Local media is reporting that the opening of a charter school in Minnesota has been delayed over concerns that the new school has ties to the leaders of an earlier school in turned linked to the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States. According to the TwinCities.com report:
July 25, 2015 The opening of a Dakota County charter school has been derailed after questions were raised about possible ties to a Muslim organization and a now-defunct charter investigated for teaching Islam.
Summit Charter School was scheduled to open in Inver Grove Heights next month, but Innovative Quality Schools, or IQS, the authorizer charged with overseeing the school, announced Wednesday that it would delay the opening by one year.
Tom Tapper, IQS managing director, said his organization’s board voted to delay Summit’s opening not because of suspected religious ties, but over concerns about its planned home. The building is already occupied by STEP Academy charter school and the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.
‘Quite frankly, it related to the size; there is already a school there, and it is growing,’ he said.
But concerns about Summit go deeper than real estate.
The decision not to allow Summit to open comes after a June complaint to the Minnesota Department of Education that claims the new school has close ties to the leaders of the former Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, or TiZA, and the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.
TiZA went bankrupt and then closed in 2011 after a flurry of lawsuits that centered on allegations that the school taught Islam and funneled state money meant to educate students to religious organizations. A lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union was settled in 2012 and included a ‘stipulation of facts’ that essentially acknowledged that the school promoted Islam and funneled some money to faith-based groups.
Read the rest here.
The GMBDW reported in 2011 that the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) in MInnesota had closed its doors for good.
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 authored by the GMBDW editor has discussed the relationship of the MAS to both the Egyptian and US 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.