The Islamic Cultural Center of New York, at 96th Street and Third Avenue plans to open the first full-time Islamic school in Manhattan next fall. The school, financed by the government of Kuwait, will occupy two floors of an adjacent apartment building. It will begin with grades pre-K through 2 and eventually expand to include high school, said Imam Shamsi Ali, acting imam at the mosque.
“It’s like a dream for us,” said Raesa Algazali, who teaches at the mosque’s weekend school and has been hoping for an Islamic school for her children for the past six years. “If they learn about Islam here, I don’t have to go back home,” said Algazali, explaining that she returns to Yemen every three or four years so her children are exposed to Islam and to Arabic.
The center is trying to complete construction so it can apply for a certificate of occupancy, required to apply for a license.
“Though we call it Islamic school, we are going to teach everything else,” Ali said, “plus, of course, Islamic tradition.”
While a private institution, the school will conform to New York City requirements and follow a public school curriculum along with an Islamic one, Ali said. It will hire licensed teachers fluent in English. The medium of instruction will be English and Muslim students will be required to take courses in Islamic practices, Arabic and ethics. Non-Muslim students will have the choice to study the parallel curriculum, but will not be required to.
The school will be open to discussion regarding controversial subjects like evolution, Ali said, and the students will be free to choose their own stances on the subject.
While “cultural reasons” may prevent the school from continuing coeducation after grade 6, the imam said that will depend on facilities at the time. The imam, however, is a proponent of educating girls.
The school will recruit children of diplomats, United Nations representatives and other residents of Manhattan, Ali said. Students from outer boroughs may also attend.
Many worshippers, however, think the school would be too far for children outside Manhattan.
Samir Hoti, who is working on the construction of the school building, said he would be interested in his daughters attending, if it were not so far from their home. While he lives close by on 106th Street, the girls live with their mother in the Yonkers. His son, however, will be registered when the school opens next year.
Harlem resident Algazali said she would love to have her four children attend, but she thinks it will be too expensive. So, she will enroll only one child.
Fees and finances have not been discussed, Ali said, but a system of financial aid is being devised.
The school will be housed on the first two floors of a luxury condo building next to the mosque. Entrances are separate and acoustics will be dealt with so as to avoid noise and disturbance to tenants.
Tenants walking in and out of the building were unperturbed by the idea of the school and some were supportive.
“It’s a great thing,” said Brooke Connell, who entered with two little girls.
“A school is always good,” said Heijoon Chung, another tenant . “Religious school is always OK,” she said, adding that her son goes to a Catholic school. She said she often wonders whether the Islamic school will admit students of other faiths.
Jeremy Price feels there is no real interaction with the activities of the mosque except for crowds during Ramadan and on holidays which he does not feel are intrusive or disturbing.
Algazali, however, is excited. “I have another baby,” she said, patting her stomach. She would love for that baby to attend the Islamic school, “Inshah Allah,” she said — in Arabic, God willing.
