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.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Are Religious Public/Charter Schools Possible? Or Even Desirable?

Charter School Policy Institute

There’s an interesting editorial in Education Week this week about the legalities and practicalities of starting religious charter schools. One of the authors, Lawrence D. Weinberg, has a book on the subject coming out in September. Food for thought.

Link to the original article.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Greek Charter School Raises Scores - and Some Hackles

The New York Sun

At a Park Slope elementary school on Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue, popular book bag themes include Mickey Mouse and Dora the Explorer. "Norbit" is a favorite film. The preferred morning greeting on a recent Thursday: Kalimera.

At the Hellenic Classical Charter School, Modern Greek — in which kalimera means "good morning" — is a required part of the curriculum. As one of the 11 culturally themed charter schools to open in the city since 2002, so are Greek history, Greek traditions, and even Greek dance.

Link to the original article.

What About Religious Charter Schools?

Education Week
COMMENTARY
Lawrence D. Weinberg & Bruce S. Cooper

Charter schools are gaining in popularity, with approximately 4,000 now open, enrolling some 1.1 million U.S. children with more participating every year. Since the charter school movement began in 1991 in Minnesota, these schools have filled a need in American society, giving individuals, communities, and local associations a chance to create their own schools—with tax dollars paying the basic costs.

A major, unresolved question remains, however: What about opening and funding religious charter schools? How would localities handle the many complexities of funding charter schools that have a religious, social, and cultural mission? History offers some perspective.

Link to the original article.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Critics: Hallandale charter school oversteps church-state line

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Ben Gamla Charter School will open this fall at the Hallandale Jewish Center. The principal is a rabbi. The Hebrew/English curriculum will be based, in part, on Jewish tradition.

Depending on who you ask, the Ben Gamla school will either be a secular bilingual charter school or a taxpayer-funded religious school that violates the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state.

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.