MN: ACLU & Islamic Public School

Annie

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Nov 22, 2003
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Quite a read, keep in mind it IS a publicly funded school:

Katherine Kersten: TiZA vs. the search for truth | StarTribune.com


Katherine Kersten: TiZA vs. the search for truth

The school -- public, mind you -- tries to intimidate all who would challenge it.

By KATHERINE KERSTEN, Star Tribune

Last update: October 16, 2010 - 5:45 PM

The battle over the role of Islam in a Minnesota public school is heating up again in a federal courtroom in St. Paul. The conflict began in January 2009, when the ACLU of Minnesota sued Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy -- a K-8 charter school with campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine -- for violating constitutional prohibitions against government endorsement of religion.

TiZA since has fought tooth and nail -- erecting procedural barriers to prevent the ACLU from investigating what goes on behind its doors. The school's tactics have gone far beyond the usual rough-and-tumble of lawyers in our adversary system. Its chief tool has been attempted intimidation of all who would draw back the curtain on its secrets.

One of TiZA's first targets was the ACLU itself. A few months after the suit began, the school filed a $100,000-plus defamation claim, citing ACLU executive director Chuck Samuelson's simple statement that "[TiZA is] a theocratic school ... as plain as the substantial nose on my face." The court dismissed the claim.

In January 2010, the ACLU was back in court to seek a protective order, on grounds that intimidation by TiZA was discouraging potential witnesses from appearing. The ACLU filed affidavits by a former TiZA parent and a former TiZA staff member, who described what they interpreted as threats of violence against them. In her affidavit, the female staff member said that Asad Zaman -- TiZA's executive director -- had suggested after she displeased him: "We could just kill you, yeah tell your husband we'll do his job for him." (Zaman has no recollection of making such a statement, he said in an affidavit.) The court barred witness harassment or intimidation by either party...

As far as I can tell, it started with a teacher, here:

Teacher questions Muslim practices at charter school | StarTribune.com

Teacher questions Muslim practices at charter school

By KATHERINE KERSTEN, Star Tribune

Last update: May 19, 2008 - 1:54 PM

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.

...

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."

...
 
i hope they shut this school down. they would quickly move on a christian school doing this.

They are trying, but witness intimidation keeps coming up. Kind of reminds me of lawyers during the civil rights era, rooms getting firebombed and such.
 
I'd heard about the school in CA that had a immersion month of Islamic traditions, but didn't realize the issue really criss crosses the nation, with MN being the most egregious example:

Islam in America's public schools: Education or indoctrination? - SFGate

...Capitalizing on the post-9/11 demand for Arabic instruction, some public, charter and voucher-funded private schools are inappropriately using taxpayer dollars to implement a religious curriculum. They are also bringing in outside speakers with Islamist ties or sympathies. As a result, not only are children receiving a biased education, but possible violations of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause abound. Consider the following cases:

...
 
i hope they shut this school down. they would quickly move on a christian school doing this.

They are trying, but witness intimidation keeps coming up. Kind of reminds me of lawyers during the civil rights era, rooms getting firebombed and such.

Witness intimidation.......firebombing.........?? :lol:

Read the articles, then come whining. The firebombing was in reference to intimidation tactics, not something that had occurred, yet. The threats are not subtle.
 
Read the articles, then come whining. The firebombing was in reference to intimidation tactics, not something that had occurred, yet. The threats are not subtle.
If you have advance information about a crime that is going to be committed.

You need to alert the proper authorities. :cool:
 
Read the articles, then come whining. The firebombing was in reference to intimidation tactics, not something that had occurred, yet. The threats are not subtle.
If you have advance information about a crime that is going to be committed.

You need to alert the proper authorities. :cool:

Drawing comparisons is acceptable, when the facts on the ground and behavior of the principals overlap.
 
Islam is the first religion lefties like, because Islam hates the west.

It's interesting the lack of discussion with the single exception of Sunni up to this point. All the bemoaning of prayers at graduations, on sports fields, etc., yet here where the public school is incorporating Islamic teachings into the school day, not a peep.
 
Islam is the first religion lefties like, because Islam hates the west.

It's interesting the lack of discussion with the single exception of Sunni up to this point. All the bemoaning of prayers at graduations, on sports fields, etc., yet here where the public school is incorporating Islamic teachings into the school day, not a peep.

It boils down to one thing and one thing only. Complete dishonestly on the part of the left. When you have left wing women and gays refusing to condemn Islam but crying about Christianity you know you are dealing with hypocritical liars.
 

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