Kersten noted this about the schools founders and associations:

Its co-founders, Asad Zaman and Hesham Hussein, were imams, or Muslim religious leaders, as well as leaders of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota (MAS-MN).

Since then, they have played dual roles: Zaman as TIZA's principal and the current vice-president of MAS-MN, and Hussein as TIZA's school board chair and president of MAS-MN until his death in a car accident in Saudi Arabia in January.

TIZA shares MAS-MN's headquarters building, along with a mosque.

The Minnesota Department of Education was prompted by Kersten’s reports and complaints filed by Minnesota citizens to investigate allegations about whether TiZA had crossed the line and engaged in promoting Islam to its predominate immigrant Somali Muslim students and, basically, with few exceptions, gave TiZA a political pass.  The Minnesota Department of Education report indicated that TiZA Academy complied with most state and federal laws, but wanted TiZA to take corrective actions regarding Friday prayer services at the school and ordered to make bus rides home available right after school ends, instead of after a voluntary after-school religious program. The Minnesota chapter of the ACLU was prompted because of the allegations to conduct its own investigations.

On Wednesday, the ACLU announced that it was bringing suit in Federal District Court against TIZA, the Minnesota Department of Education and the education Commissioners for violating the First Amendment by “promoting religion”. Note this WCCO report:

The ACLU names TiZA, the Minnesota Department of Education and Education Commissioner Alice Seagren, the school's sponsor, and several school leaders in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit claims the school's sites in Blaine and Inver Grove Heights are leased from Muslim organizations that have benefited from the arrangements.

The lawsuit also alleges that TiZA has violated the First Amendment by preferring the Muslim religion over others. For example, the school allows prayer sessions during school hours, prefers Muslim dietary practices by serving certain foods and endorses Muslim clothing rules, according to the lawsuit.

The ACLU says state education officials have allowed the school to continue the alleged illegal activity and have failed to properly oversee the school's operations.

Having written about the TiZA and other Muslim organized charter schools in Ohio, California and Georgia, we hope that the Minnesota ACLU law suit will begin to turn the tide of Islamization of the public sponsored and taxpayer funded schools in America. The irony in all this is that the courageous Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist, Ms. Kersten, ended her metro columns on January 9, 2009. She will be missed and frankly should be given a journalism award for her breakthrough undercover work on TiZA.