Somali Muslims lose out?
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1261
A San Diego school that drew international attention for setting aside time for Muslim students to pray in the classroom will no longer do so, it was reported Friday.
Instead, Carver Elementary’s schedule will be reconfigured so students can say their required midday prayers during lunch. Courts have long upheld students’ rights to pray on their own during lunch or recess, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
When the new school year begins, Carver will have two lunch periods, including one that will fall when Muslims typically say their midday prayer — between 1 and 2 p.m., the newspaper reported.
Another controversial element of Carver’s educational program geared toward Muslim students — single-gender classes — will be eliminated, the Union-Tribune reported.
Superintendent Carl Cohn stressed in a July 18 memo that single-gender education is legal under federal law, but at Carver “has become a serious distraction from learning rather than a vehicle to promote learning,” according to the newspaper.Carver added the single-gender classes and a daily 15-minute in-class break for voluntary prayers last September after it absorbed a failed Arabic language charter school that served primarily Somali Muslims.
http://www.10news.com/news/13767699/detail.html
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=411