About six weeks ago, Kathy Kersten reported on TiZA, which was masquerading as a charter school. Now the Minnesota Dept. of Education has weighed in on what’s actually happening at the school. Here’s what the DoE’s report says:

Most of the school’s operations follow state charter school law and federal guidelines on prayer in schools, but the department found two areas of concern, said Morgan Brown, an assistant commissioner with the department.

School director Asad Zaman said he takes the state’s concerns seriously and will address them as soon as possible. He also took the report as vindication, saying: “I now have proof that this is not a religious school.”

But the report said the school may be violating the law by allowing voluntary Friday prayers that most students attend to take place on school grounds. Those 30-minute prayers take up so much time that they may be a burden to non-praying students, and could mean the school isn’t teaching students for as many hours a year as the state requires. Letting teachers participate, even though they don’t lead prayers, may give students the impression that the school endorses Islam.

Imam Zaman is spinning things when he said that he has “proof that this is not a religious school.” The DoE says otherwise when it says that the “school may be violating the law by allowing voluntary Friday prayers.” The DoE saying that letting “teachers participate…may give students the impression that the school endorses Islam.”

That isn’t the only thing that troubles me about Imam Zaman. KSTP sent a camera crew to TiZA. Here’s what they’re reporting:

In an attempt to report about the new findings from the Department of Education Monday, 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS went to Tarik ibn Zayad Academy in Inver Grove Heights.

While on school grounds, our crew was attacked by school officials. Our photographer was injured while wrestling with the two men over the camera. Our photographer was examined by paramedics and suffered minor shoulder and back injuries.

School officials attacking camera crew? That’s disgusting. The state shouldn’t spend a penny on TiZA until those officials have been terminated. PERIOD. Hotheaded people like that shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near children.

Here’s another problem that must be addressed:

The state also said it was concerned about the appearance created by the school’s bus schedule. The school does not provide busing for students immediately after classes, instead it waits until the end of after-school activities, which include a religious studies course run by the Muslim American Society that more than half the students take.

The school characterized the concerns as “minor,” pointing out that the department found no fault with the school’s curriculum, library or accommodations for five-minute student prayers held Monday through Thursday.

I wonder if the bus schedule is consistent with other schools’ bussing policy regarding after school programs. I’m betting that it isn’t.

Catering to the wishes of the children participating in these prayer sessions while ignoring the needs of the children who aren’t participating in that program shouldn’t be tolerated. Couple that with the fact that school officials attacked a camera crew just because they wanted to report on the school and you get a picture of a hostile learning environment for students who aren’t Muslims.

That isn’t acceptable and the school’s state funding should instantly be vaporized.

Technorati Tags: TiZA, Asad Zaman, KSTP, Minnesota Department of Education, Attacks, Charter Schools

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

1. If this had been a Christian parochial school, NBC, CBS, CNN, ABC would have been yapping about it for 10 minutes last night.

   But not one peep from ACLU or any of the usual Separation of Church and state screamers.

   Oh but they are Moslem, huh? So we have tip toe around this.

   Comment by T. A. Gray — May 21, 2008 @ 2:07 am