US high school allows Muslims time for prayer if they earn good grades

A high school near Washington DC has taken a rare step of accommodating Muslim prayer during class hours. Parkdale High School now allows a handful of its students to be excused to pray. The decision has made some Christian staffers "unhappy".
Prince George County High School Principal Cheryl J. Logan said the initiative is in response to the “needs of the growing Muslim community,” the Washington Post reported. To be able to leave class each day all you need is a parental permission and high grades, Logan said.
Currently, about 10 Muslim students have earned the right to pray, and are reportedly allowed eight minutes each day for a joint prayer on campus. Another high school student is working hard to raise his grades to join the group, all of whom belong to Muslim Students' Association, Logan said.
It is hoped that allowing prayer will motivate Muslim students to improve their overall school performance.
The move has already upset several of the school's Christian staffers, many of whom remember when the school was a Christian institution. US public schools are secular by law, but are legally allowed to accommodate religious students’ practices, Logan explained.
“I’ve been real happy with how we've been able to deal with it without it becoming an increasingly big issue," Logan said.
But Logan’s initiative may not have a happy ending, said Charels Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum: "Once you start down that road then you really are in a bind." Now, any student who asks to be excused from class for religious reasons must be accommodated, Haynes told the Washington Post.

Read more [link to rt.com]