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| Layla Jouheir, a 7th grader at Lowrey. |
Note: The accounts in this story are told by the students’ parents and are merely allegations. The Arab American News intends to speak with Lowrey Middle School administration to get another perspective of the accusations.
DEARBORN – Layla Jouheir, a
13-year-old seventh grade student at Lowrey Middle School, suffers from a
hearing loss and is continuously being bullied by her peers, according to her
parents.
Layla’s mother, Milad Jouheir, has
decided to speak out against the bullying targeting her daughter and the lack
of action taken by the school administration to combat the issue.
“She said she wants to kill herself,”
said Milad. “She’s depressed and very down. She now has this mentality in
her where she doesn’t want to deal with this stuff anymore.”
Students at Lowrey are not just
targeting Layla because of her disability, but they’ve also attacked her for
her physical appearance and weight.
Her mother said the bullying began in
fifth grade and has increasingly been more hostile.
Layla has been subjected to bullying
from students both at school and after school hours. During one instance, a
classmate put her picture on social media and other students began leaving
derogatory comments below the photo.
“They put her picture on
Instagram and called her names like ‘retard,’” said Milad. “She comes home
from school every day and asks me questions that I can’t answer. She tells me
‘What’s wrong with me? Why don’t they like me?’”
Milad recalled another recent example
that left Layla emotionally devastated.
On her birthday, a poster was placed
on her locker for other students to sign and leave her warm messages. Instead,
students scribbled all over the poster and wrote insults.
One of the few student who has been
friendly to Layla even told her that she didn’t want to sign her birthday card
because she was intimidated by the group of girls who are constantly harassing
her.
Milad said she’s been persistent with
the school administration to take action on the bullying, but she’s seen
little-to-no progress.
She said she’s spoken with the school
counselor, the assistant principal and other faculty members about resolving
her daughter’s issue, but instead they’ve kept her running in circles.
In recent days, Milad has reached out
to the superintendent’s office as well.
She contemplated moving Layla to
another school, but said that the special education department at Lowery has
been good in assisting her daughter’s needs.
Layla has had a hearing impairment
since birth. She is deaf in one ear and has limited hearing in the other— as a
result she wears a hearing aid in both ears.
Students would often make insulting
comments to her face, thinking she couldn’t hear them, but she could. In other
instances, students would say something Layla couldn’t hear— because of ambient
noise or other outside factors— and would think she was being rude for not
responding.
Dearborn Public Schools has worked
closely with Layla to incorporate cued speech into her education as opposed to
sign language.
While Layla has a good support base
with her teachers and the special education department, her parents are still
looking to find a solution to the continuous bullying.
Layla’s father, Abbas Jouheir, told The
Arab American News that he has also stepped in and attempted to speak with the
school principals about the bullying, but he has yet to hear back from them.
Layla’s parents claim the school
faculty has painted them as a nuisance for their persistency in getting a
response.
“It’s not a good feeling at all.
I’m still worried about my daughter,” Abbas said. “I talk to her
about the school every day and she tells me she doesn’t want to go there
anymore. I hate the school because of this.”
To make matters worse, when students
found out that Layla and her parents were making allegations of bullying to the
administration, they counter-attacked and began calling her a
“snitch.”
Milad said she believes there’s a
bullying epidemic occurring at the local public schools and that Arab American
students are guilty of partaking in the majority of it.
She also said parents could do more
at home to teach their children to respect one another.
“There are kids that bully other
kids and she’s getting it most because she’s the only girl wearing a hearing
aid,” she said. “The families don’t know what their children are
doing at these schools.”
The parents said they believe the
school has not taken active measures to address bullying among their students.
Milad claimed some faculty members have brushed off the bullying as a
“personality clash.”
The Jouheirs said they decided to
come to the media as a last resort, hoping that maybe the school will address
their issues. They want to share Layla’s story with the community so that it
could prompt positive change— possibly spark discussion about bullying and
alter insensitivity about children who have special needs.
“I want her to be an example for
other girls who are also being bullied,” said Milad.
Lowrey faculty have yet to return calls
from The Arab American News seeking comment.
Layla’s parents want assurance that she
will have a comfortable social environment at Lowrey. They also have two
younger children attending Dearborn Public Schools, including a son who also
has a hearing impairment.
“I’m worried that if my son goes to
Lowrey, he’s going to go through the same thing that Layla did,” Abbas said.
“We want this kind of behavior to be unaccepted and we haven’t had any luck
with that.”
Meanwhile, Abbas said he’s doing
everything in his ability to lift his daughter’s spirits. When she comes home
from school, he attempts to take her out for extracurricular activities to get
her mind off of the bullying. The family is also planning a trip to
Disney World in the near future.
“I want to
take her to Florida to show her the difference between the people here and the
people there,” Abbas said. “Maybe Disney can take the depression out
of her system.”
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