Weekly Terrorism Spotlight

Volume 1, Issue 5 (April 14)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

ACLU widens probe of public-funded madrassa

Teacher details Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy’s Islamic religious acts as a Minnesota public funded madrassa, the ACLU responds

Calls for closing Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy [TIZA] are rising up after a teacher’s whistle-blowing of religious instruction and prayer activities at the public funded charter school.

The Minnesota chapter, American Civil Liberties Union, confirmed Friday it will include substitute teacher Amanda Getz’s story in their probe of constitutional Establishment Clause violations.

Public funded charter schools are forbidden from providing religious instruction in favor of one religion over others or presenting religious activities or rites as part of the school routine.

A national group of concerned parents, Stop the Madrassa Coalition, told PRB News TIZA must be shut down because it is an Islamic religious madrassa.

TIZA is located at a mosque and holds Islamic prayers and theological instruction as part of its $2.8 million public school funded budget routine.

Getz provided testimonial evidence of students she led, being prompted into prayer services on a specific Friday, for instance.

She added school leaders made use of the supposed charter-school academy’s mosque-use areas for regular prayers, and all students were led to take part in religious mosque teaching time.

The official school day would end, and volunteers would be utilized for religious programs as an attempt to remain in technical compliance with public charter regulations.

Regular teachers, and Getz as well, took part in monitoring student compliance with prayer and instruction times, and regular teachers participated in prayer times.

Mosque callings for prayer take place five times a day, and students are taught Islamic prayer includes religious sayings and bowing toward Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in keeping with Shari’a, Islam’s religious legal code.

Stop the Madrassa spokesperson Beth Gilinski said Getz worked with two fifth-grade classes. “Her eyewitness reports indicate [they] may be abusing taxpayer funds and violating the Estab-lishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution,” she said.

She added the school should be shut down because of the egregious violations that include the school’s executive director, Asad Zaman, being a Muslim imam religious leader, its building being an Islamic mosque and its parent organization being an Islamic relief agency.

“It should “be investigated and closed immediately,” Gilinski said, citing local reports. “Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food…and Islamic studies are offered at the end of the school day.”

“Think about what would be taking place if this government school were Christian,” Rick Rice, a commentator on Islamic abuses of public schools, said.

“Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion,” he added. “Evidence suggests...TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers.”

TIZA critics note local reports adding the mosque is also headquarters for the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, with a stated mission of “establishing Islam in Minnesota.

One parent who declined to be identified asked, “Where is the ACLU?”

Minnesota ACLU Executive Director Chuck Samuelson told PRB News Getz’s observations are an important part of their probe of TIZA, now in its beginning stages.

“We have not been able to talk with [her] but we have a call in, we left a message and we are waiting to hear back from her,” Samuelson said.

“We also have more than 200 pages of information that we’re going through, and we’re following up on finding out who has the oversight responsibility for the academy,” he added. “These things take time.”

Samuelson said he views the TIZA case as one of the main projects his office will be responding to this year, and his team will be very thorough.

“We are planning on visiting, and TIZA leaders have opened up their academy for us to visit at any time,” he added.