Howard County School Board members want to know how students? education is affected when they leave the classroom for religious reasons.
The School Board is revising its religious observance policy that excuses students from class once per week for 30 minutes or less if they have an approved, documented religious obligation that cannot be fulfilled at another time.
Currently, only five Muslim students in the county leave school early to pray on Fridays at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center in Columbia, said Susan Mascaro, director of staff relations for the school system and a member of the committee revising the policy. She said students representing other faiths do not leave school early on a regular basis. Mascaro said 10 of the 12 county high schools provide time during the school day for Muslim students to pray.
A spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national organization based in Washington, D.C., said Muslim students who leave school for Friday prayer are serious about their education and make sure they keep up with their school work.
“If a student is serious enough to take time out to pray, then they?re also going to be a serious student in the classroom,” said Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswoman for CAIR, a national civil rights and advocacy organization for Muslims.
Ahmed said Friday is the Muslim?s “Sabbath.”
During the School Board?s recent meeting, board members asked the committee to investigate the issue before the policy is put to a vote on June 8.
“Our mission is to educate students. Will this impair our mission?” asked School Board Member Mary Kay Sigaty. “This 30 minutes [every Friday] could be a significant amount of time [for preparing] for the [High School Assessments].”
School Board Member Courtney Watson wondered how classroom teachers are affected, since they may have to spend extra time giving students makeup work.
School Board Chairman Joshua Kaufman said he wants the policy to offer “reasonable” time for students to attend religious observances, but he said it also should include language stating that the accommodation would be “subject to review.”
The Howard County Muslim Council could not be reached for comment.
