VICTORY! Minnesota Public School Madrassa, TIZA, Closes Its Doors

I have been blogging for years on the public school madrassa, the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) in Minnesota. It was a publicly funded Islamic school, in direct violation of the separation of mosque and state.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant, " said Louis Brandeis. Indeed. Atlas readers are very familiar with the supremacist Islamic academy, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. Charter schools are public schools, and by law must not endorse or promote religion. TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers.

TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is "establishing Islam in Minnesota." The building also houses a mosque. TIZA's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.

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When the ACLU opposed the arrangement (surprisingly so), TIZA hit them hard.

Parents who criticized the Muslim school were threatened with death fatwas.

The Muslim American Society of Minnesota, (the Muslim Brotherhood front group that financed devout Muslim Congressman Hakim  Muhammad, aka Keith Ellison's, trip to the haj) received nearly $900,000 in taxpayer money in 2006 and 2007 from a rental arrangement for Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA), an Inver Grove Heights charter school.

TiZA has been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union and probed by state officials for allegedly promoting Islam, which would violate the church and state separation required of public schools — including charter schools. The school received state funding to pay rent to the Muslim American Society Property Holding Corp., a nonprofit spin-off of the Muslim American Society that owned the building. The corporation then turned over $879,000 to the Muslim society as a grant.

We are in Katherine Kersten's, a columnist for the Star Tribune, great debt. Kersten has been unmatched in her bravery and pursuit of this story and of Islamic supremacist infiltration in the Minnesota area. She is a national treasure (i.e. here).

Keeping up the pressure and exposing the supremacists. This is how you win. This is a good day. And I am under no allusions. I am sure these Islamic supremacists will attempt to open under a new name and new mosquerade, but we will be there. I promise.

Over at Family Security Matters via Creeping, the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report is reporting:

Local media has reported that the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) in Minnesota has closed its doors for good. According to the report:

 

The test scores were high. And until the specter of expensive legal bills landed the school in bankruptcy this summer, the finances were healthy. Yet, on July 1, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy – the 540-student charter school with campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine – was no longer. Left without the state-backed overseer it needed to keep going, the school closed after a final flurry of lawsuits and recriminations.  TiZA’s board debated fighting on but dissolved the school this month. Why didn’t the academy make it? A search for a clear-cut answer in documents and interviews with education leaders, attorneys and TiZA stakeholders turns up instead a tangle of factors that chipped away at the school’s chances:

 

– Intense scrutiny that put the school on the defensive.

 

– An American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that swelled beyond anyone’s wildest guess, and the unraveling of the school’s relationship with its overseer.

 

– And a final combative stance that, at least in hindsight, seems counterproductive.

 

“Ultimately, all those other issues overrode how well the school was doing academically,” said Eugene Piccolo, the head of the state charter school association.

Until the end, former lead teacher Wendy Swanson-Choi believed the school would survive. With its high test scores and long waiting list, it seemed too much of a success story not to. The state – about to rule on a crucial application for a new TiZA overseer, or authorizer – had given the school many nods of approval. In 2009, a $375,000 federal grant the state awarded TiZA brought guests from other charter schools into its classrooms, where, says Swanson-Choi, teachers had cultivated a culture of high expectations and discipline.

 

Read the rest here.

 

An earlier post discussed the connections between TIZA and the Muslim American Society (MAS) and Islamic Relief as well as the Islamic character of the school. The MAS was established in 1993 by leaders of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and a Hudson Institute report has discussed the relationship of the MAS to both the Egyptian and U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Another post has discussed the Brotherhood ties of Islamic Relief. Other posts have discussed aspects of the controversies surrounding TiZA including the controversy surrounding the links between TiZA and another group that was seeking to sponsor a local charter school.

 

Related posts:

 

1. Minnesota School Tied To Muslim Brotherhood Resists Ordered Changes
2. Minnesota State Officials To See If State Money Used For Mosques On School Campuses
3. Minnesota School Tied To U.S. Muslim Brotherhood Ordered To Make Changes
4. French Muslim High School LInked To Muslim Brotherhood Opens Its Doors
5. VOA Praises Islamic School Operated By Imam With Ties To The U.S. Muslim Brotherhood

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