A Revere private school is asking Danvers for permission to open a K-12 campus for 70 students from across Massachusetts, and the School Committee found that its instruction met the public-school standard and voted to approve its academic application. That approval is not a building.
That is the account in Lance Reynolds's Nov. 12 Boston Herald report. The Islamic Education School, based in Revere, sought the committee's approval. Superintendent Dan Bauer said the school approached him in October and had purchased property in Danvers for an additional school. The Herald also reports that Massachusetts law keeps a school committee from withholding that approval because of religious instruction.
The test on the books
The academic piece of the statute is plainer than the fight around it. Chapter 76, Section 1 says a school committee shall approve a private school when satisfied that instruction in the studies required by law equals, in thoroughness, efficiency and progress, the instruction in that town's public schools. The text continues beyond “but shall not withhold” and includes further statutory provisions, including a prohibition on withholding approval because of religious teaching and transportation provisions.
Principal Rawan Chaaban asked the committee to judge the school by the same academic standards applied to every private school in Massachusetts. She said some families want their children's education to include their faith, and that TIES wants to be an option for Muslim families in the way private schools already serve other religions. By her count, Danvers already has about seven private schools, including Catholic and Christian ones. State regulations, the Herald reports, required the committee to use the same review process here.
The earlier school under the same charitable umbrella was smaller on paper. The Revere School Committee unanimously approved Revere T.I.E.S., a full-time private Islamic elementary school established under the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, The Advocate reported. It planned to start with kindergarten through grade 2, expected 30 to 50 students, projected tuition of about $6,000 to $7,000, and said it would use the standard Massachusetts curriculum, assessments and school schedules. It would also be open to students who do not live in Revere. That reporting does not establish what the school enrolls, charges or operates as now.
A public hearing that is not a theology seminar
Some Danvers residents oppose an Islamic school in town. Others argue the committee and the superintendent should keep their attention on the public district, which is open to all students. John Masiz said Danvers should consider investing that attention in its public schools and local programs.
Religious freedom is not a favor.
Approval, then zoning, then the other $2 million
AICP Massachusetts, which identifies itself as part of the Association of Islamic Charitable Projects, is promoting what it calls a legacy for generations: a masjid, a full-time private Islamic school and a community center.
The committee's academic approval does not settle zoning or financing. The practical next question is not whether Danvers likes the theology. It is whether the school can clear land use and secure the funding for the project.
