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Finding a place to pray (Parent wants a private space for her 10-year-old son for Muslim prayer)
northjersey.com ^ | Thursday, February 19, 2009 | ANDREA ALEXANDER

Posted on 02/19/2009 6:58:12 PM PST by Coleus

WAYNE — Rola Awwad wants a private space for her 10-year-old son at Albert Payson Terhune Elementary School to exercise his right to Muslim prayer.

The school district had offered to let him pray at recess — either outside or in a classroom while classmates are there. And that, says Awwad, is "unacceptable." mAll students are constitutionally guaranteed the right to pray during the school day as long as it doesn't interfere with learning. But Wayne is struggling with what accommodations to make if a Muslim student requests privacy for prayer. The answer in other North Jersey districts ranges from providing access to the principal's office, to providing a spare room. But school administrators in suburban Wayne have been weighing the question since fall, when Awwad asked the principal to allow her son, Adam, a few minutes of privacy each afternoon to pray. The district says it's concerned about allowing a young pupil to be unsupervised, even for a short time, and Awwad said her request was met with resistance.

"Why can't he be on his own for five minutes praying?" said Awwad, a Palestinian who moved to the United States from Jordan 11 years ago. She said it's important to her that her children go to public school and make diverse friends. But she also wants them to be able to practice their religion. "All I want from the school is to let my son pray in a private place in a small room, say his prayer and go back to class," she said.

Muslims pray five times a day to reaffirm their faith and submit to follow divine commandments. The prayer is said during prescribed times; in the fall, when the clocks roll back at the end of daylight savings time, the afternoon prayer must be said during the school day, Awwad explained. Federal guidelines say schools can't prevent students from praying during school hours, but schools can't sponsor religious activities or lead students in prayer. But the guidelines don't provide specifics on how schools should handle requests like Awwad's. And because that's left to the discretion of school administrators, North Jersey districts have responded with a hodgepodge of approaches.

In Passaic, an elementary school student is allowed to pray privately in a classroom storage closet, Superintendent Robert Holster said. A middle school principal in Cliffside Park allows a student to pray in her office, Superintendent Michael Romagnino said. If an elementary school child wanted a private place to pray, the superintendent said he would ask the principal to make an accommodation in an available office. And Teaneck High School sets aside a room where Muslim students are allowed to go and say their prayers, said district spokesman Dave Bicofsky. Wayne's district does not even have a consistent approach among its schools, The Record found in interviews with parents and the administration.

Awwad said when she first made her request, she was advised to pick up Adam at lunch and take him out of school to say prayers, which she has done for the last several months. When she pressed to have him allowed to pray in the building, the district offered to let Adam pray outside during lunch, or in the classroom during recess when the weather was bad. But another elementary school principal in the district had offered to let a student pray in an office. School board Attorney John Croot said the district thought it had made an "acceptable accommodation" when it offered to let Muslim students pray outside during lunch, or inside in a classroom in days of bad weather. He said the district is trying to strike a balance between constitutional principles.

For school officials, the issue is complicated by the degree of religious practice: For instance, federal guidelines specifically mention a student's right to quietly read the Bible during lunch. But the guidelines are not clear on what a district should do when the expression of religion is more demonstrative, as it is in Adam's case. "Then you are talking about a public school district,'' Croot said. "You have to carefully weigh the constitutional issues. It's a balance between the free exercise of religion and the concept of the separation of church and state. It's a public school district and you have to consider those constitutional issues.'' Croot said he sought guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and was advised the district should have a consistent approach.

Awwad told the district in a letter that its latest accommodation "is unacceptable." Her son would have to put his prayer mat and touch his forehead on the damp ground if he prayed outside. And she said Adam was worried that other students would ridicule him if he prayed in the classroom. Croot said "nothing has been foreclosed yet. We are still in discussions. We have indicated one possible accommodation that would have been acceptable, but there may be other accommodations that we could reach."



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: islam; muslim; nj; passaiccounty; prayer; prayerinschools; schoolprayer; schools; wayne
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To: metmom
We’re so stupid (some of us) that we set aside a room in every public school for prayer (it has to face east). We also rearrange the seating - a muslim girl cannot have a male student seated in front of, behind, or on either side of her.

We Christians just flee the public school system....while our tax dollars keep paying for this insanity.

And I'm sure the muslims in Canada often spare a moment to be thankful for the multicultural tolerance and accommodating spirit of the gentle people of the country that welcomed them.

Snort.

41 posted on 02/19/2009 7:46:50 PM PST by Steely Tom (RKBA: last line of defense against vote fraud)
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To: caseinpoint

Well, I am headed to hell too, being an infidel. How many virgins do we get in Muslim hell?


42 posted on 02/19/2009 7:47:14 PM PST by max americana
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To: Salvation

Are there any jews in his class?

God forbid....


43 posted on 02/19/2009 7:47:47 PM PST by PA-RIVER
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To: max americana

Don’t know. Let’s ask Mohammed Atta and his friends.


44 posted on 02/19/2009 7:49:11 PM PST by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things)
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To: PA-RIVER

Sorry, the Jewish children need a place to pray also!


45 posted on 02/19/2009 7:53:13 PM PST by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Coleus

Back in the 70s I would on occasion be transported around the Indonesian oil patch on an Indonesian work boat with an Indonesian crew. One of the crew would pray regularly. He would check the compass, roll out his prayer rug and do what he did. No one paid him any mind or ever said anything. Everyone went about their business as did he.

This parent is full of crap.


46 posted on 02/19/2009 8:05:06 PM PST by Bobibutu
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To: PA-RIVER

How about a nice holy outhouse — most are already marked with the crescent and have a place to wash feet.


47 posted on 02/19/2009 8:08:12 PM PST by Dionysius (Jingoism is no vice in these troubled times.)
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To: Coleus
Rola's Info:

62 Point View Pkwy
Wayne, NJ 07470-2064
(973) 628-0004

48 posted on 02/19/2009 8:23:51 PM PST by manic4organic (We Are S0 Screwed)
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To: Coleus

I hear the bottom of the Mariana Trench is lovely this time of year.


49 posted on 02/19/2009 8:25:55 PM PST by TaoOfSteve
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To: Coleus

They could always home school.


50 posted on 02/19/2009 8:38:18 PM PST by proudpapa (Obama - The Worst One Ever!)
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To: Coleus
Paging England. England, please pick up the courtesy phone.

Tell us how these kinds of accommodations are working out for you.

51 posted on 02/19/2009 8:43:34 PM PST by berdie (Philosophies of the school room in one generation will reflect the government philosophy of the next)
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To: Mr. Mojo
...said Awwad, a Palestinian who moved to the United States from Jordan 11 years ago.

One has to wonder what accommodations for Christians are made in Jordan. - Not much, I'd bet.

52 posted on 02/19/2009 9:07:47 PM PST by Last Dakotan
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To: Salvation
Sorry, the Jewish children need a place to pray also!

Yeah...a place to pray the little Muzzie's family & friends don't blow them up, saw their heads off, burn their house down, rape them, or....

53 posted on 02/19/2009 9:20:04 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: DJ MacWoW

BINGO!


54 posted on 02/19/2009 9:53:17 PM PST by Senormechanico
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To: PA-RIVER
Same here, and I'm not Catholic.But I have a little decade rosary my daughter picked up for me outside of my favorite basilica in Rome. I like to wrap my fingers through it when I pray.
55 posted on 02/19/2009 11:28:33 PM PST by ArmyTeach (You have a Republic, Madam, if you can keep it...)
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To: Coleus

I’ll donate my toilet bowl - the brainwashed zombie can climb in there and pray.

It’s got a picture of mohammed painted at the bottom of the bowl with a big smile on his face, welcoming the gifts people shower upon him.

Is there a lawyer here somewhere — would my mohammed toilet bowl constitute a “hate crime” in this Orwellian twilight zone we used to call “America?”

Or would the “poop on mohammed’s face” toilet bowl just express the fact that I’ve grown weary of moslems murdering people yet acting hyper-sensitive when they’re called on it?

Also, if there’s a patent attorney around here, do you think KOHLER would consider manufacturing a “Poop On Mohammed’s Face” line of toilets?


56 posted on 02/20/2009 12:13:51 AM PST by Islam=Murder (The United States - surrendering to Sharia without a peep.)
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To: Post Toasties

Excellent observation!

I’m drawing a cluster diagram. These words have all sorts of connections:

OBAMA — MONKEYS — DIAPERS — MOSLEMS


57 posted on 02/20/2009 12:21:48 AM PST by Islam=Murder (The United States - surrendering to Sharia without a peep.)
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To: Coleus

ok forget that the religion in question is trying to take over our country and replace our Constitution with Sharia law. Forget they kill millions of people every year. Forget they don’t even allow our bibles into their countries.

Forget all that stuff.

Schools design all their processes so that kids aren’t allowed to be alone. They’ve been sued many times when that happens. Kids get hurt when that happens. They have hundred of kids to keep track of.

I say let his mom eat pork rinds.


58 posted on 02/20/2009 2:35:37 AM PST by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
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To: Coleus

I’m truly amazed by this. Teaneck officials said just today that religion has no place in their public schools:

http://www.northjersey.com/education/twosidestoeverystory/39896427.html


59 posted on 02/20/2009 7:21:04 AM PST by goldi
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To: goldi

perhaps they’re finally admitting that islam is political/military activism group and not a religion.


60 posted on 02/20/2009 12:16:14 PM PST by Coleus (Abortion, Euthanasia & FOCA - - don't Obama and the Democrats just kill ya!)
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