(picture from http://www.apacademy.org/)
It is 2p.m. at the Austin Peace Academy. Students squirm in the blue chairs at their desk – waiting for the bell to ring. Their teacher walks past the aquarium hosting a family of small, speckled turtles and finishes her last words on the make-up of a cell. Then the shrill recording of a bell echoes through the hallways. This sound, however, does not release the children from school or announce recess; it is a call to prayer.
The Austin Peace Academy is one of four Muslim schools in the Austin area. After 11 years in existence, the student body has grown to 132 children and young adults from pre-kindergarten to 9th grade.
“[The Academy] gives students the ability to feel proud they are Muslim,” said Latifa Aimaq, the Language Arts teacher for 8th and 9th graders, “there has been tremendous pressure since 9/11 just to blend in. You can’t be who you are.”
Besides the Islamic Studies and Arabic classes, the Academy’s education is not different from a typical student taking math, science, physical education and social studies with the same textbooks and curriculum as a secular school.
Though teachings from the Quran not integrated into the core classes, the role of Muslim values are apparent in the APA’s mission statement: “Prepare our students for success in this life and the Hereafter by providing them with exemplary education based on Islamic morals, values, and the highest academic standards.”
The school day begins promptly at 8a.m. with a morning assembly. Classes start ten minutes later and release at 3:15p.m. 20 minutes of their day is dedicated to Salat al-Dhuhr, the afternoon prayer in a large hall with rays of sun illuminating the tall, white ceilings and padded floors.
“They really believe. Their faith is involved in everything they do. They are very serious about their religion. It’s their entire life,” said Chanele Brothers, the social studies teacher for 5th to 9th graders.
Ms. Brothers earned her Masters at the University of Texas in Russian, Eastern European and Eurasian Studies. She is one of the estimated 50% of teachers who is not Muslim.
Like many of the teachers at the Austin Peace Academy, Brothers has been impressed at the good behavior and success of the children.
“They are a lot calmer, discipline wise and easier to deal with. They seem to have respect for their teachers,” said Malalai Sayedi, the Math and Science teacher for 4th through 6th grade.
Principle Dr. Walid Hawana is especially proud of his brood. So far, the students have boasted several awards in science fairs and speech contests and scored exemplarily well on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge tests students take every year.
“It is beautiful to feel the development in front of you,” he said, “[you can] see the difference.”
After teaching at the University level in Iowa, Saudi Arabia and Libya, Dr. Hawana was ready for a change and moved to Austin to take the position of principal at APA.
This close knit, homogenous environment is nurturing to the students, but Brothers has seen one difference in the children that might be a hurdle to overcome outside of the red brick gates of APA.
“I find them to be extremely naïve to the world,” she said. This could be a good thing where we live in a society where kids learn, as she said, “too much too early.”
Dr. Hawana also sees the difficulty for some students if they choose to transfer to public schools that “have them under pressure,” he says. “It’s hard for them to adjust.”
Aimaq aims to prepare her students for this world, integrating classes such as journalism into the curriculum and fostering a love for learning in her pupils.
“I want them to function inside and out [of APA]. They need to be functional as whole human beings in the U.S.A.,” she said.
Dr. Hawana agrees that the APA should lay the groundwork for their life after high school.
“We want to instill in them good morals [that] you can’t tell them in college,” he says.
Outside, the children are preparing for P.E. The teacher tells them today they will be running four laps around the grass field and parking lot – an instruction followed by the groans and anxiety of any other child faced with this seemingly arduous task.
By the water fountain, two elementary aged children banter with each other playfully while the hunter green skirt of a girl’s jumper flaps as she skips down the hall.
It is then that any visitor realizes the normalcy of this school. APA is not a foreign world. Just as any other school, teachers share stories by the copy machine, first graders sound out each letter of the word “ball” and the cool kids are known for being a little rebellious.
What is different is the student’s close bond tied to their Islamic faith.
“[They] are like family to each other,” says Brothers.
