,” she continued.
At this point, board president Keith Johnston said she needs to talk to the superintendent about her concerns. Her comments had taken a lot of time at the beginning of the school board meeting.
“I’m almost done,” she assured him.
She said she is concerned that there is a lack of diversity among the teaching staff in the school district. She said more than 50% of the students are African Americans and there are only three African American teachers at the high school.
She quoted a study that showed in 2015, 60% of the students suspended at the high school were African Americans.
She said there needs to be conversations on this and she is available to help start these conversations.
“This board doesn’t look like our students,” president Johnston agreed, referring to the all-white board. Johnston said he reached out to African Americans to run for the school board.
“You’re right. We have to have some tough conversations,” Johnston said.
“Go to the superintendent and if that doesn’t work, come to the board and we’ll talk,” he said.