Faith and finals: King County schools adapt to growing Muslim population
Some schools have rescheduled prom, adjusted their testing schedules or made other accommodations to help fasting students. It's part of a trend in recent years of schools adopting more inclusive policies for religious minorities.
(SEATTLE TIMES) – As Renton High School seniors walked across the graduation stage on Wednesday, fellow graduate Sawada Mohamed stayed home with her family.
The 18-year-old had purchased her cap and gown, but earlier in the school year decided to skip the ceremony. Despite her mother’s protest, Mohamed described her choice as a fitting end to years of frustration she experienced in a school system she felt had little respect for her Muslim faith.
“Honestly, because everything I’ve dealt with in the past, just let it be,” Mohamed said earlier this week. “I bought the cap and gown for memories of the hard work and everything I accomplished, but it’s just not worth it at this point.”
This year, the most stressful time of the school year coincided with the holiest time for Mohamed: Ramadan, when Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset for a month in order to focus on spiritual growth, family and charity.
It’s also when students faced the pressure of finals their Faith Kept them advancing to the next grade or graduation, in addition to other once-in-a-lifetime events such as prom and senior-award banquets. As King County’s Muslim student population grows, faculty and student efforts to increase accommodation for the annual holiday and other religious activities such as prayer have gained traction.
Across Washington, accommodations aren’t just being made for Muslim students. In 2015, the state widened its window for required student testing to about three months, offering districts some flexibility to consider a long list of religious holidays and events in their planning.
The Mercer Island School District, for example, changed the date of its first day of kindergarten so Jewish students didn’t have to start on their faith’s holy day of Rosh Hashana. Earlier this year, when the Kent School District learned that its graduation venue’s security standards didn’t allow members of the Sikh community to enter carrying kirpans, religious articles that resemble knives, district officials negotiated an exception with the venue.
