Public school run by imam takes 'confrontational' stance

The logo for the publicly funded Tarek ibn Ziyad school in Minnesota

A publicly funded school in Minnesota that is located in the same building as a Muslim mosque and is run by a Muslim imam has refused state requests to move its regular Islamic prayers for students on Fridays off-campus, according to a report by a columnist in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., which also shares space in a building with the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society, came under state investigation after multiple reports by columnist Katherine Kersten on the situation there.

The institution has drawn criticism from a number of other observers, too, including Robert Spencer, who monitors such developments at Jihad Watch.

"Can you imagine a public school founded by two Christian ministers, and housed in the same building as a church? Add to that – in the same building – a prominent chapel. And let's say the students are required to fast during Lent, and attend Bible studies right after school. All with your tax dollars," he wrote. "Inconceivable? Sure."

If such a place existed, Spencer said, "the ACLU lawyers would descend on it like locusts. It would be shut down before you could say 'separation of church and state,' to the accompaniment of New York Times and Washington Post editorials full of indignant foreboding, warning darkly about the growing influence of the Religious Right in America."

Kersten's newest report about the Minnesota academy warns a storm may be brewing behind the scenes as the Minnesota Department of Education works with school officials to keep the institution in line with state and federal laws, including regulations that bar tax-supported sites from facilitating one religion.

Academy leaders have chosen to follow a "confrontational" path in discussions with the state regulatory agency, Deputy MDE Commissioner Chas Anderson told Kersten. Anderson reported regulators will have to be monitoring the school closely because there has been no agreement on at least one key issue.

The charter school for kindergarten through eighth grade is run by executive director Asad Zaman, who is a Muslim religious leader, and shares space in a building with a mosque and MAS.

In the school, there are daily breaks for prayer, halal food is served in its cafeteria and Arabic study is mandatory, Kersten said. And school buses do not take students home until after-school Muslim classes are completed.

The state's investigation focused on the Friday prayer events, 30 minutes long and at that time led by adults in the school.

The state found that violated the law, and has been seeking changes.

"We wanted TiZA to do Friday prayers the way all other public schools" deal with similar needs, as a release time under state law, Anderson told the columnist. Those times are available for classes that can include religion but in other schools those are off-campus.

Academy officials, however, refused, Anderson said. Zaman wrote to state regulators that the prayers still would be held on campus, only students would lead and staff would be present to make sure students are "safe," the columnist said.

Anderson subsequently complained of the school's "defensive" tone and said: "It is inaccurate for TiZA to imply that MDE's legal concerns regarding the school's operations ... were unfounded, and it is of utmost importance that TiZA take seriously its responsibility to comply with applicable state and federal laws."

"How can you have an assembly with older students in charge of younger students," Anderson asked in an interview with Kersten.

The school said it had an "agreement" with the state and would work to make sure it continues "to be in compliance."

But Anderson said there are some "gray areas" in the current law, and, "School authorities at TiZA know it's a gray area, and they are walking right up to and over that line."

WND reported earlier when members of a TV news crew were attacked while investigating the school's actions. There also were reports when a substitute teacher at the school said religion appeared to be a significant educational focus. Amanda Getz said her duties included taking students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform "their ritual washing." She said teachers also "led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day" led prayer.

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