QUESTIONS REMAIN SURROUNDING DEATH OF WIMA STUDENT IN YPSILANTI.

June 1 was a very tragic and sad day not only for Washtenaw International Middle Academy, but for the entire city of Ypsilanti. Wednesday afternoon, June 1, at around 3 pm,  a 911 call was placed to the Ypsilanti Police Dept from the Washtenaw International Middle Academy located in Ypsilanti. It was indicated in the call that a student had fallen off the roof. The police immediately arrived and discovered that the student, 14 year old Xavier Small, had died from head trauma due to the fall. This was such a sad and tragic death. I arrived at the school at around 4:20 because I had heard that the school was on lockdown due to a medical emergency. It was  so sad and shocking to learn about what had happened. The entire community was shocked to learn of the young mans death.

Since the death of the eighth grade student there have been questions on the minds of Ypsilanti residents surrounding his death. How and why was the student on the roof of the school? Also, I have been wondering if Ypsilanti Community Schools are conducting their own separate investigation into the death. I knew that the Ypsilanti Police are investigating.

Sunday evening I contacted Ypsilanti Community Schools Communication Coordinator, Yen Azzaro. In an email to Azzaro I stated that I had questions regarding how and why the student was on the school roof. I also asked her if YCS was conducting
it's own investigation. Yen promptly emailed me back Sunday night. She stated that YCS was not conducting an investigation, but that the administration will be debriefing in the near future. Yen Azzaro also told me in the email that they have no information about specifics and are awaiting investigation findings from the police.

This has been such a tragic event for the district and the entire community as a whole. Hopefully, the authorities will be able to shed more light on the tragedy soon.

Jeff Brown
Editor/Publisher
Purple Walrus Press

Washtenaw International Middle Academy. Photo Purple Walrus Press