>>
source:http://ww3.startribune.com/kerstenblog/?p=511
>>
>> Last week, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) and the Minnesota Department
>> of Education appeared to reach an understanding in the controversy
>> over whether Islam is being promoted at this public school.
>>
>> But behind the scenes, a storm may be brewing.
>>
>> TiZA officials have “taken a confrontational road” in discussions with
>> the department, according to Deputy MDE Commissioner Chas Anderson,
>> the departmentÂ’s No. 2 official.
>>
>> Anderson says that the two sides have not yet reached an agreement on
>> one key issue and that MDE will be closely monitoring TiZAÂ’s
>> performance in future months.
>>
>> TiZA is a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights, financed by
>> taxpayers. Its students have scored well on standardized tests. But
>> like all public schools, it may not encourage or endorse religion, or
>> favor one religion over another.
>>
>> A number of facts raise questions about TiZA on this score. Its
>> executive director, Asad Zaman, is an imam, or Muslim religious
>> leader. The school shares a building with a mosque and the Minnesota
>> chapter of the Muslim American Society, which the Chicago Tribune has
>> described as the American branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — “the
>> world’s most influential Islamic fundamentalist group.”
>>
>> Most of TiZAÂ’s students are Muslim, many from low-income immigrant
>> families. The school breaks daily for prayer, its cafeteria serves
>> halal food (permissible under Islamic law), and Arabic is a required
>> subject.
>>
>> School buses do not leave until after-school Muslim Studies classes,
>> which many students attend, have ended for the day.
>>
>> Last spring, MDE opened an investigation after press reports raised
>> questions about whether TiZA has been blurring the church/state line.
>> The investigation focused on the schoolÂ’s 30-minute Friday communal
>> prayer event, among other issues. The service — led by adults — has
>> been conducted on school premises, and both students and teachers have
>> attended.
>>
>> In a report issued in May, the MDE concluded that TiZAÂ’s Friday prayer
>> event violated the law and since then has been working with the school
>> to make changes.
>>
>> “We wanted TiZA to do Friday prayers the way all other public schools”
>> handle similar activities — “as release time, under state law,” said
>> Anderson. In a release-time arrangement, students move off-site for
>> religious activities.
>>
>> But TiZA said no, according to Anderson. Instead, the school will
>> continue to hold Friday prayer on its premises. Students will lead
>> prayer and staff will be present only “to ensure student safety,” said
>> Zaman in a letter to the MDE.
>>
>> In a response to ZamanÂ’s letter, Anderson wrote complaining of what
>> she called the “defensive tone” of the letter in which he set forth
>> the school’s intentions. “It is inaccurate for TiZA to imply that
>> MDEÂ’s legal concerns regarding the schoolÂ’s operations Â… were
>> unfounded,” she wrote, “and it is of utmost importance that TiZA take
>> seriously its responsibility to comply with applicable state and
>> federal laws.”
>>
>> TiZA now says it will shorten Friday prayers — whose length has been a
>> potential concern because of instructional time requirements — though
>> it has not said by how much.
>>
>> MDE has agreed that TiZAÂ’s new arrangement on after-school bus
>> transportation will bring the school into legal compliance on that
>> issue. But the department is highly skeptical that TiZAÂ’s proposed
>> arrangement for on-site, student-led Friday prayers will work.
>>
>> Track the situation closely
>>
>> We are “very troubled by it,” said Anderson in an interview. “This may
>> look good on paper. But how can you have an assembly with older
>> students in charge of younger students?” she said. MDE plans to track
>> the situation closely and conduct site visits.
>>
>> Asked to respond to MDEÂ’s continuing concerns, the school issued a
>> statement through spokesman Blois Olson saying: “TiZA Academy has
>> reached agreement with the Department of Education Â… and will continue
>> to work with the department to ensure that we continue to be in
>> compliance with all state and federal laws.”
>>
>> While TiZA and the department donÂ’t agree about the Friday prayer
>> service — even over whether they have an agreement on it — there are
>> other religious accommodations at the school that raise questions. In
>> its May report, for example, MDE said that regularly scheduled daily
>> prayers at TiZA appear to pass legal muster because they are
>> “voluntary and student-led.”
>>
>> But imagine the reaction if prayer time — reflecting only one faith —
>> were built into the schedule at, say, Stillwater Junior High.
>>
>> Asked if other public schools would be allowed to accommodate religion
>> the way that TiZA accommodates Islam, Anderson said: “We sought
>> guidance, we want guidance” from federal sources and the Minnesota
>> attorney general, “but no one will give us a black and white answer.”
>>
>> MDE says there are broader questions at issue. “This upcoming
>> legislative session may be an appropriate forum” for “a serious
>> discussion about the appropriateness of sectarian organizations
>> sponsoring publicly-funded nonsectarian charter schools in the first
>> place,” said Anderson in a statement Monday.
>>
>> For now, she added, “This is a gray area. School authorities at TiZA
>> know itÂ’s a gray area, and they are walking right up to and over that
>> line.”
