Thread: I AM SO MAD ABOUT THIS!

Muslim advocacy group files complaint with Lewiston School Department
By Judith Meyer, managing editor/days
Published: Nov 21, 2009 12:00 am

LEWISTON — A national Muslim civil rights organization has filed a formal request with the Lewiston School Department to allow a middle school student to pray on school property. The group also wants Lewiston to modify existing policy and provide "constitutionally protected religious accommodation," such as a designated prayer room.

The group has also requested the school department institute diversity training for school staff, and to ensure the middle-schooler won't face retaliation because of her request to pray at the Lewiston Middle School.

According to the Washington, D.C.,-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, seventh-grader Nasra Aden had been routinely "praying discreetly during her free time or lunch break in a corner of a school hallway." But, on Tuesday, CAIR asserts a teacher told Aden "never to pray on school property" after Aden was seen preparing to kneel in prayer in a corner of one of the hallways.

After Aden told her mother, Jamad Warsame, what happened, Warsame spoke with school Principal Maureen Lachappelle and asked the school to accommodate her daughter's desire to pray. According to CAIR, Warsame's request was rebuffed and she has been "forced to pick up her daughter every day and take her to a nearby park to pray."

Lachappelle said Aden is not being forced to leave school to pray, but that the district accommodated her mother's request for her to leave the campus this past week for prayer.

Lewiston Superintendent Leon Levesque, who learned of CAIR's written accusations hours after a press release had already been published on various Web sites, said, "Students are free to pray quietly during class if they choose as long as it's not disruptive," because "prayer is constitutionally protected in schools."

"They can pray audibly or silently," and are subjected to the same rules of order as apply to other students in the school. "We have never denied a student's right to pray," he said.

Aden's uncle, Ismail Warsame, who lives in Orono, said Lachappelle and another school official told the family that because the school department "could not provide a room for Muslims to pray, it was against the school policy for anyone to pray."

Lachappelle disputes that was the department's explanation.

Lachappelle said she told Jamad Warsame that the school department cannot provide special prayer rooms for students of any religion, but that "students certainly have a right to pray in school. We know that's their constitutional right."

A lot of kids pray silently in school," Lachappelle said, at their desks before a test or during study hall. "We don't promote prayer and we don't deny" students' right to pray, she said. "We're neutral."

Levesque said that staff is trained to protect the right of students to pray, and he's certain many students do pray unnoticed. The district also allows religious clubs to meet in school buildings before and after school, and that students are permitted to be excused from school for religious holidays.

In a written statement, Ismail Warsame called school officials' alleged actions in responding to Aden's effort to pray "a stunning scenario of lack of multicultural competency" and "clear violation of our constitutional rights to free religious expression."

Warsame also accused Lachappelle of hanging up on him as he was asking whether the school department would accommodate the family's request to accommodate the specific religious needs of certain students. Lachappelle acknowledged she did end a phone conversation with Warsame abruptly because "he wouldn't take no for an answer."

According to Lachappelle, after an involved conversation about the school's position on allowing silent prayer, she said she told Warsame that "this is what the ruling is. We're disagreeing, and I'm following district policy. I feel we need to end this conversation."

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said Friday that if the Lewiston School Department did not address its four requests to allow prayer, modify school policy, institute training and protect Aden from retaliation, "we wouldn't really have much choice but to take the case further" because "the student has the legal right and the constitutional right to pray in school in a manner that is not disruptive to the learning environment."

Hooper said no one from CAIR spoke to school officials before filing its four-prong request because it is their general practice to file requests and then follow up with schools and other organizations to institute changes.

jmeyer@sunjournal.com

I agree with you being mad, and I think that this is a very selfish request and disruptive to the rest of the class, just like the disruption the prayer demanders cause to businesses demanding footbaths and time off from the line to go pray, while the non-Muslims have to pick up the slack. And then, I believe it was a Wal-Mart which had hired a Muslim cashier that refused to touch the pork products people were buying.
Making concessions to a small segment of our society ends up causing grief for the majority. Unfortunately, too many believe that their view is the only one and the American people need to admit the error of their ways. Horse manure.

[b] Here's what I posted and sent to the Superintendent!

Church & State Violation Examples:
1. An organization uses a government grant for religious activity.
2. A public school event includes prayer or a public school teaches creationism or intelligent design.
3. The government displays a religious symbol or text on public property.
4. Prayers are recited before or after public meetings, that contain language or symbols specific to one religion.
5. The government funds religious hospitals that refuse to provide certain kinds of reproductive health care services for religious reasons.

Government funding of religious schools or religious social service providers
6. The government provides grants or other aid to religious educational institutions or “faith-basedâ€

What hooey! Can you just imagine all schools in the country building long rows of different types of prayer rooms along their hallways? UTTER NONSENSE! Takeyou kid out of public school and put her in a Muslim school if you need her to pray so much.

school student to pray on school property

Christians can't why should they?

Its maddening. There is no reason for CAIR to gets its ugly head into anything. If the kid wants to pray let him/her do it quietly when it wont interfere with the class, teachers, or while any other activity is going on. There nothing in the Constitution that says anyone has to build or set aside a special room or footbaths for anyone to pray.

There is a time and place for everything. School is the place for education. Students should not have to be distracted with religious issues when they are trying to get an education. I would say the same for the workplace. The office is for work. There is plenty of time to pray after school or work. We are only at school or work for like 40 hours a week. There are 168 hours in the week.

This in not about prayer but forcing beliefs on America and Christians, control and power, we are only seeing the beginning as the numbers increase..

Originally Posted by oldguy

This in not about prayer but forcing beliefs on America and Christians, control and power, we are only seeing the beginning as the numbers increase..

Ditto ! Someone needs to remind this woman we have a separation of church and state in this country. If she doesn't like it, she can enroll in a private muslim school that allows prayer to allah all day long. This is about a hostile, radicalism being perpertraited against our society and Christians, through our public systems. Once they gain a foothold, it will never stop.

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Originally Posted by oldguy

This in not about prayer but forcing beliefs on America and Christians, control and power, we are only seeing the beginning as the numbers increase..

Ditto ! Someone needs to remind this woman we have a separation of church and state in this country. If she doesn't like it, she can enroll in a private muslim school that allows prayer to allah all day long. This is about a hostile, radicalism being perpertraited against our society and Christians, through our public systems. Once they gain a foothold, it will never stop.

I did in my post, but with our Politically Correct pervertred Justice System I bet they WILL get the footbath and the prayer room, because other schools there have. They kids are NOT ALLOWED to bring pork of any kind to school too!!! The whole thing is sick and hypocritical to everyone else.
We are talking people who think they are owed everything and demand more while your there! It's been a nightmare in Portland and Lewiston. They are special to themselves. Hopefully with the charities getting raided there about 7 months ago and the investigation of CAIR by the FBI, maybe they will be "put in their place."
YOU WANT TO LIVE IN AMERICA? COME LEGALLY, AND FOLLOW OUR LAWS AND WAYS. IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT LEAVE, PLEASE JUST LEAVE...