Minnesota directs Tarik ibn Zayad Academy to `correct' two areas related to religion

StarTribune ^ | 5/19/08 | AP

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

The state Education Department on Monday directed a Minnesota charter school to "correct" two areas related to religion at the school.

Tarik ibn Zayad Academy, which focuses on Middle Eastern culture and shares a mosque with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, came under fire after a teacher alleged that the school was offering religious instruction in Islam to its students.

Charter schools in Minnesota are publicly funded and must be nonsectarian.

The allegations first surfaced in an article by Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten. The Education Department subsequently began a review of the suburban Inver Grove Heights school and released its findings Monday.

[XR7]