MIAMI — A Broward County charter school dismissed a teacher last week after a video in which she appeared to admonish a group of Muslim students for praying went viral on social media and now a prominent Muslim group is asking federal law enforcement officials to investigate.
The Coalition of South Florida Muslim Organizations (COSMOS) is urging the hate crime branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI to investigate the incident as a civil rights violation. The group is also asking Franklin Academy Charter School in Pembroke Pines, where the incident took place, to allow them to educate its staff on the Islamic religion, and on the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment right of freedom of religion.
“Hate has no place and with rising hate against minorities and politicization of our school boards. It is time that communities of different faiths come together and stop this growing trend of bigotry and hate,” Shabbir Motorwala, a COSMOS founding board member, said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
“It is unknown how many teachers or other staff at Franklin Academy may have those kinds of feelings toward Muslims and members of other faiths,” he added in an interview with the Herald. “What we are asking is simple. Punishing is not an answer. Educating is the answer. We’ll be more than happy to educate the educators.”
The Broward County school district declined to comment in an email because Franklin Academy is a charter school, not a traditional public school.
The charter school’s leadership team didn’t respond to an email Monday from the Herald seeking comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Herald.
TikTok video goes viral
An anonymous user called @gawpu on TikTok posted the video on Wednesday. Since, it has gotten 1.3 million likes and more than 37,000 comments. It has also been shared by other users more than 16,000 times.
The recording shows at least three barefoot Muslim students praying out loud — bowing down, standing and prostrating on the floor. Ritual prayer, called salat, is one of the five pillars of Islam. The religion mandates that faithful Muslims, once they reach adolescence, pray five times a day facing Mecca.
In the video, a woman suddenly interrupts the students’ prayer. She says, “Hold on it’s my office and ya’ll doing all this magic.”
“I don’t know what’s going over here. I believe in Jesus, so I’m interrupting the floor, excuse me,” she adds, as she walks in front of them and almost steps on one of the students’ hands.
On Thursday, the charter school posted a statement on its Facebook page indicating the teacher captured in the TikTok video no longer worked at the school.
Teacher is no longer at the school
“Earlier today, a very troubling TikTok video was shared with our leadership team,” it reads. “At Franklin, we do not tolerate discriminatory behavior in any form. While we do not discuss personnel matters, we can share that the teacher in question is no longer a member of the Franklin Academy staff. We look forward to continuing our IB initiatives of creating a better and more peaceful world through intercultural & racial understanding and mutual respect.”
IB refers to International Baccalaureate, a rigorous academic program.
Motorwala, the COSMOS board member, pointed out that Muslims believe Jesus is a prophet and believe in his teachings but do not view him as a son of God. He noted the teacher needed to be trained on the tenets of the Islamic faith.
For the first time last year, the Broward County School Board approved a school calendar that recognizes Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, Islam’s holiest month. Miami-Dade County Public Schools does not recognize the holiday, but Broward public schools will be closed on Friday, April 21, 2023, to commemorate the holy day.
Motorwala said he doesn’t believe the teacher’s attitude is a systemic issue across Broward public schools, but he was concerned that her point of view could be found among other Franklin Academy campuses, which are located in Boynton Beach, Cooper City, Palm Beach Gardens and Sunrise, in addition to the Pembroke Pines school.
In Miami-Dade, COSMOS hosts a free discussion series called “Islam Today” at Miami Dade College and a training program for Miami-Dade public school teachers called “Educating the Educators.”
Motorwala suggested that type of training be replicated for Franklin Academy staffers.
“I don’t want to say she is racist, because I don’t know her,” he said. “I want to say it’s a lot of misinformation.”
