A metro-area charter school that has been beset by controversy for years is now scrambling to avoid closure as soon as this summer.
Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) is among dozens of Minnesota charter schools that still need to pair up with a state-approved authorizer by June 30 under a new law that more closely regulates the special public schools.
Despite strong test scores, TiZA's efforts to meet that deadline have been complicated by an ongoing lawsuit that claims the public school illegally promotes Islam, as well as a new rule that disqualifies the school's current authorizer from continuing in that role.
So will the school be shut down? "I hope not," TiZA director Asad Zaman said Friday. "We're trying to make that not happen."
TiZA has about 540 students in grades K-10 at campuses in Inver Grove Heights and Blaine. The school is currently overseen by Islamic Relief USA, a nonprofit based in Virginia.
But Islamic Relief can't keep overseeing the school because legislation passed in 2009 bans out-of-state sponsors.
The school's relations with both Islamic Relief and the state have also been severely strained by litigation brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. The ACLU claims the school has wrongly accepted taxpayer money while promoting religion, while TiZA officials say they have reasonably accommodated students who wish to exercise their religious rights on campus.
On Thursday, TiZA's board approved changes to school policies dealing with religious accommodation, school uniforms, data practices and conflicts of interest.