Teacher breaks wall of silence at state's Muslim public school ***UPDATED Post #8***

[trickblue]

Link (http://www.startribune.com/local/17406054.html)

Teacher breaks wall of silence at state's Muslim public school
By KATHERINE KERSTEN, Star Tribune
Last update: April 9, 2008 - 7:24 AM

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.

Zaman maintains that TIZA is not a religious school. He declined, however, to allow me to visit the school to see for myself, "due to the hectic schedule for statewide testing." But after I e-mailed him that the Minnesota Department of Education had told me that testing would not begin for several weeks, Zaman did not respond -- even to urgent calls and e-mails seeking comment before my first column on TIZA.

Now, however, an eyewitness has stepped forward. Amanda Getz of Bloomington is a substitute teacher. She worked as a substitute in two fifth-grade classrooms at TIZA on Friday, March 14. Her experience suggests that school-sponsored religious activity plays an integral role at TIZA.

Arriving on a Friday, the Muslim holy day, she says she was told that the day's schedule included a "school assembly" in the gym after lunch.

Before the assembly, she says she was told, her duties would include taking her fifth-grade students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform "their ritual washing."

Afterward, Getz said, "teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day," was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man "was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered."

"The prayer I saw was not voluntary," Getz said. "The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred."

Islamic Studies was also incorporated into the school day. "When I arrived, I was told 'after school we have Islamic Studies,' and I might have to stay for hall duty," Getz said. "The teachers had written assignments on the blackboard for classes like math and social studies. Islamic Studies was the last one -- the board said the kids were studying the Qu'ran. The students were told to copy it into their planner, along with everything else. That gave me the impression that Islamic Studies was a subject like any other."

After school, Getz's fifth-graders stayed in their classroom and the man in white who had led prayer in the gym came in to teach Islamic Studies. TIZA has in effect extended the school day -- buses leave only after Islamic Studies is over. Getz did not see evidence of other extra-curricular activity, except for a group of small children playing outside. Significantly, 77 percent of TIZA parents say that their "main reason for choosing TIZA ... was because of after-school programs conducted by various non-profit organizations at the end of the school period in the school building," according to a TIZA report. TIZA may be the only school in Minnesota with this distinction.

Why does the Minnesota Department of Education allow this sort of religious activity at a public school? According to Zaman, the department inspects TIZA regularly -- and has done so "numerous times" -- to ensure that it is not a religious school.

But the department's records document only three site visits to TIZA in five years -- two in 2003-04 and one in 2007, according to Assistant Commissioner Morgan Brown. None of the visits focused specifically on religious practices.

The department is set up to operate on a "complaint basis," and "since 2004, we haven't gotten a single complaint about TIZA," Brown said. In 2004, he sent two letters to the school inquiring about religious activity reported by visiting department staffers and in a news article. Brown was satisfied with Zaman's assurance that prayer is "voluntary" and "student-led," he said. The department did not attempt to confirm this independently, and did not ask how 5- to 11-year-olds could be initiating prayer. (At the time, TIZA was a K-5 school.)

Zaman agreed to respond by e-mail to concerns raised about the school's practices. Student "prayer is not mandated by TIZA," he wrote, and so is legal. On Friday afternoons, "students are released ... to either join a parent-led service or for study hall." Islamic Studies is provided by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, and other "nonsectarian" after-school options are available, he added.

Yet prayer at TIZA does not appear to be spontaneously initiated by students, but rather scheduled, organized and promoted by school authorities.

Request for volunteers

Until recently, TIZA's website included a request for volunteers to help with "Friday prayers." In an e-mail, Zaman explained this as an attempt to ensure that "no TIZA staff members were involved in organizing the Friday prayers."

But an end run of this kind cannot remove the fact of school sponsorship of prayer services, which take place in the school building during school hours. Zaman does not deny that "some" Muslim teachers "probably" attend. According to federal guidelines on prayer in schools, teachers at a public school cannot participate in prayer with students.

In addition, schools cannot favor one religion by offering services for only its adherents, or promote after-school religious instruction for only one group. The ACLU of Minnesota has launched an investigation of TIZA, and the Minnesota Department of Education has also begun a review.

TIZA's operation as a public, taxpayer-funded school is troubling on several fronts. TIZA is skirting the law by operating what is essentially an Islamic school at taxpayer expense. The Department of Education has failed to provide the oversight necessary to catch these illegalities, and appears to lack the tools to do so. In addition, there's a double standard at work here -- if TIZA were a Christian school, it would likely be gone in a heartbeat.

TIZA is now being held up as a national model for a new kind of charter school. If it passes legal muster, Minnesota taxpayers may soon find themselves footing the bill for a separate system of education for Muslims.

Katherine Kersten • kkersten@startribune.com

[iceberg]

shut it down and make it a private school if that's what you wish to do. i went to a private catholic school my parents paid for quite extensively when i was growing up. wasn't till 6th grade i went to a public school.

very tired of the double standards. very tired.

[trickblue]

If this were a Christian issue the ACLU would be all over it...

[hairic]

If this were a Christian issue the ACLU would be all over it...

They'll probably go after this school too, now that the issue has been made known.

[Jon88]

They'll probably go after this school too, now that the issue has been made known.

I hope so.

[trickblue]

They'll probably go after this school too, now that the issue has been made known.

I hope so.

I hope so too...

[StanleySpadowski]

I have no problem with them getting state funds if, and that's a big if, the students are exceeding minimums on standardized testing.

I'm a big proponent of school vouchers and believe that parents should have the ability to pick a school that best represents the values they want to instill in their children, be it agnostic, christian or muslim yet one that doesn't forget the role of schools in educating children.

[trickblue]

UPDATE:
Link (http://kstp.com/article/stories/S407036.shtml?cat=1)

Metro charter school accused of teaching Islam

A Star Tribune newspaper column has prompted a state investigation into a charter school. A substitute teacher said a school in Inver Grove Heights is blurring the line of separation of church and state.

Being a charter school Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, or TIZA, is supported by tax dollars. The teacher told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the presence of religion she observed at the school took her by surprise.

TIZA Executive Director Azad Zaman insisted the school follows with state and federal laws.

"TIZA does not endorse any religion," he said.

However, TIZA Academy is sponsored by Islamic Relief USA, based in California.

The questions came after substitute teacher Amanda Getz taught at TIZA last month and told the Star Tribune about things she observed that day that shocked her.

"I've been in a lot of schools and I've never been in a school where they had washing rituals, or they had prayer, or where they had a room where you had to take your shoes off," Getz said.

"It is most likely that this substitute teacher was sadly mistaken," said Zaman.

He said the school follows state and federal guidelines when it comes to religion.

"We're required under the federal guidelines to allow students to pray when they wish to do so. And as Muslim students, they're allowed to pray around 1:30 p.m., so we allow them to do that," Zaman explained.

The State Department of Education said they would conduct more site visits and write to the State Department to find out more about the school’s sponsor.

TIZA requires all students to learn Arabic as a second language English.

State law requires the school to fly an American flag during school hours, however no flag flies outside of TIZA Academy.

Zaman told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he didn’t know how to work the flagpole.

[iceberg]

they're playing "reindeer games" with the system and they know it.

[sacase]

they're playing "reindeer games" with the system and they know it.

Of course, this is par for the course with them. Next they will claim that they are being discriminated against because they are muslim and say people are racist and then the ACLU and CAIR will rush to defend them and sue the state and the newspaper as well as the teacher who reported it.

[iceberg]

Of course, this is par for the course with them. Next they will claim that they are being discriminated against because they are muslim and say people are racist and then the ACLU and CAIR will rush to defend them and sue the state and the newspaper as well as the teacher who reported it.

this will be an interesting case that could set some precidents. i know in most public schools these days *any* organized prayer is usually a lawsuit waiting to happen. i tire greatly of minorities (so to speak) wanting both sides of the coin here. freedom to do what they want w/o regard for "the system" and a place to hide behind when called out for it.

[Jon88]

I thought it was against the Koran to lie?

Well, I thought a lot of things were against the Koran...

I'm sure they've formulated some excuse in their minds to get over on the non-believers.

[Jon88]

April 07, 2008
Hooray for A Michigan State Professor
Joseph Crowley

The story begins at Michigan State University with a mechanical engineering professor named Indrek Wichman. Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student Association. The e-mail was in response to the students' protest of the Danish cartoons that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. The group had complained the cartoons were 'hate speech.' Enter Professor Wichman. In his e-mail, he said the following:

"Dear Moslem Association,

As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intend to protest your protest. I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey ), burnings of Christian churches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt, the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavian girls and women (called 'whores' in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland and the rioting and looting in Paris France. This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many of my colleagues. I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile 'protests.' If you do not like the values of the West - see the 1st Amendment - you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans.

Cordially,
I. S. Wichman
Professor of Mechanical Engineering"


As you can imagine, the Muslim group at the university didn't like this too well. They're demanding that Wichman be reprimanded and the university impose mandatory diversity training for faculty and mandate a seminar on hate and discrimination for all freshmen. Now the local chapter of CAIR has jumped into the fray. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, apparently doesn't believe that the good professor had the right to express his opinion. For its part, the university is standing its ground in support of Professor Wichman, saying the e-mail was private and they don't intend to publicly condemn his remarks.

[SultanOfSix]

I'm really confused by this article. From what I can tell, it seems like the standard school subjects are being taught, and then an extra class is being held after school for "Islamic" studies, whatever that entails, and that is what is being sponsored. How many students are Muslim? Are all of them Muslim? Are students of other faiths allowed to go to the school? Are teachers of other faiths not allowed to teach there? It doesn't seem like it since the one who caused further investigation doesn't appear to be.

As for the "washing rituals", before Muslims make their prayer, they are required to wash themselves before they do so. It's not an organized ritual to wash yourself. Since prayer is at a certain time, people are going to be washing before it if they need to (some may not), and so it may appear so.

However, prayer is organized because it is performed in a group, but that is the nature of the prayer. Although it is allowed to pray in shoes, typically the prayer area is kept clean and so shoes are taken off before entering it. Also, state buildings are required to offer a place for students to pray if there is sufficient need for it. As far as I know, because school hours are limited, only a single prayer would occur, and that would be the noon prayer. It's not like this act is interfering constantly with the class schedule.

So, either you have a government intruding and saying Muslims can't pray during certain times, which opens up the case for discrimination. Or you have someone arguing that allowing them to pray is a violation of church and state because it is endorsing a particular religion. But, that's not what my understanding of the term is. The term means the state/governement is not allowed to endorse a specific religion at the expense of others.

If it's a school that has all Muslim students and disallows people of other faiths to not come there, then the school should have its public funding removed and it be made a private school. Otherwise, it really seems like this article is really slanted in its portrayal.

I'm really surprised at how ignorant people are.

[hairic]

it really seems like this article is really slanted in its portrayal.Google the author. You'll find more of the same.

[burmafrd]

Now that Sultan has come out against it, I know that its true.

[Jon88]

Loud, obnoxious, can't seem to get his point across otherwise.

[SultanOfSix]

Now that Sultan has come out against it, I know that its true.

If I come out against the moon being made of blue cheese, you know that it is true?
If I come out against you not having a brain, you know that it is true as well?

Does your statement even make sense? What is the "it" that I have come out against?

Loud, obnoxious, can't seem to get his point across otherwise.

At least I have a point. The only one you've ever had is the one you've used at the end of a sentence.

[Jon88]

If I come out against the moon being made of blue cheese, you know that it is true?
If I come out against you not having a brain, you know that it is true as well?

Does your statement even make sense? What is the "it" that I have come out against?



At least I have a point. The only one you've ever had is the one you've used at the end of a sentence.


Like I said, beligerent, obnoxious.

[SultanOfSix]

Like I said, beligerent, obnoxious.

Like I said. No argument. No point. Just simple ad hominem. A logical fallacy.

[Jon88]

Like I said. No argument. No point. Just simple ad hominem. A logical fallacy.

I think your religion is a logical fallacy.

[SultanOfSix]

I think your religion is a logical fallacy.

I think you have the mental aptitude of a pre-schooler.

[Jon88]

I think you have the mental aptitude of a pre-schooler.

God you're immature. I'm out. I have things to do and you're a big waste of time.

Peace under God's face.

[SultanOfSix]

God you're immature. I'm out. I have things to do and you're a big waste of time.

Peace under God's face.

That's rich. I'm playing your game. Existence is a mirror that reflects yourself.

[iceberg]

I'm really confused by this article. From what I can tell, it seems like the standard school subjects are being taught, and then an extra class is being held after school for "Islamic" studies, whatever that entails, and that is what is being sponsored. How many students are Muslim? Are all of them Muslim? Are students of other faiths allowed to go to the school? Are teachers of other faiths not allowed to teach there? It doesn't seem like it since the one who caused further investigation doesn't appear to be.

As for the "washing rituals", before Muslims make their prayer, they are required to wash themselves before they do so. It's not an organized ritual to wash yourself. Since prayer is at a certain time, people are going to be washing before it if they need to (some may not), and so it may appear so.

However, prayer is organized because it is performed in a group, but that is the nature of the prayer. Although it is allowed to pray in shoes, typically the prayer area is kept clean and so shoes are taken off before entering it. Also, state buildings are required to offer a place for students to pray if there is sufficient need for it. As far as I know, because school hours are limited, only a single prayer would occur, and that would be the noon prayer. It's not like this act is interfering constantly with the class schedule.

So, either you have a government intruding and saying Muslims can't pray during certain times, which opens up the case for discrimination. Or you have someone arguing that allowing them to pray is a violation of church and state because it is endorsing a particular religion. But, that's not what my understanding of the term is. The term means the state/governement is not allowed to endorse a specific religion at the expense of others.

If it's a school that has all Muslim students and disallows people of other faiths to not come there, then the school should have its public funding removed and it be made a private school. Otherwise, it really seems like this article is really slanted in its portrayal.

I'm really surprised at how ignorant people are.

go to any normal public school and try to organize a prayer time. and if the government is funding this then the school should be open to all faiths and no faith should be taught over another. the prayer time should be generic at best.

get off the discrimination horse, dude. you know they're gaming the system. it's discrimintion if we allow it and don't allow other public schools to do the same. we do agree that if the muslems want to do this - fine. stop government funding and pray in whatever direction you want till your hearts content.

[SultanOfSix]

go to any normal public school and try to organize a prayer time.

I've had friends who have done such a thing and have had no problems.

and if the government is funding this then the school should be open to all faiths and no faith should be taught over another.

Did you not read what I wrote?

the prayer time should be generic at best.

I don't even know what that means.

get off the discrimination horse, dude.

I never claimed discrimination. Only that one could argue it.

you know they're gaming the system.

I know very little about the situation except what has been delineated in what appears to me to be a slanted article. That is why my post was filled with a multitude of questions.

I merely had to google the author's name after the poster after me suggested to do so, and my assumptions seemed to be quite correct. Recalling from memory, I think one of the links claimed she was Minnesota's "worst journalist or writer".

it's discrimintion if we allow it and don't allow other public schools to do the same. we do agree that if the muslems want to do this - fine. stop government funding and pray in whatever direction you want till your hearts content.

Public funding is dependent upon local conditions that fall within the jurisdiction of the local government if they are granted authority by the federal government, otherwise it falls upon the latter to determine it. If some law is violated, skirted, or misappropriated, then the appropriate action will be taken.

[Jon88]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g125/bagelblogger/2007/Muqtada-al-Sadr2-400.jpg

[SultanOfSix]

I have no idea what your point was (since you rarely, if ever, have one as already stated), so I'll just do the same as you:

http://www.butlerwebs.com/tragedy/tragedy-images/bush-arab.jpg

[Jon88]

I have no idea what your point was (since you rarely, if ever, have one as already stated), so I'll just do the same as you:

http://www.butlerwebs.com/tragedy/tragedy-images/bush-arab.jpg


That's not Bush, though. Sorry. That's one of the most ridiculous pictures I've ever seen and you're one of the most ridiculous posters here whom nobody likes.

[SultanOfSix]

That's not Bush, though. Sorry. That's one of the most ridiculous pictures I've ever seen and you're one of the most ridiculous posters here whom nobody likes.

Actually, it is Bush's face, but the rest is a manipulation of it made by an American who didn't agree with Bush's policy of "if you're not with us, you're against us", i.e. the extremist mentality exhibited by groups like the Taliban.

As for the ad hominem, I think you calling me ridiculous is quite funny, seeing that you posted a picture of some Shiate cleric in a thread that had no relevance to it. It would be like an idiot calling someone else an idiot. No one would take him seriously.

[iceberg]

Actually, it is Bush's face, but the rest is a manipulation of it made by an American who didn't agree with Bush's policy of "if you're not with us, you're against us", i.e. the extremist mentality exhibited by groups like the Taliban.

As for the ad hominem, I think you calling me ridiculous is quite funny, seeing that you posted a picture of some Shiate cleric in a thread that had no relevance to it. It would be like an idiot calling someone else an idiot. No one would take him seriously.

if you're not with us you're against us - 2 things.

1. there's a reason bush's face was put onto a muslem to help capture that attitude.
2. funny you use that mentality while defending a religion constantly that wants to kill everyone NOT in that religion.

i'd take you more seriously, sultan, if you didn't constantly defend the very base of religions who's fanaticals *are* causing so many problems. if muslems are so peaceful how come so few speak out against the fanatics?

you're not with them then so they'd see you as against them?

[SultanOfSix]

if you're not with us you're against us - 2 things.

1. there's a reason bush's face was put onto a muslem to help capture that attitude.

Yes. The extremist, religious fundamentalist attitude as depicted by the Taliban, which is what I said. Duh.

2. funny you use that mentality while defending a religion constantly that wants to kill everyone NOT in that religion.

Sure thing, Mr. Stereotype. This is such utter and total hogwash. A religion that wants to kill everyone not in that religion? Do you even think when you write? Seriously? Go study history.

i'd take you more seriously, sultan, if you didn't constantly defend the very base of religions who's fanaticals *are* causing so many problems.

I'm not responsible for your lack of reading comprehension, your logical fallacies, and total ignorance in attributing a religion as the cause of terrorism.

if muslems are so peaceful how come so few speak out against the fanatics?

Are we once again back to the same mental idiocy that was repetitively portrayed when "so few" Muslims spoke out against 911?

Once again, another thread that has devolved into attacking a particular religion. Yet, nothing at all in the article had anything to do with fanatics or terrorism.

[iceberg]

if you don't want your faith seen that way, get up and change it. don't call me and others the fools for going by what we see and hear and do our own homework over.

religion that kills those who don't accept allah:
http://www.omeriqbal.com/a/21
When it was my turn, I directed my question to the Imam and asked: "Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that most Imams and clerics of Islam have declared a holy jihad [Holy war] against the infidels of the world. And, that by killing an infidel, which is a command to all Muslims, they are assured of a place in heaven. If that's the case, can you give me the definition of an infidel?"

There was no disagreement with my statements and, without hesitation, he replied, "Non-believers!"

I responded, "So, let me make sure I have this straight. All followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not of your faith so they can go to Heaven. Is that correct?"

The expression on his face changed from one of authority and command to that of a little boy who had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He sheepishly replied, "Yes."
----------
and while i try to call out a group or a culture on things, sultan, let's examine it and talk through it to clear up misconceptions and the like. telling me i lack comprehension, and ignorant and all the rest - ain't gonna get us anywhere, is it?

as for "so few" speaking out against the violence, show me. you whine beause i say that yet do nothing to refute it.

now - let's talk like adults here and drop the jabs back and forth. i've seen you at your best quite likely and to be honest, i can be a much bigger smart arse than you, so let's do us both a favor and simply not go there.

if i'm wrong, help me understand and don't just sit there and call me ignorant.

[SultanOfSix]

You know I cannot get into a religious discussion on this forum, and yet you are calling me out to explain to you verses from the Qur'an that you have decontextualize to conform to your inherent biases?

I could do the same thing quite easily for the Bible as well. Will you call adherents to it - Christians and Jews - out to explain themselves as well? Or will you say, "I don't see Christians (or Jews)" - maybe they are, maybe it just isn't publicized as much - doing such things in the name of their religion, therefore, it doesn't apply?