EMILY ALPERT
Monday, April 21, 2008
Voice of San Diego
Girls in uniforms and Muslim headscarves circled around fifth-grade teacher Rebecca Kruske in the cement courtyard. She squinted at the ingredients listed on a Doritos bag, then conferred with the girls before sharing. Unlike them, her shoulders were bare in the spring sun.
"Isn't Yellow 5 haram?" she asked, using the Arabic word for "forbidden."
Cross-cultural moments like these have multiplied over the past decade as City Heights schools absorbed thousands of East African students: A non-Muslim teacher asking her Muslim students if a food dye breaks religious dietary laws. And it epitomizes the mission of Iftin, a fledgling charter school where Somali-speaking parents are comfortable, Arabic is offered, and perfecting English is a mission.
***
Iftin isn't the first San Diego charter school to cater primarily to Somali Muslim students. Another effort was MidCity Charter Academy, which closed in 2006. A nearby public school, Carver Elementary, tried to accommodate the displaced children by adding single-gender classes and setting aside time for prayer. Those efforts proved controversial nationwide, spurring outcry that Muslim students were afforded special treatment. Eventually, the school ended single-gender classes and shifted its schedule so that children could pray at lunchtime.
Nationwide, charter schools that serve East African refugees and other newcomers have multiplied, said Martha Bigelow, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota. Those schools include Ubah Medical Academy in Minneapolis and the International Community School outside Atlanta. Charters are cropping up because of the unique academic and cultural needs of refugee children, she said. Some have spent years in refugee camps without picking up a pencil or paper.
***
And as Iftin forges a path to success for East African students in the U.S., it juggles questions about how to balance East African values and U.S. norms. Iftin is grappling with how to teach sexuality and human development, for instance. Whether Doritos are haram is just the beginning.
"American values and ours too, they will not contradict each other," said Arrays, the Iftin board member. In fact, Arrays said, Iftin is a fundamentally American enterprise. "America was started by only a few people. They said, 'We don't want other people to rule us.'"
"Now we have to rule," Arrays said, "and face all challenges."
Original article
Showing posts with label Muslim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muslim. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Inver Grove Heights school on defensive after death threats
John Croman
KARE 11 News
A charter school in Inver Grove Heights is taking extra security precautions and working with law enforcement agencies in the wake of death threats.
It all began with a series of newspaper columns accusing Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy of using taxpayer money to teach Islamic religion, something the school's director says is just plain false.
"We are fully aware of the obligations that come with that public money," the academy's director Asad Zaman told KARE 11 Wednesday, "And we take care to insure that we operate a non-sectarian program. None of the public money is spent on any religious activities. "
***
Many of those who leveled complaints and threats appear to view the school as part of a larger conspiracy to establish the Muslim religion as the official worldwide religion.
"I can't even control my own parking lot," Zaman laughed, "Let alone the entire world!"
Zaman says he can only hope those who hate him because of some perceived threat will look at the world differently some day.
"All problems can be solved," he said, "We can solve this problem if only people would have reasonable, rational discussions instead of having hateful conversations."
He's heartened by letters of support, including a donation mailed in by a teacher in Hutchinson, Minnesota who wrote simply, "Please use this money to buy more books for your library."
As the children played at recess a police squad car could be seen slowly cruising through the parking lot nearby, part of stepped up patrols.
But, like most kids on a warm, sunny spring day in Minnesota, the youngsters were preoccupied with enjoying the outdoors.
Original article
KARE 11 News
A charter school in Inver Grove Heights is taking extra security precautions and working with law enforcement agencies in the wake of death threats.
It all began with a series of newspaper columns accusing Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy of using taxpayer money to teach Islamic religion, something the school's director says is just plain false.
"We are fully aware of the obligations that come with that public money," the academy's director Asad Zaman told KARE 11 Wednesday, "And we take care to insure that we operate a non-sectarian program. None of the public money is spent on any religious activities. "
***
Many of those who leveled complaints and threats appear to view the school as part of a larger conspiracy to establish the Muslim religion as the official worldwide religion.
"I can't even control my own parking lot," Zaman laughed, "Let alone the entire world!"
Zaman says he can only hope those who hate him because of some perceived threat will look at the world differently some day.
"All problems can be solved," he said, "We can solve this problem if only people would have reasonable, rational discussions instead of having hateful conversations."
He's heartened by letters of support, including a donation mailed in by a teacher in Hutchinson, Minnesota who wrote simply, "Please use this money to buy more books for your library."
As the children played at recess a police squad car could be seen slowly cruising through the parking lot nearby, part of stepped up patrols.
But, like most kids on a warm, sunny spring day in Minnesota, the youngsters were preoccupied with enjoying the outdoors.
Original article
Furor over Islam taught at US public school
Agence France-Presse
CHICAGO (AFP) — Police have stepped up patrols of an elementary school in Minnesota after it received threats in the wake of accusations that it was using public funds to teach Islam.
The threats came after a local columnist wrote that the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a suburban Minneapolis charter school run by an Islamic charity, appeared to be violating a ban on teaching religion in public schools.
Charter schools are public schools run by private organizations with public funds.
While many have been started by religious groups, they are bound to US rules that public schools must accommodate the religious needs of their students but are not allowed to promote religious views or lead prayer services.
The brewing controversy came to head in recent days when a substitute teacher said she saw students "corralled" into involuntary prayer services, and a local television station criticized the school for failing to fly a US flag.
The story got picked up on anti-Muslim websites and the school started getting threatening calls and e-mails, including threats to burn it down and "destroy" its students and leaders.
"These vile and vicious attacks on us have resulted in death threats against my students, myself and my family," Asad Zaman, executive director of the academy, told AFP Wednesday.
Tarek ibn Ziyad is run by the charity Islamic Relief USA and specializes in teaching Arabic language and culture in addition to standard public grade school subjects.
The majority of the students are Muslim and the school offers regular prayer services and after-school Islamic instruction, but officials say they are careful to follow state guidelines.
Zaman scoffs at the idea that the school is secretly Islamic or that students are forced to attend prayer services, noting that it is inspected regularly by the state Department of Education and has hosted a number of reporters and high-profile politicians.
"We do not teach religion. We do not favor any religion," he said in a telephone interview.
"We specialize in dramatic turnarounds. More than 90 percent of our students are in poverty and we outperform schools in the (wealthy) suburbs."
But the columnist who sparked the controversy says that while the reports of threats are "repellant" they should not "distract attraction from the central issue here, and that is, whether this publicly-financed school is skirting or breaking the law that all others must observe when it comes to religious endorsement."
"If this were a bunch of Baptists or Catholics with the kids being led to the rosary on Mondays through Thursday and led to Mass on Fridays there wouldn't be any question that this is crossing the line," said Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten.
Kersten is also concerned that the school, which has a long waiting list and has recently expanded to a second campus, will prevent the assimilation of the area's growing population of new Muslim immigrants.
"If you have a very large immigrant Muslim population being educated at taxpayer expenses in a separate system where Arabic is mandatory and there's an emphasis on the culture of the so-called Eastern world, it seems to me you are setting up a very problematic situation," she told AFP.
The Minnesota Department of Education said it goes to "great lengths" to ensure that charter schools understand they must be "non-sectarian" in nature while also accommodating the religious beliefs of students.
"We take seriously the concerns raised regarding Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy and are conducting an appropriate review," Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said in a statement.
Original article
CHICAGO (AFP) — Police have stepped up patrols of an elementary school in Minnesota after it received threats in the wake of accusations that it was using public funds to teach Islam.
The threats came after a local columnist wrote that the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a suburban Minneapolis charter school run by an Islamic charity, appeared to be violating a ban on teaching religion in public schools.
Charter schools are public schools run by private organizations with public funds.
While many have been started by religious groups, they are bound to US rules that public schools must accommodate the religious needs of their students but are not allowed to promote religious views or lead prayer services.
The brewing controversy came to head in recent days when a substitute teacher said she saw students "corralled" into involuntary prayer services, and a local television station criticized the school for failing to fly a US flag.
The story got picked up on anti-Muslim websites and the school started getting threatening calls and e-mails, including threats to burn it down and "destroy" its students and leaders.
"These vile and vicious attacks on us have resulted in death threats against my students, myself and my family," Asad Zaman, executive director of the academy, told AFP Wednesday.
Tarek ibn Ziyad is run by the charity Islamic Relief USA and specializes in teaching Arabic language and culture in addition to standard public grade school subjects.
The majority of the students are Muslim and the school offers regular prayer services and after-school Islamic instruction, but officials say they are careful to follow state guidelines.
Zaman scoffs at the idea that the school is secretly Islamic or that students are forced to attend prayer services, noting that it is inspected regularly by the state Department of Education and has hosted a number of reporters and high-profile politicians.
"We do not teach religion. We do not favor any religion," he said in a telephone interview.
"We specialize in dramatic turnarounds. More than 90 percent of our students are in poverty and we outperform schools in the (wealthy) suburbs."
But the columnist who sparked the controversy says that while the reports of threats are "repellant" they should not "distract attraction from the central issue here, and that is, whether this publicly-financed school is skirting or breaking the law that all others must observe when it comes to religious endorsement."
"If this were a bunch of Baptists or Catholics with the kids being led to the rosary on Mondays through Thursday and led to Mass on Fridays there wouldn't be any question that this is crossing the line," said Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten.
Kersten is also concerned that the school, which has a long waiting list and has recently expanded to a second campus, will prevent the assimilation of the area's growing population of new Muslim immigrants.
"If you have a very large immigrant Muslim population being educated at taxpayer expenses in a separate system where Arabic is mandatory and there's an emphasis on the culture of the so-called Eastern world, it seems to me you are setting up a very problematic situation," she told AFP.
The Minnesota Department of Education said it goes to "great lengths" to ensure that charter schools understand they must be "non-sectarian" in nature while also accommodating the religious beliefs of students.
"We take seriously the concerns raised regarding Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy and are conducting an appropriate review," Minnesota Education Commissioner Alice Seagren said in a statement.
Original article
Monday, April 14, 2008
Kersten's Arabic-school source: more to the story
Kersten's Arabic-school source: more to the story
David Brauer
MinnPost.com
Conservative Strib columnist Katherine Kersten kicked up a storm last week in her campaign against an Inver Grove Heights Arabic charter school, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA). Kersten claims the public school engages in questionable Muslim religious practices. The school hasn't allowed her to visit, but Kersten found an eyewitness: a substitute teacher who confirmed many of the allegations. State officials have since said they will increase inspections and will contact federal officials about the school's sponsors.
One data point Kersten omitted: the substitute, Amanda Getz, is a Republican political and education activist. As Getz wrote two years ago, the self-described conservative has a special interest in "education reform and work to improve our country's public schools."
Does that obliterate Getz's credibility? No; it might even enhance it in some eyes. But Getz was not some naïf walking into a charter school; it's unlikely the politically active conservative teacher was ignorant of Kersten's longstanding anti-TIZA campaign when she accepted the assignment. Getz's affiliations may have colored her views, and Strib readers deserved to know about it.
The original article
David Brauer
MinnPost.com
Conservative Strib columnist Katherine Kersten kicked up a storm last week in her campaign against an Inver Grove Heights Arabic charter school, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA). Kersten claims the public school engages in questionable Muslim religious practices. The school hasn't allowed her to visit, but Kersten found an eyewitness: a substitute teacher who confirmed many of the allegations. State officials have since said they will increase inspections and will contact federal officials about the school's sponsors.
One data point Kersten omitted: the substitute, Amanda Getz, is a Republican political and education activist. As Getz wrote two years ago, the self-described conservative has a special interest in "education reform and work to improve our country's public schools."
Does that obliterate Getz's credibility? No; it might even enhance it in some eyes. But Getz was not some naïf walking into a charter school; it's unlikely the politically active conservative teacher was ignorant of Kersten's longstanding anti-TIZA campaign when she accepted the assignment. Getz's affiliations may have colored her views, and Strib readers deserved to know about it.
The original article
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Wednesday: Wall of silence broken at state's Muslim public school
Wednesday: Wall of silence broken at state's Muslim public school
Katherine Kersten
Star Tribune
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Recently, I wrote about Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights. Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion.
Evidence suggests, however, that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers.
TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is "establishing Islam in Minnesota." The building also houses a mosque. TIZA's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.
Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food - permissible under Islamic law -- and "Islamic Studies" is offered at the end of the school day.
Click here for the whole original article.
Katherine Kersten
Star Tribune
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Recently, I wrote about Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights. Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion.
Evidence suggests, however, that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers.
TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is "establishing Islam in Minnesota." The building also houses a mosque. TIZA's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.
Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food - permissible under Islamic law -- and "Islamic Studies" is offered at the end of the school day.
Click here for the whole original article.
Charter school's religious activities focus of state investigation
Tim Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio
April 10, 2008
State education officials say they're investigating claims that a publicly-funded Inver Grove Heights charter school is offering religious instruction to students in violation of the law.
St. Paul, Minn. — Tarik ibn Zayad Academy is one of only a handful of public schools in Minnesota that focuses on Middle Eastern culture.
More than 300 students attend the school. Girls wear headscarves and the school shares a site with a mosque and the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.
Now, a Bloomington woman who taught at the school last month says she believes the school is offering religious instruction to its students.
***
The Minnesota Department of Education said Tuesday it was conducting a review of Getz's allegations.
***
The substitute teacher may indeed have seen students praying, he said. But the students had been released early from school for religious instruction, as occasionally happens in other public schools, he said.
Zaman noted that the substitute teacher didn't speak Arabic, and he said she may have misinterpreted any number of cultural practices as religious instruction.
"This is part of the problem with relying on the word of someone who has been in the school all of six hours," Zaman said.
His school has become the subject of a series of threatening communications after the substitute teacher's allegations were made public in the newspaper on Wednesday, Zaman said.
The threats had prompted him to invite Inver Grove Heights police to Tarik ibn Zayad Academy to assess the security of his school, he said.
Click here for the original article.
April 10, 2008
State education officials say they're investigating claims that a publicly-funded Inver Grove Heights charter school is offering religious instruction to students in violation of the law.
St. Paul, Minn. — Tarik ibn Zayad Academy is one of only a handful of public schools in Minnesota that focuses on Middle Eastern culture.
More than 300 students attend the school. Girls wear headscarves and the school shares a site with a mosque and the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.
Now, a Bloomington woman who taught at the school last month says she believes the school is offering religious instruction to its students.
***
The Minnesota Department of Education said Tuesday it was conducting a review of Getz's allegations.
***
The substitute teacher may indeed have seen students praying, he said. But the students had been released early from school for religious instruction, as occasionally happens in other public schools, he said.
Zaman noted that the substitute teacher didn't speak Arabic, and he said she may have misinterpreted any number of cultural practices as religious instruction.
"This is part of the problem with relying on the word of someone who has been in the school all of six hours," Zaman said.
His school has become the subject of a series of threatening communications after the substitute teacher's allegations were made public in the newspaper on Wednesday, Zaman said.
The threats had prompted him to invite Inver Grove Heights police to Tarik ibn Zayad Academy to assess the security of his school, he said.
Click here for the original article.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Arabic school causes stir in NYC
From The Jerusalem Post
A coalition opposed to a new Arabic-language school in the city has filed a lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education.
Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition is attempting to shut down the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, which opened this fall under intense scrutiny.
The coalition is taking its case to the New York Supreme Court following a Freedom of Information Law request. It claims the Department of Education failed to provide sufficient information about the charter school's curriculum and text books.
Link to the original article.
Note: The Khalil Gibran International Academy is not a charter school.
A coalition opposed to a new Arabic-language school in the city has filed a lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education.
Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition is attempting to shut down the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, which opened this fall under intense scrutiny.
The coalition is taking its case to the New York Supreme Court following a Freedom of Information Law request. It claims the Department of Education failed to provide sufficient information about the charter school's curriculum and text books.
Link to the original article.
Note: The Khalil Gibran International Academy is not a charter school.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Educating Muslims in an East African US charter high school
Letitia Basford, Sarah Hick, & Martha Bigelow
University of Minnesota, USA
Abstract
This article presents a case study of a U.S. charter high school that was created by an East African community seeking a learning environment for immigrant adolescents committed to an Islamic lifestyle. It describes how such schools are a reaction to concerns from Muslim immigrant parents and community leaders that youth are experiencing rapid assimilation at school and are replacing their ethnic and religious identity with an other-imposed racialized identity. Through an analysis of teacher interviews, this article explores how the school accommodates Muslim immigrant youth while tenuously adhering to the Establishment Clause of the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting government sponsored religion. It also uncovers some of the challenges presented by having a teaching staff with a range of teaching philosophies, background experiences and cultures. This study reveals the problematic differences between the cultural and educational norms and expectations of the white teachers and the East African leadership.
The full report can be downloaded from the National Center for the Study of the Privatization of Education. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
University of Minnesota, USA
Abstract
This article presents a case study of a U.S. charter high school that was created by an East African community seeking a learning environment for immigrant adolescents committed to an Islamic lifestyle. It describes how such schools are a reaction to concerns from Muslim immigrant parents and community leaders that youth are experiencing rapid assimilation at school and are replacing their ethnic and religious identity with an other-imposed racialized identity. Through an analysis of teacher interviews, this article explores how the school accommodates Muslim immigrant youth while tenuously adhering to the Establishment Clause of the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibiting government sponsored religion. It also uncovers some of the challenges presented by having a teaching staff with a range of teaching philosophies, background experiences and cultures. This study reveals the problematic differences between the cultural and educational norms and expectations of the white teachers and the East African leadership.
The full report can be downloaded from the National Center for the Study of the Privatization of Education. (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.)
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
ACLU STATEMENT ON CARVER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL'S MUSLIM PRAYERS
Weighing the Fundamental and Competing Constitutional Principles
The following statement can be attributed to Kevin Keenan, Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties.
A controversy has been mounting at Carver Elementary in San Diego about the role of religion and prayer in public schools � and particularly Islamic prayers. (situation) The situation at Carver raises serious concerns�and not just about what the school is doing. Some people are using the Carver controversy as an excuse to promote their own religious agenda in public schools while others are fanning the flames of prejudice by making wildly inaccurate claims about what is actually going on.
Parents�not governments and not public schools�should decide what religious training children receive. Individuals�not the government�should choose how they exercise the callings of their conscience on matters of belief. That is what our Constitution requires, and it is what is right and best for both religion and government in this country.
Link to the original article.
The following statement can be attributed to Kevin Keenan, Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties.
A controversy has been mounting at Carver Elementary in San Diego about the role of religion and prayer in public schools � and particularly Islamic prayers. (situation) The situation at Carver raises serious concerns�and not just about what the school is doing. Some people are using the Carver controversy as an excuse to promote their own religious agenda in public schools while others are fanning the flames of prejudice by making wildly inaccurate claims about what is actually going on.
Parents�not governments and not public schools�should decide what religious training children receive. Individuals�not the government�should choose how they exercise the callings of their conscience on matters of belief. That is what our Constitution requires, and it is what is right and best for both religion and government in this country.
Link to the original article.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Muslim prayers in school debated
S.D. elementary at center of dispute
San Diego Union-Tribune
A San Diego public school has become part of a national debate over religion in schools ever since a substitute teacher publicly condemned an Arabic language program that gives Muslim students time for prayer during school hours.
Carver Elementary in Oak Park added Arabic to its curriculum in September when it suddenly absorbed more than 100 students from a defunct charter school that had served mostly Somali Muslims.
Link to the original article.
San Diego Union-Tribune
A San Diego public school has become part of a national debate over religion in schools ever since a substitute teacher publicly condemned an Arabic language program that gives Muslim students time for prayer during school hours.
Carver Elementary in Oak Park added Arabic to its curriculum in September when it suddenly absorbed more than 100 students from a defunct charter school that had served mostly Somali Muslims.
Link to the original article.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Arabic program offered at school
District wants to provide options
San Diego Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO – Carver Elementary School in San Diego has long been a microcosm of the world's diversity, serving immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt and Somalia, among other places.
Now it hosts the San Diego Unified School District's only Arabic language program – one that is being scrutinized in the wake of a substitute teacher's complaint that it is a form of “religious indoctrination.”
Link to the original article.
San Diego Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO – Carver Elementary School in San Diego has long been a microcosm of the world's diversity, serving immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt and Somalia, among other places.
Now it hosts the San Diego Unified School District's only Arabic language program – one that is being scrutinized in the wake of a substitute teacher's complaint that it is a form of “religious indoctrination.”
Link to the original article.
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