Islamic rights group wants feds to investigate St. Cloud schools

Islamic rights group wants feds to investigate St. Cloud schools
By Dave Aeikens • daeikens@stcloudtimes.com • March 25, 2010

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Buzz up!Twitter FarkIt Type Size A A A An Islamic civil rights group in Minnesota has asked the U.S. Department of Education to investigate what it calls a hostile learning environment for Muslims in St. Cloud and other Minnesota schools.

The request comes from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The group says there is a growing number of instances in Minnesota schools in which Somali and Muslim students are being harassed and discriminated against. Some of the incidents took place at Apollo and Technical high schools, the group said.

“We just want them to investigate these incidents,” said Lori Saroya, president of the Minnesota chapter of CAIR. “We think there needs to be something statewide, something larger to take place.”

Saroya said many of the incidents have taken place in St. Cloud and Owatonna, in southern Minnesota. The group has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education detailing several incidents in Minnesota schools and has specifically asked the department to investigate Tech, Apollo and Owatonna high

The number of Muslim students in St. Cloud has continued to grow since 2000. Most of the Muslim students are Somali. The district has 710 students who speak Somali, in addition to students from other countries who are also Muslim. The district estimates about 9 percent of its student body is Muslim.

Zahra Aljabri, assistant director of civil rights for CAIR of Minnesota, said schools in Minnesota already have policies against religious and racial discrimination. They need help doing a better job of enforcing them.

“We have been supporting the school as much as we can. We are really not equipped to determine what the best course of action is. Hopefully, the Department of Education has dealt with these things before,” Aljabri said.

CAIR lists several incidents at Apollo. One involved a history teacher who disparaged Somalia, the organization said.

Another incident CAIR cites involved two white boys who approached a group of Muslim girls and asked if they would like some pork. When the girls said their religion prohibited eating pork, the students made disparaging remarks, CAIR said.

A week later, CAIR said, two students brought pork bacon to school and shoved it in the faces of Muslim students and chased them when they tried to get away.

CAIR’s letter says Somali students were left behind at a bus stop and made to try and catch the bus. Aljabri said this took place at Apollo.

Superintendent Steve Jordahl said the district is going to investigate the allegations because no administrator in the district or at the schools was aware of them.

He said he has spoken to Somali elders in St. Cloud who want the district to look into the allegations and then try to work through the district’s equity services department to solve them.

“We want to avoid these incidents in the future realizing we can’t avoid them all. I still want us to address any incident. Sometimes that just means our staff and administration need to have the courage to do that,” Jordahl said.

Local Somali refugees have seen their treatment in St. Cloud schools get worse after years of building relationships, said Mohamoud Mohamed, executive director of the St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization. He said district staff are not responding appropriately to acts of discrimination against Muslim children. He said CAIR Minnesota’s letter to the U.S. Department of Education is helpful.

“This CAIR action is reminding them they will have involvement from higher authorities,” Mohamed said.

Mohamed said the incident with the bacon took place in February and was reported to Apollo’s cultural navigator, the staff member who is the liaison to the students.

An incident at Owatonna High School is also cited, as are as incidents of racial and religious epithets directed at students at Technical High School.

The letter was sent to the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights division in Chicago on Friday, Aljabri said. The group announced its action Wednesday. The Minnesota Department of Education does not investigate racial discrimination, she said.

The school district and Apollo have worked with Minnesota CAIR to address issues of racial and religious intolerance, Jordahl said.

St. Cloud community leaders have had to respond to a number of incidents of discrimination against Somalis in the past decade. Most recently, a New Hope man was arrested after police said he posted on Craigslist threats to Somalis attending a cultural event at St. Cloud State University.

In December, a Waite Park man was cited in connection with violations of the St. Cloud ordinances against posting materials in public places. The man admitted posting ethnically insensitive posters in front of Somali businesses. CAIR Minnesota helped the city conduct a town-hall meeting in January to address concerns.

CAIR is the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization in the United States. It works to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.