This is why I like to have a compromise in my car audio system….

Got any links to articles on these two schools in particular? What are your thoughts on the shady and dangerous CAIR-linked things going on in these two schools? What do you think about CAIR using public money to indoctrinate youth into radical Islam while simultaneously failing to provide a basic education in these two schools? The article says they now control yet another, too. Since you are one of this blog’s resident Liberals, I’d be interested to hear what you specifically think of public funding for Islamic extremism in the form of…these two schools.

I promised that I would respond PB, so here is your response. I apologize for not being around because a wedding took place this weekend and I was busy with those plans.

Anyway, if anything, I am more surprised that despite the coverage in the blogs, this story was not picked up in many media sites across the spectrum, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, WSJ, NYT, WaPost, WaTimes… nothing.

If anything, I think that the issue should rest with the funding of public dollars into schools like this. This makes the posting of the CPD article relavent IMO.

As far as what they are teaching, I am interested in their curriculum more so because of the use of public dollars. Some children are home schooled because their parents believe in a certain set of values. Some are sent to private schools for different reasons. I’m not sure if I would call either “indoctrination.” Public dollars introduce a whole different ballgame and that should be a different discussion.

That is why I was grateful to see post #30 which introduces a different element into how situations are seen from different religious vantage points. The story are similar, though one was covered by the NYT, the other not so much.

If anything, I think that a higher level of anger arises from conservatives whenever anything arises that involves CAIR in anyway due to past incidents.

Hebrew Charter School Spurs Dispute in Florida

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Aug. 23 — The new public school at 2620 Hollywood Boulevard stands out despite its plain gray facade. Called the Ben Gamla Charter School, it is run by an Orthodox rabbi, serves kosher lunches and concentrates on teaching Hebrew.
About 400 students started classes at Ben Gamla this week amid caustic debate over whether a public school can teach Hebrew without touching Judaism and the unconstitutional side of the church-state divide. The conflict intensified Wednesday, when the Broward County School Board ordered Ben Gamla to suspend Hebrew lessons because its curriculum — the third proposed by the school — referred to a Web site that mentioned religion.

Opponents say that it is impossible to teach Hebrew — and aspects of Jewish culture — outside a religious context, and that Ben Gamla, billed as the nation’s first Hebrew-English charter school, violates one of its paramount legal and political boundaries.

But supporters say the school is no different from hundreds of others around the country with dual-language programs, whose popularity has soared in ethnically diverse states like Florida.

“It’s not a religious school,” said Peter Deutsch, a former Democratic member of Congress from Florida who started Ben Gamla and hopes to replicate it in Los Angeles, Miami and New York. “South Florida is one of the largest Hebrew-speaking communities in the world outside Israel, so there are lots of really good reasons to try to create a program like this here.”
The battle over Ben Gamla parallels one in New York over Khalil Gibran International Academy, a new public school that will focus on Arabic language and culture. But some who have followed the evolution of both schools say Ben Gamla could prove more problematic. As a charter school that receives public money but is exempt from certain rules, they say, it is subject to less oversight.

“Charter schools have greater autonomy than a school being run by the Board of Education,” said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “Let’s give it a shot, but let’s watch it very, very carefully.”

Mr. Deutsch said Ben Gamla, named for a Jewish high priest who established free universal schooling in ancient Israel, received 800 applications in one week this summer. About half of the applications were from adjacent Miami-Dade County, but the school admitted only Broward County residents, ensuring that almost everyone from the county who wanted to attend could do so.

The students are in kindergarten through eighth grade. About 80 percent transferred from other public schools, Mr. Deutsch said, and many, if not most, of the rest came from private Jewish day schools.

“I just didn’t appreciate the demand at all,” said Mr. Deutsch, who splits his time between South Florida and Israel. “If I had 5,000, maybe 10,000 desks available in South Florida today, I think I could fill them.”

Under the school’s charter agreement, students are to spend one period a day learning Hebrew. They will have a second daily class — math or science, for example — conducted in a mix of Hebrew and English.

There are no separate classes on Jewish culture, but Rabbi Adam Siegel, the school’s director, said it would come up during Hebrew instruction. Teachers might also do special units on aspects of Jewish culture, he said, like Israeli folk dancing.

School officials have not asked students whether they are Jewish, Rabbi Siegel said, but 37 percent of parents identified Hebrew as their first language. Seventeen percent said Spanish was their primary language, he said, while 5 percent said Russian and 5 percent said French.

The school has a handful of black students, including members of a Baptist church that provides their transportation to and from the school.

Mr. Deutsch and Rabbi Siegel, a former Jewish day school director, said their critics were mostly defenders of Jewish day schools that stand to lose students and tuition money. No one has sued to stop the school, but Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said a lawsuit was possible.

“Whether this is going to cross the line or not will depend on what goes on in the classroom,” Mr. Simon said. “Will they neutrally and academically address religious topics, or will there be more preaching than teaching going on in the classroom? It is too early to tell.”

Rabbi Siegel said the school was proceeding with such extreme caution that even a neutral mention of religion was unlikely. The sign outside Ben Gamla was going to include a Hebrew phrase for “welcome,” Rabbi Siegel said, but because the literal translation is “blessed are those who come,” he decided against it.

“Even basic things, like if there was a page that had a picture of a shofar, I pulled it out,” Rabbi Siegel said, referring to the ram’s horn used in High Holy Day services. “We went so far overboard, it’s crazy.”

The school board rejected Ben Gamla’s first two Hebrew curriculum proposals after finding they included religious references. The second, which relied on a textbook titled “Ha-Yesod,” asked students to translate phrases like “Our Holy Torah is dear to us” and “Man is redeemed from his sins through repentance.”
(Page 2 of 2)

Rabbi Siegel said the school would have omitted such phrases from lessons. On Tuesday, the school board hired Nathan Katz, a religious studies professor at Florida International University, to vet the latest curriculum proposal before its next meeting on Sept. 11. The school cannot teach Hebrew before then, a school board spokesman said.
Rabbi Siegel was originally the school’s principal, but he hired someone else after people said it was inappropriate for a rabbi to oversee instruction. Rabbi Siegel, who does not have a congregation, said it should not have mattered.

“One of the most ridiculous complaints is that the line between culture and religion is so thin,” he said. “Who better to make that distinction than a rabbi?”

Wryly, he added, “I don’t envision myself doing bar mitzvahs for the middle school kids.”

Eleanor Sobel, a school board member who is among Ben Gamla’s most vocal critics, said making sure the school did not stray from constitutional rules would take a near-impossible level of supervision.

“I don’t know how to monitor this, and that’s why I have great concern,” Ms. Sobel said. “Accountability is real important when you’re dealing with taxpayers’ money.”

Allan Tuffs, the rabbi at Temple Beth El in Hollywood, said he, too, was worried about the school and what it could lead to. “Jews have thrived in America as in no other nation,” Rabbi Tuffs said, “in large measure due to this concept of separation of church and state.”

He added, “Once a Jewish school like Ben Gamla is established, you know that fundamentalist Christian groups throughout America will be lining up to replicate this model according to their religious tradition.”

Undeterred, Mr. Deutsch is seeking four more charters for Ben Gamla schools in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, he said, and has already received one for a school in Miami.

He said he hoped to eventually open 100 Hebrew-English charter schools around the country. The school here is managed by Academica, a private company on whose board Mr. Deutsch has served, which manages 35 of Florida’s roughly 350 charter schools.

Tzipora Nurieli, the mother of three Ben Gamla students, said she had spent more than $40,000 a year in tuition at a private Jewish day school. Ms. Nurieli, who immigrated from Israel, said that while her children could learn religion at home, they needed formal schooling in Hebrew.

“I believe we are creating a better world at this school because language is a bridge,” she said. “I see all different kids in this school, and I know my children are becoming part of the universe.”

It will be interesting to follow this case.

1) The “Immigrant” advocacy non-profit corporations who are handling the Somali population in Ohio.

The non-profits gravy train includes federal, state and local funding from Democratic sponsors who are using immigration projects to build voting blocks.

These immigration advocacy groups must be put under public scrutiny with regard to their involvement in the madrassa building activities. It is a clear violation of church and state because “Congress shall make no law”….the funding for these activities should be pulled, and educational issues be handled strictly by the public school districts as presribed by law.

The Left is very skilled and very entrenched in using the non-profit corporation model to push programs outside the scope of federal and state oversight of these “soft money” projects that sneak things through the cracks, out of the view of the tax paying public.

2) The Ohio State Public School curriculum committees of each distric in Ohio.

These committees are required by law to allow the public voice in these meetings. When Charter schools are proposed they must show how they will mee state standards in order to meet federal and state funding guidelines.

The madrassas are being allowed to by pass this kind of public oversight in the curriculum certification process.

The curriculum committees of the local school districts where the madrassas are being built and brought on line are the point where a lot of unregulated public pressure can be brought to bear.

It is also the place where citizens can gain information to build a law suit. A coherent legal threat from the taxpayer will shut these madrassas down…but the public must have the information that is deliberated upon in the obscure school district committees where the public is allowed to participate (like the curriculum committee).

We are using this line of action to stop the mandatory “Islamic culture” immersion requirement in our district for middle school students in 7th grade (my son is 3 years away from this atrocity.)

DK: What on earth are you talking about? That CPD article did a fine job at examining the effects (or lack thereof depending on your view) of charter schools improving the quality of education in the state.
-S N I P-
I was following up on two comments I felt were related to the issue.
-S N I P-
The issue at the top of article is a “CAIR school subsidized with public tax dollars.”

See post #19…obfuscating with a link discussing generalized OH Charter School performance versus that of public schools is what I am talking about. Got any links to articles on these two schools in particular? What are your thoughts on the shady and dangerous CAIR-linked things going on in these two schools? What do you think about CAIR using public money to indoctrinate youth into radical Islam while simultaneously failing to provide a basic education in these two schools? The article says they now control yet another, too. Since you are one of this blog’s resident Liberals, I’d be interested to hear what you specifically think of public funding for Islamic extremism in the form of…these two schools.

PB, if you have a problem with me or disagree with my POV, that’s fine.

Roger that.

And I did not appreciate any “head in the sand” analogy as I was simply providing a link to more in-depth reading.

I’m sorry that you didn’t appreciate my “analogy”.

jferg49 said:

Can you imagine a state funded catholic school or christian school…jeeze, the ACLU would go nuts, as well as every stinking thumb sucking liberal!! What is in the make up of these educators/govt folks, that they think it is ok to push these hate schools? They’re doing it in NY and now we see Ohio tax dollars are paying to keep the little muslims angry and ready to fight for Allah! I don’t think charter schools are supposed to push a religion…why the hell the good people of Ohio put up with this is a mystery

Perhaps it is time to insist on equal tax support to open a Christian or Jewish ‘charter’ school. Expecting to be challenged in the courts – one can then take the opportunity to openly demonstrate the precedent of these tax payer funded madrassas. Religiously inspired ‘charter’ schools, funded through tax dollars will likely come to an end – presenting one way to eliminate madrassas.

On August 23rd, 2007 at 2:46 pm, PBoilermaker said:
On August 23rd, 2007 at 2:36 pm, DarkKnight said:
Right on cue, another obfuscatory post by DK.

How’s that sand you have your head firmly planted in?

What on earth are you talking about? That CPD article did a fine job at examining the effects (or lack thereof depending on your view) of charter schools improving the quality of education in the state.

I was following up on two comments I felt were related to the issue.

#7

On August 23rd, 2007 at 1:47 pm, nbarry said:
Charter schools were a good idea, but must I remind everyone of what the road to hell is paved with? “Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem.” – R. Reagan.

#10

On August 23rd, 2007 at 1:52 pm, zyzzyg said:
Proponents of school choice have not fully thought out the implications of the policy. And, this is one of them. Tax supported madrassas that go beyond a standardized curriculum to include acculturation, no assimilation, and adversarial identity.

[Editorial: With all the features (strong, emphasis, etc.) MM has to offer that would make an impcat on a post, why would anyone use all caps?]

The issue at the top of article is a “CAIR school subsidized with public tax dollars.” PB, if you have a problem with me or disagree with my POV, that’s fine. But I was simply adding a link for anyone who wanted to examine more in depth into the educational discussion occuring there concerning charter schools. If you have a problem with that, I’m sorry. I was only trying to help.

Good grief.

And I did not appreciate any “head in the sand” analogy as I was simply providing a link to more in-depth reading.

“encourage Somali youth to develop an adversarial identity that will put them at odds with mainstream society”

This person needs to be fired immediately. Hello Ohio, anybody home…

I second that, if we can find this person’s name, and post it far and wide, maybe some pressure can come to bear on the “presitegeous” Ohio DoE. Funny how charter schools get put through the wringer by DoE, until they start spewing radical, ant-Western, anti-American hatred. Reason # 9,999,999 to send our kids to private school.

Two publicly-funded charter schools in the Columbus area, International Academy of Columbus and Westside Academy, are run by Islamic extremists tied to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), according to Patrick Poole: Even though many of th…