That has just happened to me. The ACLU of Minnesota is going after a charter school in MN that is called the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy. They argue that this school is using taxpayer money to promote religion. The academy disagrees, but has yet to make any public statements. I say that they disagree because they are careful to not promote Islam on their website. They are trying to just be an "Arab" school, or so it appears to me.
In Minnesota, every charter school is required by the state to have a sponsor. This school's sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief Worldwide. I don't know much about them, but I will be looking at their website, as many likely have already.
Not too many public schools in Minnesota that I am aware have time off for eid al fitr (the end of Ramadam) or eid al adha, which occurs during the hajj and is a time to remember Abraham and his almost sacrificing Ishmael before a ram appears. In Islam, it is stated that Ishmael, not Isaac, was the one to be sacrificed. Anyway, this school year the students got September 26 to October 3 off for eid al fitr, and December 8-12 off for eid al adha. Back in school I just may have agreed to be a Muslim if I could have gotten 12 extra days off of class. This gives them 167 total days of school for 2008, as opposed to the 173 to 177 that most schools have and that is recommended by the state.
Where will this case go? Beats me. I could easily see this going a number of directions. I will do some more reading about this on the schools site and the relief groups site and see what I learn. Personally, I am still a bit surprised the ACLU took on this case. I wonder how long it will be before Keith Ellison has something to say on this....
