Ron Griffen
Ron Griffen is the principal of L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, which began allowing prayer during lunch breaks after a Muslim student filed a 2005 lawsuit against a school policy banning prayer.
Ron Griffen is the principal of L.V. Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas, which began allowing prayer during lunch breaks after a Muslim student filed a 2005 lawsuit against a school policy banning prayer.
Zakia Hyder is an author and a Muslim who lives in Mason, Ohio, where the school board considered the rights of Muslim students to a separate room for lunch periods during Ramadan. She wrote an opinion piece for the Cincinnati Enquirer calling for the school board to spend its time providing quality education and not religious accommodation issues.
Timothy Cannon is principal of Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, Ill. The school sets aside an area for Muslim students’ afternoon prayers during Ramadan.
Tahvia Shaw is the principal of Terrace Community Middle School in Thonotosassa, Fla. The school was the first in its district to make Eid al-Fitr a school holiday. The school is in Hillsborough County, which eliminated all religious holidays, except Christmas, after it added Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur as holidays and then received requests from Muslim groups […]
Khalid Qazi heads the Buffalo, N.Y., chapter of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Rochelle Eisenberg is an attorney who specializes in education law and has represented superintendents and school boards across the state of Maryland. She can discuss what it would take to close Maryland schools for Eid al-Fitr.
Bruce Dierenfield is a professor of history at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. He is the author of The Battle Over School Prayer: How Engel v. Vitale Changed America (2007).
Jay Wexler is a law professor at Boston University who specializes in First Amendment issues, including religious expression in public schools and the public square. He speaks on church-state and other constitutional issues across the U.S. and internationally.
J. Richard Ratcliffe is a lawyer in Providence, R.I. As a speaker for the Center for First Amendment Rights in Hartford, Conn., he frequently talks with high school, college and professional groups about the First Amendment.