| 6/2/2008 12:18:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | For charter school, a murky vindication
Confrontation with media mars state findings
Alex Davy
Review staff
Life isn't getting any easier for administrators at Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) in Inver Grove Heights. The 300-student, K-8 charter school, has been the focus of media attention for months, prompting an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).
On May 19, investigators released a mostly-positive report, but an angry confrontation with a local TV news crew overshadowed the findings.
State law requires that "a charter school must be non-sectarian in its programs, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations." In a March 9 article entitled "Are taxpayers footing the bill for Islamic school in Minnesota?" Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten implied TiZA was a covert religious institution, claiming that students were corralled into mass prayer sessions led by teachers.
TiZA is funded partially by the state and partially by Islam Relief, a Muslim non-profit group based in California. Its two founders are leaders of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, which shares its headquarters with the school and a mosque.
Kersten's column launched a whirlwind of media activity, eventually drawing national news coverage, and the school was the target of hate mail and "numerous violent threats," according to founder and academy director Asad Zaman.
But after several visits to the school, including an unannounced, surprise inquest, the Department of Education investigators determined that the charter school does not violate state law. Charges that TiZA students are forced to perform ritual prayer were not substantiated, nor was the accusation that Friday worship is lead by teachers or staff.
But on the day that report was released, two school administrators - including Zaman - confronted a KSTP Channel 5 news team that was filming on school property without permission. The administrators attempted to pull a TV camera from a cameraman's hands, and the incident was caught on camera by a KARE 11 news crew, which had been granted permission to film.
Police are considering misdemeanor assault charges against school officials, as well as trespassing charges against the KSTP employees, according to Lt. Jerry Salmey of the Inver Grove Heights Police Department.
But trespassing laws stray into muddy territory when public property is involved, and TiZA's status as a charter school further complicates the equation.
"These charter schools are hard to peg in terms of whether they are public or private property," says Mark Anfinson, legal counsel for the Minnesota Newspaper Association. "They're in the twilight zone."
Publicly funded but privately owned and operated, open records and meetings laws do not apply to charter schools - and Zaman claims he told police that the news crew was not allowed onto school property.
The KSTP employees claim they were never expressly told to leave, and that they only began filming on school grounds after they saw others doing the same.
Also at issue is KSTP's filming of minors near a school entrance, without permission. The few minutes of footage Channel 5 obtained show school children smiling and waving at the camera.
TiZA's future
The MDE report highlighted several problem areas TiZA must address if it is to retain its charter. Currently, no transportation is provided from school grounds until 45 minutes after the school day officially ends. The late pick-up time coincides with the end of an extracurricular Muslim studies class, run by the Muslim American Society. About two-thirds of the school's students are enrolled in the after-school program.
It will also have to address the issue of "Communal Friday prayer." The school, which is committed to teaching about Middle Eastern Culture and attended primarily by Muslims, allows its students to lead each other in voluntary prayers.
Muslims must pray to Mecca five times each day, in a state of "ritual purity." Short intervals during the school day are set aside for students who wish to pray. According to Zaman, the MDE report reads, school staff are discouraged from praying with the students, and kindergarten and first-grade teachers are instructed not to help students with their prayers.
But on Fridays, the Muslim holy day, prayer is traditionally a communal event. At TiZA, the school provides a 30-minute block of time for students and teachers to pray together, breaking up the ordinary flow of class time.
The current arrangement is unacceptable, according to the MDE report. "Teacher participation in school religious activity is judged by context," the report reads. "While teachers are forbidden from participating with students in religious activities when acting in their capacities as TiZA employees, teachers may take part in religious activities where the overall context makes clear that they are not participating in their official capacities."
The Friday prayer sessions may create the impression that the school is officially endorsing religion, and the MDE has instructed TiZA to modify their practices.
By the start of the 2008 school year, TiZA must begin providing transportation at the end of normal classes to students who do not participate in after-school activities.
Likewise, students "released" for Friday prayer must find a different location to pray, as state law requires that supervised religious activity during the school day "must be conducted and maintained in a place other than a public school building."
Alex Davy can be reached at adavy@lillienews or at 651-748-7825.
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