San Diego: Parents prevail over Hamas-linked CAIR “Islamophobia” indoctrination program in schools
“San Diego school district and parents reach settlement over Muslim civil rights program,” by Rupa Shenoy, PRI, April 5, 2019:
The San Diego Unified School District settled in late March with a group of parents who sued over the district’s possible partnership with the Council on American–Islamic Relations, a national advocacy organization, on an anti-Islamophobic bullying program in schools.
The agreement specifies that guest speakers from religious organizations are not permitted to present to students on religious topics. Educators can’t show a preference for one religious viewpoint over another. And religions must be taught in the context of world history, with the “time and attention spent discussing each religion being proportionate to its impact on history and human development,” the agreement says.
But just how that’s measured, and who does the measuring, isn’t clear.
The group of parents who sued, including members of the San Diego Asian Americans For Equality Foundation, say the settlement is a victory.
“Any speaker from CAIR or from any other religious organization is not supposed to talk about the religion topic to the students. And that’s an additional protection, from my point of view,” said foundation board member Frank Xu.
The district’s attorney, Andra M. Greene, says teachers can still talk specifically about Islamophobic bullying, but they will also talk about all kinds of bullying. She says she’d hardly call this settlement a victory for the parents who sued because the district was doing everything in the agreement already, and nothing’s really changing.
Gadeir Abbas, CAIR’s attorney, agrees, but he sees the lawsuit itself as evidence of growing Islamophobia. He points to a recent mosque arson attack in San Diego, where the perpetrator referenced terrorist attacks in March at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, which killed 50 people…
The lawsuit began in 2016 when Muslim parents and students came to the San Diego Unified School District Board of Education about bullying. CAIR offered to partner with the district on an anti-bullying curriculum. That curriculum would have included creating safe spaces for Muslim students and sending staff and parents letters about Islamophobia…
“I do believe that this is the first of what’s going to be many attempts to exclude the Muslim community from public schools throughout the country,” Abbas said. “This is a sign of things to come.”
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