Investigation continues into alleged hazing incident at Fordson High School in Dearborn

Students participate in silent protest outside school

DEARBORN, Mich. – A series of flyers made their way around Fordson High School Friday, alluding to a coverup from school administrators following an alleged incident on Monday.

According to superintendent Glenn Maleyko, there was an incident on Monday involving students on the football team. 

"The individuals that have been involved in this were immediately removed from the school on Tuesday in an indefinite situation pending an investigation," Maleyko said. 

He said the rumors on social media saying that a rape occurred between the players and that there's video of the incident are false. However, Maleyko could not comment on whether or not a sexual assault occurred.

READ: Superintendent responds to outrage over alleged hazing at Fordson High School

"I can't comment on specifics based on specifics because, obviously, it's still an investigation. What I can say to you is it's a situation that will not be tolerated in Dearborn schools. It'll be dealt with in a swift and serious manner, which it is, and we're still investigating details, but I have enough information on the investigation to put forward that information that rape is not accurate," Maleyko said. 

Students and community members have been bombarded with stories on social media.

"What I heard is this kid [a football player] on a Monday ran around the locker room naked and decided let me be a bully and bully this kid, and that's exactly what happened, came up to this innocent kid [another football player] and did what he did. Some are calling it rape," said Mohamed Hachem, a former student of Fordson and the creator of the Instagram page, "City of Dearborn."

He and other students have concerns.

"I consider a lot of these kids my brothers and sisters. I want to know, is this a safe school to go to and not feel harassed? And are there other kids that got harassed that didn't say anything? There's a lot of questions," Hachem said.

A group of students participated in a silent protest outside of the school, but said it was quickly broken up and they feel silenced by the administration.

"Kids at Fordson are being asked to keep quiet about this from the staff and from people that work here at the school, but why are you making these kids be quiet? These kids have a right for their voices to be heard," Hachem said.

Maleyko said he is not aware of anyone telling students to be quiet about the situation, but he wants the rumors to stop.

"I said be responsible. If you don't have the facts, for example, saying there's a video out there and there's no video out there, where did you get your facts? You're just putting information out there, and that's irresponsible. My message out there was be careful, and then you have victims involved, we're dealing with minor students, so people have to be careful with what they're putting out there. The students know we've always allowed them to voice their opinion, and I've responded as well, but what we did say was make sure if you put something out there, it's accurate, and there's a tremendous amount of inaccuracies out there right now," Maleyko said.

He said Fordson takes pride in student safety and was rated one of the safest districts with a top-notch program. He said they are taking the incident seriously and that the Dearborn Police Department is also involved in the investigation.

The school cancelled a pep rally today, given the situation, but is planning to have the football game go on as scheduled tonight at the high school.

You can see some of the flyers from students below:


About the Author:

Koco joined the Local 4 News team in September of 2016. She was born and raised in Metro Detroit, attended Central Michigan University, and previously worked at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids.