Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Domination of Accommodation

Did you know that the Toronto public school board has a position called "the superintendent of inclusive schools." No? Neither did I until I read about it in this Globe and Mail article about how the chap with that august title thinks it's okey-dokey for a public school to host an imam every Friday so that Muslim moppets can say their prayers in situ. His "reasoning" (if you can call it that): the, ahem, "community" is footing the bill for the arrangement:
The Toronto District School Board says it is meeting its obligation to accommodate students’ religious beliefs by allowing an imam to lead students in prayer on school property.
The board came under fire this week when a Hindu group that regularly criticizes Islam raised objections to Friday Muslim prayer sessions, which have been held inside a cafeteria at Valley Park Middle School in Flemingdon Park for about three years.
Jim Spyropoulos, superintendent of inclusive schools for the board, said that parents and teachers at the school came up with an arrangement that would enable the more than 300 observant students at the school to attend prayer without leaving school property and missing class time.
The prayers are entirely run and paid for by the Valley Park community.
“I think it’s important to note the prayer isn’t conducted under the auspices of the board,” he said. “The principal was creative enough to sit down with parents and come up with a solution that worked for everyone and there has not been a single complaint from within the community.”
Similar arrangements have been made for Muslim students at other schools throughout the board, he said...
No doubt.

The problem with Canada--and it's the same one evident in the rulings of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council--is that the know-nothings are in charge of stuff.

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