Last month, SDUSD’s Board of Education
approved an “Anti-Islamophobia” initiative in a purported effort to combat
bullying and harassment of Muslim students and their families. As part of
the initiative, Muslim students will be provided with special religious
accommodations; teachers must receive new training and resources on how to
advocate for Muslims; and the school district must review and vet its
curriculum to ensure that it promotes a positive interpretation of Muslim
culture and history. Most controversially, the school district seeks to explore
and engage in formal partnerships with the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR), a self-described Muslim civil rights organization. Students
of other faiths are excluded from this program, including Jewish students, who
statistically face an overwhelmingly higher level of bullying and
discrimination than do Muslims.
Charles LiMandri, FCDF’s President and
Chief Counsel, commented:
“As it stands, tens of thousands of
Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu students, as well as other non-Muslim
students, walk through the schoolhouse gate vulnerable and exposed to bullying
and discrimination as a result of their religious beliefs. Meanwhile,
Muslim students can feel safe as the School District’s favored religious group,
with the full power of the government and an outside Muslim advocacy group at
their disposal. The School District’s actions are blatantly unconstitutional
and run contrary to America’s enduring belief in religious equality.”
Of particular concern is the School District’s
active collaboration with CAIR, which has longstanding, verified ties to
radical Islam. For example, several of CAIR’s top executives have been
convicted of terror-related crimes, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office
previously named CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation
terror case (the FBI has terminated any outreach activities with CAIR), and the
United Arab Emirates has designated CAIR as a terrorist organization.
LiMandri commented:
“Despite its message of diversity and tolerance,
CAIR’s ultimate mission is to change American society and advance radical
Islam. It is entirely reasonable for parents to question whether CAIR is
pushing the School District to indoctrinate students with a favorable,
one-sided teaching of Islam. Moreover, it is deeply troubling that School
District officials have consistently dismissed parents’ genuine concerns as
bigoted, anti-Muslim rhetoric. That line of reasoning is akin to saying
that the Constitution itself is Islamophobic.”
On April 27, LiMandri sent a letter to all
members of the Board, warning them that the “Anti-Islamophobia” program raises
serious constitutional concerns and would likely result in a “needless,
lengthy, and expensive court battle”. LiMandri recommended that the Board
rescind its authorizing vote and consider an alternative approach.
However, the Board has indicated through various statements to the media
that it intends to defend the program at all costs for the sake of “standing up
to hate”. Consequently, the local community began to mobilize an
opposition, and parents sought out FCDF to help them challenge the School
District’s divisive program in court.
According to FCDF’s complaint:
“Under the guise of this anti-bullying
program, Defendants have fallen in with [CAIR] to set up a subtle,
discriminatory scheme that establishes Muslim students as the privileged
religious group within the school community. Consequently, students of
other faiths are left on the outside looking in, vulnerable to religiously
motivated bullying, while Muslim students enjoy an exclusive right to the
School District’s benevolent protection.”
The School District, with over 125,000
students enrolled in its K-12 schools, received just seven reports of
religion-motivated bullying from July 31, 2016, to December 31, 2016. The
district did not disclose how many of those incidents were directed at Muslim
students.
FCDF filed the complaint in
the United States District Court for the Southern District of California.
It is asking the court to declare that SDUSD and its officials violated
plaintiffs’ constitutional and statutory rights and to grant an injunction to
preliminarily and permanently stop the implementation and enforcement of the
“Anti-Islamophobia” program. In addition, FCDF is asking for nominal
damages and an award of their reasonable costs of litigation, including
attorneys’ fees and expenses
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