A Minneapolis-area publicly-funded charter school led by two Muslim imams, sharing the address of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, has been shut down by the Minnesota Education Department due to unlawful Islamic proselytizing.
For background, read Muslim Public School in Minnesota and also read Hollywood is the Cure for Islamophobia, says Katie Couric (see article list at bottom)
-- From "TiZA ponders legal options after state moves to shut down school" by Tom Weber, Minnesota Public Radio 7/5/11
[Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy] director Asad Zaman said the state's rejection of its request for a new authorizer raised issues that were brought up in a two-year old lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota that's still pending.
For example, the ACLU claims the curriculum used to teach the Arabic language is sectarian, and illegally brings religion into a public school. Most of the school's students are Muslim.
Leaders of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, which was established eight years ago, acknowledge their prospects of reopening are gloomy. As of now, the state no longer considers TiZA a public school.
TiZA also filed for bankruptcy last week, a move Zaman said was made to protect its financial obligations.
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From "TiZA charter school tells judge it's considering 'options'" by Sarah Lemagie, Minneapolis Star Tribune 8/3/11
TiZA's board decided Tuesday night that it will proceed with closure and dissolution in bankruptcy court. At a hearing Wednesday morning, however, the school's bankruptcy attorney told a judge that, while the board agreed to cease operations as a Minnesota charter school, TiZA is still "considering other options."
The position surprised many in the Minneapolis courtroom of U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Kressel. "I'm not sure what the other options are," Kressel said, pressing for a clearer indication of TiZA's plans.
Three key potential creditors -- the state Education Commissioner, former authorizer Islamic Relief USA and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota [a $250,000 judgment for ACLU's legal fees] -- have called for a trustee to oversee TiZA's assets. They have cited "fraud and dishonesty" by the school and raised concerns that money will be funneled to Islamic groups and participants in the school's operations.
ACLU attorney Peter Lancaster said after the hearing that the group is concerned "about any effort to use public money to set up a private Islamic school."
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From "TiZA parents may be trying to start a school" by Sarah Lemagie, Minneapolis Star Tribune 8/12/11
TiZA director Asad Zaman, who has denied that the charter school promoted Islam, said this week that he knows little about what the parents are planning. "I have nothing to do with them," he said, adding that "TiZA has not paid for anybody's efforts to open a school."
"We have always supported the rights of groups to form private schools," said ACLU attorney Teresa Nelson, adding that "the one concern that we have is just to make sure that TiZA resources and basically government, state resources are not being used to help the school form."
. . . TiZA's former students are scattering to neighborhood, charter and private schools such as the Islamic school Al-Amal in Fridley, according to several parents.
But some parents "came together and established the new private school called Blaine Academy," according to a message sent this month by a writer identified as Fayyaz Khan on a mailing group for Twin Cities Muslims.
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Also read Obama Honors 9/11 Muslim Heroes at White House and also read Schools Teach Sharia Law & Anti-Semitism
