Bill Tammeus writes about matters of religion and ethics.
Religious Charter Schools: Legalities and Practicalities, by Lawrence D. Weinberg. Already various disputes about public charter schools with religious themes have broken out in various places in the country. This book will help administrators, teachers, parents and students understand the constitutional limits.
Link to the original article.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Board: Charter school can teach Hebrew
USA Today
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A charter school may resume teaching in Hebrew, three weeks after the lessons were halted over concerns the Jewish faith was seeping into public classrooms, the school board voted Tuesday.
Broward County board members said close monitoring of the country's first Hebrew-language charter school is still necessary, but that its administrators had cleared up major concerns.
Link to the original article.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A charter school may resume teaching in Hebrew, three weeks after the lessons were halted over concerns the Jewish faith was seeping into public classrooms, the school board voted Tuesday.
Broward County board members said close monitoring of the country's first Hebrew-language charter school is still necessary, but that its administrators had cleared up major concerns.
Link to the original article.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
8 D.C. Catholic Schools Eyed for Charters
Turning Over Operation to Secular Entity Proposed to Avert Closure
Washington Post
Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl is proposing to convert eight of the District's 28 Catholic schools into secular charter schools, saying the archdiocese can no longer afford to keep them open.
Wuerl said his recommendation to strip the schools of their core religious identity and turn them over to a nonsectarian entity to be run as charter schools is the only way to avoid closing them and would continue the education of thousands of low-income city children without interruption.
Link to the original article.
Washington Post
Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl is proposing to convert eight of the District's 28 Catholic schools into secular charter schools, saying the archdiocese can no longer afford to keep them open.
Wuerl said his recommendation to strip the schools of their core religious identity and turn them over to a nonsectarian entity to be run as charter schools is the only way to avoid closing them and would continue the education of thousands of low-income city children without interruption.
Link to the original article.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Culturally Specific Charter Schools Spark Debate
US Charter Schools
Charter schools focused on Muslim culture and Arabic language, as well as Jewish language and culture, have worked hard to ensure their curricula are free from religious doctrine. But some, particularly those in the Jewish community who have a long history advocating for the separation of church and state, think such schools could face constitutional challenges. These culturally specific schools have company, including a German-culture charter school in Alaska and Hmong, Chinese, and Dakota Native American culture charter schools in Minnesota. While a charter school by law cannot endorse one religion, the courts have granted schools latitude in accommodating religion. "Charter schools offer parents an opportunity to create schools that meet their needs and religious needs are some of the most profound and important needs that people have," says Lawrence Weinberg, author of "Religious Charter Schools."
Source: Wall Street Journal, (09/02/2007)
Link to the original article.
Charter schools focused on Muslim culture and Arabic language, as well as Jewish language and culture, have worked hard to ensure their curricula are free from religious doctrine. But some, particularly those in the Jewish community who have a long history advocating for the separation of church and state, think such schools could face constitutional challenges. These culturally specific schools have company, including a German-culture charter school in Alaska and Hmong, Chinese, and Dakota Native American culture charter schools in Minnesota. While a charter school by law cannot endorse one religion, the courts have granted schools latitude in accommodating religion. "Charter schools offer parents an opportunity to create schools that meet their needs and religious needs are some of the most profound and important needs that people have," says Lawrence Weinberg, author of "Religious Charter Schools."
Source: Wall Street Journal, (09/02/2007)
Link to the original article.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Chartering a New Course
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
By NATHANIEL POPPER
Wall Street Journal
When the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy opened four years ago in suburban Minneapolis, the school was a bold experiment and its survival was in question. There was the scramble to attract students that any charter school faces, but Tarek ibn Ziyad had the additional worry of a constitutional challenge, given the school's sponsorship by a nonprofit called Islamic Relief and the curriculum's emphasis on Muslim culture and the Arabic language.
***
If the schools face some backlash -- particularly in the Jewish community, which has always been an ardent defender of church-state separation -- precedent suggests that they would likely stand on firm legal ground in court. "Religious Charter Schools," a book that had a timely publication date earlier this summer, argues that while a publicly funded school cannot endorse one religion, the courts have granted schools a wide latitude in accommodating religion.
The book's author, Lawrence Weinberg, says that for many religious parents the most important part of a religious school is what it does not teach, and charter schools are allowed the privilege of excluding Harry Potter books if they offend Christian sensibilities. On the other side of the coin, public schools have always been able to range widely over the culture and history (as opposed to the theology) of any religion.
"Charter schools offer parents an opportunity to create schools that meet their needs," said Mr. Weinberg, "and religious needs are some of the most profound and important needs that people have."
Link to the original article.
By NATHANIEL POPPER
Wall Street Journal
When the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy opened four years ago in suburban Minneapolis, the school was a bold experiment and its survival was in question. There was the scramble to attract students that any charter school faces, but Tarek ibn Ziyad had the additional worry of a constitutional challenge, given the school's sponsorship by a nonprofit called Islamic Relief and the curriculum's emphasis on Muslim culture and the Arabic language.
***
If the schools face some backlash -- particularly in the Jewish community, which has always been an ardent defender of church-state separation -- precedent suggests that they would likely stand on firm legal ground in court. "Religious Charter Schools," a book that had a timely publication date earlier this summer, argues that while a publicly funded school cannot endorse one religion, the courts have granted schools a wide latitude in accommodating religion.
The book's author, Lawrence Weinberg, says that for many religious parents the most important part of a religious school is what it does not teach, and charter schools are allowed the privilege of excluding Harry Potter books if they offend Christian sensibilities. On the other side of the coin, public schools have always been able to range widely over the culture and history (as opposed to the theology) of any religion.
"Charter schools offer parents an opportunity to create schools that meet their needs," said Mr. Weinberg, "and religious needs are some of the most profound and important needs that people have."
Link to the original article.
Are Charter Schools the New Way to Accommodate Religion in Schools?
Blog From the Capital
The number of charter schools with a religious angle is set to greatly expand if current experiments like Florida's Ben Gamla school are successful, according to today's Wall Street Journal opinion by Nathanial Popper suggests that such publicly-funded schools will be an "explosive new trend."
Link to the original article.
The number of charter schools with a religious angle is set to greatly expand if current experiments like Florida's Ben Gamla school are successful, according to today's Wall Street Journal opinion by Nathanial Popper suggests that such publicly-funded schools will be an "explosive new trend."
Link to the original article.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Universal Faith
New York Times Magazine
Another school year, another round of controversy about religion in public education. This fall, two new yet already divisive publicly financed schools are set to open: the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn and the Ben Gamla Charter School in Hollywood, Fla. Both describe themselves as nonsectarian institutions that emphasize a particular language — Arabic and Hebrew, respectively — and both have been criticized on the assumption that they will be organized around the distinctive cultures (and thus religions) associated with those languages. Meanwhile, at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, a small firestorm has erupted over plans to install foot baths in school washrooms to help Muslim students perform the ablutions required for daily prayer.
Link to the original article.
Another school year, another round of controversy about religion in public education. This fall, two new yet already divisive publicly financed schools are set to open: the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn and the Ben Gamla Charter School in Hollywood, Fla. Both describe themselves as nonsectarian institutions that emphasize a particular language — Arabic and Hebrew, respectively — and both have been criticized on the assumption that they will be organized around the distinctive cultures (and thus religions) associated with those languages. Meanwhile, at the University of Michigan at Dearborn, a small firestorm has erupted over plans to install foot baths in school washrooms to help Muslim students perform the ablutions required for daily prayer.
Link to the original article.
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