choir director Ellen Bowen is on paid administrative leave following an alleged altercation with one of her students that prompted him to tell school administration and police.
According to the police report, the student told police Bowen took his cell phone from him and struck him in the head with it. The student then left the classroom, and he reported the situation to school administrators. Grosse Pointe South principal Matt Outlaw called Grosse Pointe Farms police.
Outlaw told police that Bowen discovered the student was using his cell phone, took it from him and then hit him on the head, according to the police report. The student did not sustain any injuries as a result of being struck in the head with the cell phone, according to the police report.
The incident is under investigation by detectives, according to a police report.
District spokeswoman Rebecca Fannon said in response to a request about the incident that the school system "is currently investigating a personnel matter. We have contacted local law enforcement, with whom we will cooperate fully, keeping student safety at the forefront."
This is not Bowen's first encounter with the police. She fought to maintain her teaching certificate before the tenure commission in 2008, following a June 2006 traffic altercation with a former South student off school grounds in .
Grosse Pointe Education Association President Renae Beyerlein said Wednesday that Bowen has been on paid administrative leave all week, which has been difficult considering it's graduation time.
The leave is indefinite as school administrators await the outcome of the police investigation, Beyerlein said. If the matter is brought to the attention of the school board, Beyerlein said, a hearing will happen during which Bowen and her representatives will be allowed to present their side of the situation.
Patch left a voicemail with Bowen seeking comment but she has not returned the phone call.
"To miss graduation is very upsetting to her," Beyerlein said. "She is probably more upset than I've ever seen her."
Bowen is well known in the community and beyond for her direction of the choir, which performs during the annual commencement ceremony on the lawn of Grosse Pointe South. This past year she led the choir overseas for .
Fannon said the district has worked with existing staff to ensure programming and duties are carried out without impacting student activities, including summer programming and graduation.
Beyerlein said a substitute director who was used earlier in the year has been filling in, which has been good for the students since they already have a rapport with the substitute.
In the 2006 incident, Bowen was eventually convicted of assault and battery, which she appealed. She was accused of striking the hood of the woman's car with her hand and then intentionally hitting the woman's car with her own SUV at three different times.
According to the tenure commission outcome legal documents, Bowen's license was originally suspended with the exception of being allowed to continue teaching in her current district, Grosse Pointe Public Schools. That decision was reversed, however, by the Superintendent of Public Instruction Michael P. Flanagan.
Bowen's history outlined in the tenure appeal documents included warnings related to:
- Use of profanity.
- Inappropriate communications with co-workers on district email.
- Inappropriate comments to students.
- Arguments with co-workers.
- Cutting a student's hair for a choir performance without first gaining parental permission.
During the tenure appeal, Flanagan ruled that her warnings within the district were not related to the motorist encounter that happened off school grounds. His reversal decision also found that Bowen was not a risk to the safety of students or staff and that the motorist encounter was an isolated incident.
Beyerlein said Wednesday the situation is difficult because Bowen is in a high-profile position that comes with making decisions that may be considered controversial or not popular with families.
"That can make her the target," Beyerlein said. "Her style is certainly unique."
There are a variety of rumors floating about related to Bowen, Beyerlein said. She urged residents to not believe everything they hear. "Sometimes she is perceived in a way that she isn't," Beyerlein said. "(Community members) often only have part of the story."
Patch is also awaiting return phone calls from Superintendent Tom Harwood and Director of Grosse Pointe Farms Public Safety Dan Jensen for additional information.
Regardless of your opinion I encourage you to make your voice heard, we need to let the board know what we are willing to tolerate from a member of the GPPS staff as a community. Do the ends justify the means? How many strikes should a staff member receive? What constitutes a strike? Staff complaints, parental complaints, student safety issues? When is enough, enough?
Again, she was given a break several times before. If this was the first time, then yes, it would probably be forgivable. It is time to end this pure and simple. GP School Board, please do the right thing. You cannot afford what can happen in the future if this goes unchecked.
IF there is any merit to the comment above, I, as a community member and taxpayer say enough is enough. Cell phones ARE NOT NEEDED in a classroom. If kids think they are and teachers allow it, we need to consider how we fund our schools. If kids aren't engaged enough that they have time to use cell phones, then what is wrong with the curriculum?
As a former student of yours, I have to say that I find it absolutely disgusting that you would defend yourself in such a glib and shameless way. But then I shouldn't be surprised, this kind of thing is not out of character for you. And to all the choir students who feel that none of these posters have any right to comment because "they aren't in her class," well, I was in choir for four years. Which is probably longer than any of you have been, since most of you seem currently enrolled. And in that time I saw Ellen throw a stapler at a student (which hit him) for talking during class. I saw her intimidate and insult students, both boys and girls, who were uncomfortable changing costumes in the wings in front of other students. I was one of the students who filed a complaint with the Principal about her frequent "jokes" that were filled with racial slurs and invective. I saw all of that and so much more, that no other teacher anywhere would ever be able to get away with. That any student caught doing would be expelled for. And you know what? Except for that final incident where I actually spoke up, I was just like you. I forgave, rationalized, or just ignored all of it. I got angry at others who spoke up. I look back now and I'm horrified at what must have seemed like a cult mentality at the time - no matter what Ellen did, we were okay with because she's "great." Open your eyes, choir students of today. I promise, you'll see the same things.
Several of the comments posted on this story were removed. I would like to remind everyone of Patch policies, which require users to identify themselves by their own name, not a pseudonym and that impersonating others is not permissible. Comments have been and will be removed. Allison I was away from the computer for a few hours, which is why the comments remained for a while. In the future, if I don't respond when you or anyone believes a serious violation has happened, please call me 313-212-9715. Patch encourages open conversation but please keep it respectful of others and within the terms of use. Sara
2:12 pm on Friday, June 15, 2012 Boo hoo. Your senior year will be ruined because your teacher will be in jail for assault. Go cry me a river. Glad to see you choir kids are still weirder than ever. So Ellen is bullying her students by trying to discipline them? What would you call this response to a grosse points south choir student?
The shame of all of this is that someone not familiar with the situation is going to do a Google search for "Ellen Bowen" and be taken to these posts, thinking that Mrs. Bowen is actually making these posts. While some may think this is funny, I think it is a sad commentary and hurts our entire community, not just Mrs. Bowen. There is a very well defined process in place for handling these kind of situations in our school system. The School Board is meeting soon to review the facts and advise the administration how to proceed. Mrs. Bowen and the School Board should be allowed this due process without having to deal with bogus posts like the ones above. The Patch is a source a lot of residents have grown to depend on for accurate, timely reporting. I frankly don't know how you get the reporting you do done in such a timely fashion, Sarah. For the sake of the community, please remove these bogus posts and start monitoring the posts before they become public. If you don't have the time to monitor the posts, then don't allow posts to your articles, as they are denigrating the integrity of your publication.