By Norma Tarazi
This is the month, November, when Sunrise Academy should be
moving into its finished building.
Renovation projects always go over schedule, and this one has been no
exception, but the building is for a school that will, Inshallah, last for the
next 20 to 30 years. This is only the
end of phase 1.
At this time, the school is having a dinner celebration, the
First Annual School Dinner, which will be held on November 16th at
6:30 at the Marriot Hotel on Bush Blvd.
Some exhibits of student work and a short presentation by our first
small classes will be part of the program.
A very special guest speaker has been invited for the occasion, Br.
Dawood Zwink, the teacher of Imam Siraj Wahaj.
Br. Dawood has a long record of service in The Muslim community in North
America in many areas. He now lives in
Plainsfield, Indiana, where he continues his important service in Boy Scouts,
(he helped found the Islamic Boy Scouts), and numerous refugee programs, most
notably the Somali Relief Fund of which he is chairman and co-founder. He has also been a frequent member of ISNA’s
Majlis ash-Shura and has been involved in numerous activities of ISNA and
MYNA. A school program should be a
learning experience and this community could learn a lot from the dynamic
experience of Br. Dawool.
Information of our
school:
One of the time-consuming aspects of the school project has
been the chartering. Many in our
community do not understand what this involves and some strange rumors have
been heard circulating. The State of
Ohio has 2 types of private schools, chartered and non-chartered. Each type has the same requirements to
fulfill. A non-chartered school is
answerable only to its parents and its school board, reporting to them each
year that the state requirements have been fulfilled and notifying the State
that they have presented this report.
But there is no inspection other than what is done by the parents
themselves. A chartered school, however,
will have state inspection to insure that it is complying with state
regulations. This is insurance to
parents that the school is at least up to community standards. For members of our community who come from
out of state, it is a reassurance of quality.
Some have asked how a school can be Islamic and still be
inspected by the State. The State in no
way dictates the curriculum or philosophy of education. Sunrise Academy must teach Language arts,
reading, mathematics, science, social studies, health, art, music, and physical
education in an organized methodical way, following its own written philosophy
of education. The State inspects to see
that the curriculum is coherent and well organized and planned. The school may add courses, and it has added
Arabic and Islamic Studies, each with written curriculum.
The State inspects that all records of the school, staff,
and children’s performances are properly maintained and protected. It requires that the school prove equal
opportunity for all employment applications and for all student applications
and that staff and students are fairly treated according to clearly defined
policies. The governing board of the school should be clearly defined and
regulated by by-laws to ensure consistency I policy and change governed by
careful study, not by whimsical arbitrary decisions that change with the
weather.
Chartering does not infringe on the religious freedom of the
school. Each school defines the
environment it wishes to establish and the state respects that philosophy. Any staff must also respect that philosophy
as part of their employment contract.
Teachers are required to teach the curriculum in a manner in keeping
with the school philosophy.
At the present time, only one Islamic school is chartered in
Ohio. It is the Islamic Academy of Arts
and Sciences in Cleveland. Catholic
schools in Ohio are all chartered.
Some people ask about accreditation. Accreditation is done by private
organizations, not by the State.
Regional accreditation organizations require new schools to create a
track record, which is evaluated according to written criteria. Any new school, Islamic or not, must be in
operation for several years, accumulating records of performance before
applying for accreditation. The maximum
number of years is not less than 5. A school
may have good ideas on paper but not be able to achieve that high standard in
practice. Sunrise Academy plans to work
toward accreditation as quickly as possible.
Sunrise has started, but it takes a long term community
effort to support and sustain a school.
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