Wow, our community seems to be ground zero for the supposid islamization of america.  Taxi drivers, Target cashiers, flying imams, yup, that’s us.  And now we’re known for the ebil ebil Islamic Charter School with it’s insideous plots to allow students to make wudu, pray jummah and have islamic studies classes after school hours.

 A local reporter isn’t too fond of the local muslim community, and has written on us often.  Recently, she’s reported on Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (aka TIZA), a local arabic language charter school that has a strong islamic flavor. 

Predictibly, this story has been taken up by the right wing blogosphere and waved about as a sure sign that the muzzies are taking over.  As a result, the school has been getting hate messages and death threats.  Charming bunch o folks they are, threatening a bunch of kids.

 Thus far, one TIZA parent has done a good job of collecting info and creating a coherent response on the local muslim email lists that I’m eagerly waiting to be published, and a teacher wrote a letter to the editor:

I am often in classrooms observing teachers and modeling instructional strategies. I have never witnessed any religious instruction during school or any pressure to adhere to particular religious beliefs. In fact, I am a Christian and have always felt completely welcome at TIZA. Why would the school hire a Christian to implement curriculum if it were indoctrinating students in Islam?

I have witnessed excellent teachers from different religious and cultural backgrounds focused on improving instruction and student achievement. That’s why student achievement is so high.

Other local coverage of the issue can be found here and here.  MPR did an excellent story on high test scores at TIZA last year.  Several Minnesota Muslims write for the website Engage Minnesota, where there are already a few articles on the issue with inshaAllah more to follow.  Finally, an article on the use of the term madrassa as a pejorative.

 There’s another aspect of this story that needs to be investigated and presented – the role of religion in other Minnesota Charter schools.  I haven’t seen anything official yet, but through word of mouth, there are several Minnesota charter sponsored by overtly religious orgnizations, and other that are aimed at other ethnic groups like african americans that incorporate christian prayer and ancestor worship.   inshaAllah an intrepid reporter will take this issue up and write on it.  A list of all Minnesota charter schools can be found here.  There are quite a few religiously oriented groups on the list.  Part of the outcry with TIZA is that it’s housed in the same building as a mosque and is sponsored by Islamic Relief.  How is religion interwoven in these schools?