The ongoing fallout from a March incident at Ardrey Kell High School was in the spotlight at Tuesday night’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board meeting. Residents called for the district to re-examine the case, in which a 15-year-old Muslim girl was injured in an altercation with a Black, male student.
More than a dozen attendees spoke out against the incident, claiming it was an example of Islamophobia. Some called for an independent review and for members of the Ardrey Kell administration to be fired. Ardrey Kell student Mariam Zaini, who said she’s a friend of the girl, criticized the district’s handling of the incident. She said the school had ignored bullying behavior leading up to the incident.
“CMS does not protect students like me assaulted in the hallways of my own school, where I should feel safe and protected,” Zaini said. “However, I feel like it is only a matter of time before such a violent incident happens again.”
Both Jibril Hough, an advocate from the Muslim community who’s been acting as a spokesperson for the girl’s family, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP President Corine Mack addressed the board. Hough called for an independent investigation of the incident and the district and school's response. Mack called for the community to come together to end violence in schools.
Their attendance came just days after the NAACP held a press conference to accuse the girl’s supporters — and specifically Hough — of using inflammatory rhetoric and spreading misinformation about the case. Hough called the press conference “insulting” and “disappointing” and stood by his advocacy for the girl.
The NAACP has said that the boy’s family has received death threats and had their home vandalized.
The girl’s family is pressing for the incident to be treated as a hate crime, but law enforcement has said there was no evidence to support such charges. The girl’s family has said the boy bullied her with anti-Muslim rhetoric and said last week they believed the investigation was lacking. The boy's family denied race played a role in the incident and claimed it was the girl who bullied him.
The girl's family said she required surgery as a result of her injuries.
CMS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the district will take any further investigative steps. But the district has already ruled out releasing surveillance footage of the incident, citing student privacy laws.
