Stop the Madrassa Coalition was formed after the opening of Khalil Gibran International Academy, a charter school that focuses on teaching Arabic.

Elinor Pierce is a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Pluralism Project.

Edina Lekovic is the Director of Policy and Programming of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

M. Zuhdi Jasser is founder and chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, which promotes separation of mosque and state. He has said that “unusual accommodations” for one faith is not pluralism. AIFD is based in Phoenix, Ariz.

Read an Aug. 18, 2011, Patch.com article about students balancing school and their religion.

Read an Aug. 31, 2010, story from The National about celebrating Ramadan in public schools.

The Islamic information website Sound Vision posts a page describing six steps to getting religious accommodation in the public schools.

Read a July 21, 2006, Associated Press story posted by USA Today about public schools juggling the holidays of various religions, including Islam.

Peter Skerry is a political science professor at Boston College. During the 2006-07 school year, Skerry was a visiting scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, where he worked on a book about how a distinct Muslim identity is emerging in the United States – influenced by the presence of Muslims from Arab, South Asian and African-American backgrounds.