Posted on 03/01/2009 6:15:09 PM PST by Coleus
Four students knelt on a classroom floor during lunch at the Albert Payson Terhune Elementary School today and performed the afternoon Muslim prayer ritual. It was the first time the students had prayed in the school during school hours. And it may end a controversy over what arrangement the district should make to ensure the children’s constitutionally protected right to exercise their religion during school hours. School parent Rola Awwad has been seeking a private place for her 10-year-old son, Adam, to pray in school since the fall. The district offered to let him pray at recess — either outside or in classroom while his classmates are there. At first, Awwad called the offer “unacceptable,” and the situation attracted attention from Muslim advocates who suggested bringing the issue to the state for resolution.
But Adam decided on his own to pray at lunch, Awwad said. He joined three friends today in a classroom with other students present. They performed the ritual in the back of a room. “If it continues like this, it will be very nice,’’ Awwad said. She said her 7-year-old daughter, Amana, also prayed in her second grade class, and she thanked the teacher for the arrangement. Her son had worried other students would make fun of him if they watched him pray, but schools Superintendent John Sico Jr. assured her the district wouldn’t let that happen. As the students prayed, classmates played games, he said.
Sico said he consulted the Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County and felt he received support for his position. Imam Mohammad Qatanani told The Record he had had a good talk with Sico and will meet with Mrs. Awwad today “to understand the issue from her side more.”
“As far as I am concerned the issue is resolved,’’ Sico said. “We did the right thing. The kids did the right thing. No one was making fun.’’ Afsheen Shamsi, spokeswoman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, which has intervened with the district on Awwad’s behalf said the accommodation was a correct step. “It’s a question of finding the right balance and making sure the student is comfortable and the district is comfortable,’’ she said. She said CAIR had considered bringing the issue before the state Board of Education. But Awwad said she wants to wait and see if the accommodation continues to work for her children.
All students are constitutionally guaranteed the right to pray during the school day as long as it doesn't interfere with learning. 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 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, but they can't sponsor religious activities or lead students in prayer. For instance, those guidelines specifically mention a student's right to quietly read the Bible during lunch. But they are not clear on what action to take when the religious expression is more demonstrative, as it is in Adam's case.
The answer in other North Jersey districts ranges from allowing a student to pray in the principal's office in Cliffside Park, to allowing a student in Passaic to pray privately in a classroom storage closet. Wayne School board Attorney Nathanya Simon said “We recognize that the federal guidelines say we must permit the exercise of religion in school. However, it does have a limitation.’’ She said the district believed that elementary students must always be supervised. “Right from the beginning, we were never going to ban it,’’ Simon said. “It was just a matter of how we were going to implement it and make it available.’”
Finding a place to pray (Parent wants a private space for her 10-year-old son for Muslim prayer)
Boy Sent Home From School For Dressing As Jesus (For Halloween)
What about the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms? During school hours?
Yeah, but a Christian Club would be banned for a group prayer.
This is how it started in UK. Look what a mess they have now.
> But Adam decided on his own to pray at lunch, Awwad said. He joined three friends today in a classroom with other students present.<
That means the kid probably knew he was making everyone uncomfortable and had more brains than his parent who wants to hold an educational jihad on the school district.
If I considered islam a religion, this wouldn’t offend me. I don’t consider it as such and see this as a danger to the integrity (however much exists) of the classroom environment. Scientology leaflet ditribution should be a credited elective by these guidelines.
Democrats have found a religion they would like to see intertwined with our government.
Well....if it’s NOT religion...it CAN be done in the back of the classroom, afterall...
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bttt
Say what? Actually, I know this to be true, but I thought O'Hair sued all the way to the USSC and won, so students couldn't pray in school anymore.
Where is that California athiest who sued because his ex-wife allowed his daughter to pray? Can we get him to waste some more money chasing after this?
So there should be no problem with my child carrying his Christian Bible with his books and reading after his lunch, right?
No problem according to the article.
I don’t see a problem with that. I’d have to question the mentality of someone who does.
So there should be no problem with my child carrying his Christian Bible with his books and reading after his lunch, right? >>>
I wish Christians would start doing that. I have yet to hear of any Christians praying (or requesting to pray) in school during free time. Most Christian kids seem to be more into the RAP Ghetto culture & listening to their iPods these days and not prayer.
What did we all expect after electing a muslim president? CommieBama is the messiah, ya know.
Of course, Christians won't blow the whole building up if they don't get what they want. Liberalism at it's finest.
Hmmm! From what I’ve read in the past few years, I thought the back of classrooms 3-12 was reserved for oral sex.
My youngest is in 3rd grade. He has taken one of his Bibles to school to read during their daily free reading period in school. He did this in 1st and 2nd grade too and not once has he been told that he can’t read it during school.
she did win, that was for “mandatory” prayer in school conducted or led by the classroom teacher. You also can't force a child to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
In this case, this is voluntary prayer on a student's free time. Christian parents should encourage the same for their children.
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