ISLAM
Ramadan in public schools

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Hamza Ismail Collins is the civil rights director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Connecticut chapter. He can discuss accommodation of Muslim students in Bridgeport, Conn., schools, which assigned a room for Muslim students during lunches at Ramadan. Contact 860-995-6628, civilrights@cair-ct.com.
• Jay McIntire is the school superintendent of the Wiscasset School Department in Maine, which has about 800 students. He approved the use of a “wellness room” in one of the district’s public schools as a place where students and staff could go to reduce stress. Parents and others raised concerns that meditation, prayer or another religious practice would be performed in the room and that this might constitute an unfair religious accommodation. Contact 207-882-6303, jmcintire@wiscasett.k12.me.us.
• J. Richard Ratcliffe is a lawyer in Providence, R.I. As a speaker for the Center for First Amendment Rights in Hartford, Conn., he frequently talks with high school, college and professional groups about the First Amendment. Contact 401-490-4651, rratcliffe@rbhelaw.com.
• Jay Wexler is a law professor at Boston University who specializes in First Amendment issues, including religious expression in public schools and the public square. In March 2007, he participated in a conference titled “Beyond the Culture Wars: A Leadership Conference on the Future of Religion in the Public Schools” at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University. Contact 617-353-2789.

IN THE EAST
• Mohamed Bugaighis is a retired mathematics professor and trustee of the Muslim Association of the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. The group has formally requested that the local school board recognize Eid al-Fitr as a holiday. Contact mbugaighis@verizon.net.
• Bruce Dierenfield is a professor of history at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. He is the author of The Battle Over School Prayer: How Engel v. Vitale Changed America (2007). Contact 716-888-2683, bruce.dierenfield@canisius.edu.
• Rochelle Eisenberg is an attorney who specializes in education law and has represented superintendents and school boards across the state of Maryland. She can discuss what it would take to close Maryland schools for Eid al-Fitr. Contact 410-938-8800, reisenberg@hpklegal.com.
• Amal Elrafei works for the Clifton, N.J., chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and can discuss how schools in the Passaic, N.J., area deal with Ramadan. Contact 973-246-7474, adc@adcnj.org.
• Robert Jackson is a New York City councilman and a Muslim. He has said that if New York City officials fail to recognize Eid al-Fitr as a school holiday, he will introduce legislation to do so. Contact 212-928-1322 (district office), 212-788-7007 (legislative office), jackson@council.nyc.ny.us.
• Khalid Qazi heads the Buffalo, N.Y., chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact kqazi@mpac.org.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• Abdullahi An-Na’im is a professor of Islamic law at Emory University in Atlanta. He can address the accommodations of Muslims who want to play sports in public schools. Contact 404-712-8605, abduh46@law.emory.edu.
• Ahmed Bedier is director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Central Florida office in Tampa. He can discuss the Hillsborough County Public Schools’ decision to cancel all school holidays that fall on religious holidays (except Christmas) after a divisive debate over which religious holidays to include on the school calendar. (See a Feb. 28, 2007, story in the St. Petersburg Times.) Contact 813-514-1414 ext. 21, abedier@cairfl.org.
• Zubair Chao and Bilal Aijazi are president and vice president, respectively, of the Muslim Students Association at Duke University. The Duke MSA is seeking a larger place to meet and pray. Contact zubair.chao@duke.edu and bma4@duke.edu.
• Steven Gey is a law professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He is an expert on First Amendment freedom of religion cases and teaches a church-state seminar. Contact 850-644-5467, sgey@law.fsu.edu.
• Gary Hocevar is the principal of Terrace Community Middle School in Thonotosassa, Fla. Last year, the school became the first in its district to make Eid al-Fitr a school holiday. The school is in Hillsborough County, which has eliminated all religious holidays, except Christmas, after it added Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur as holidays and then received requests from Muslim groups for Eid al-Fitr to be added. Contact 813-987-6555.

IN THE SOUTH
• Rashed Fakhruddin is director of education at the Islamic Center of Nashville, Tenn. In August 2007, he sent a joint letter on behalf of four local mosques to Nashville-area public school principals asking for religious exemptions to school dress codes. Contact 615-480-6146.
• David Hudson is a fellow at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn. He is an expert on First Amendment issues in public schools at the K-12 level. Contact dhudson@fac.org.
• Afdal Muchtar is president of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The group has an on-campus prayer room. Contact afdhalku2000@yahoo.com.

IN THE MIDWEST
• Dr. Wayel Azmeh is a cardiologist who heads the Dayton, Ohio, chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact wayel@mpac.org.
• Timothy Cannon is principal of Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The school sets aside an area for Muslim students’ afternoon prayers during Ramadan. Contact 847-755-3759, tcannon@d211.org.
• Edward E. Curtis IV is an associate professor of religious studies and American studies at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. He is editor of the forthcoming Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States (2008). Contact 317-278-1683, ecurtis4@iupui.edu.
• Zakia Hyder is an author and a Muslim who lives in Mason, Ohio, where the school board recently considered the rights of Muslim students to a separate room for lunch periods during Ramadan. Last year, she wrote an opinion piece for the Cincinnati Enquirer calling for the school board to spend its time providing quality education and not religious accommodation issues. Contact hyder@zakiahyder.com.
• Karen Dabdoub is director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Ohio chapter and can address the Mason, Ohio, school issue. Contact 513-281-8200, karen@cair-ohio.com.
• Jennifer Miller is a member of the Mason, Ohio, Unified School District. In 2006, she spoke against setting aside a room for Muslim students to use during Ramadan lunch periods in Mason schools on the grounds that it is preferential treatment of one religion. Contact 513-398-2749, jgmiller57@msn.com.
• Zeshahn Humayun and Majed Afana are the president and vice president, respectively, of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Michigan in Dearborn, which installed footbaths for Muslim students. Contact president@msadearborn.org and VP@msadearborn.org.
• Frank Ravitch is a law professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing and a scholar of constitutional law and of law and religion. He is the author of School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and Dissenters. He wrote an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Chandler v. Siegelman, a school prayer case from Alabama, in support of those opposing school prayer practices. Contact 517-432-6973, fravitch@law.msu.edu.
• Charles Russo is the author of the textbook Reutter’s The Law of Public Education and an adjunct professor of law at Dayton University in Dayton, Ohio. He has said that religious accommodation for Muslims will be a growing issue as the U.S. population continues to become more diverse. Contact 937-229-3722.
• Michael Steinberg is legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. His group represented a Muslim girl in her quest to wear a swimsuit her family deemed acceptable to their religious beliefs to swim at a public pool. As a result, the local park and recreation commission unanimously passed what may be the nation’s first swimwear policy that accommodates people who cannot wear traditional swimsuits for religious reasons. Contact 313-578-6800.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Ron Griffen is the principal of L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, which began allowing prayer during lunch breaks after a Muslim student filed a 2005 lawsuit against a school policy banning prayer. Contact 469-593-7000, ron.griffen@risd.org.
• Rheem Kabbani is head of the Phoenix, Ariz., chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact rheem@mpac.org.
• James May is the principal of I.H. Kempner High School in Sugar Land, Texas. In his eight years there he has considered many requests for religious accommodation from Muslim students, something he says frequently happens around Ramadan. Contact 281-634-2302, James.May@fortbend.k12.tx.us.
• Liyakat Takim is an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Denver. Last year, he participated in a panel presentation on “the religious other” in American public life as part of Colorado College’s symposium on “Religion and Public Life: Why Be Afraid?” Contact ltakim@du.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Caprice Hollins is the director of equity and race relations for the Seattle school district. The office has established a committee to examine the needs of Muslim students in public schools. Contact 206-252-0138, cdhollins1@seattleschools.org.
• Edgar Hopida is public relations director for the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Contact 858-278-4547, sandiego@cair.com.
• Zabie Mansoory is communications coordinator for the Los Angeles chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Contact zabie@mpac.org.
• Steven Smith is a law professor at the University of San Diego and can discuss the legal issues in the Carver Elementary School case, in which Muslim students were allowed time for prayer during the school day. Contact 619-260-7969, smiths@sandiego.edu.