Fairfax County supervisors voted unanimously Monday to extend the lease of a Saudi prep school that a federal panel recommended closing last year unless the school could prove it wasn’t promoting religious violence.
Supervisors rejected criticism from opponents of the Islamic Saudi Academy’s school who urged against the extension of the lease until the State Department finished its review of the school’s texts. The review comes after an October report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which based its recommendations on the violent curriculum of Saudi-based schools.
Mount Vernon District Supervisor GeraldHyland, who ordered a county-level review of the materials after the commission’s report, fiercely rebutted opponents at a public hearing before the vote.
“I didn’t come away with the impression that hate was being taught at the academy, second that they were training terrorists, and that they were doing anything other than teaching young children in a fashion that is to be an example for others,” he said.
Hyland, however, did qualify his statements: “I would be less than frank if I didn’t tell you that the curriculum does contain references to the Quran, which, if taken out of context and read literally, would cause come concern.”
He said he met with the school director and other staff after the county’s review, but said there is no written report that came out of it.
Monday’s vote extends by a year the academy’s lease for its main Richmond Highway campus. The current lease expires at the end of June.
The lease extension is expected to generate about $2.2 million in revenue, according to documents prepared by county staff.
The commission is still reviewing some of the school’s texts it acquired independently, commission spokeswoman Judith Ingram said.
The State Department also is reviewing the materials, according to a statement from the agency.
