There’s no room for God in school, but plenty of room for Allah.

In California, home to the largest number of Afghan refugees in the country, school officials are preparing for an influx of refugee students who fled Afghanistan with their families after the Taliban seized power in the country last month.

I suppose we could focus on educating Americans, but considering it’s California, that’s not really an option anyway.

Elk Grove Unified School District began offering culturally appropriate meals and setting aside rooms in many of its middle and high schools for prayer during Muslim holidays in preparation for the additional Afghan refugee students it expects in the next month. San Juan Unified is offering Saturday school for English learners and Fremont Unified is planning to hire more translators.

That can only do good things for EGUSD’s numbers.

In Elk Grove Unified School District, 53% of elementary students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 44% tested at or above that level for math. Also, 46% of middle school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 35% tested at or above that level for math. And 61% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 36% tested at or above that level for math.

Who needs math anyway, when you can hire Afghan translators and then educate American students on Afghan traditions. 

Elk Grove staff who are interested in learning more about the cultural differences the Afghan students will face can take classes provided by the district.

The Bacha Bazi course should be truly enlightening. Not to mention child marriage and murdering girls who look boys in the eye. 

Elk Grove Unified, a district of 63,000 students in south Sacramento County, has about 2,000 student refugees from Afghanistan, said Lisa Levasseur, a program specialist in the district’s Family and Community Engagement Department. The number of students started increasing about four years ago. Now, the Afghan population is the fastest-growing ethnicity in the district, Levasseur said.

That can only lead to good things.

But back to “setting aside rooms in many of its middle and high schools for prayer during Muslim holidays”. 

EGUSD became famous for the Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow in which an atheist sued the school because the Pledge of Allegiance includes the word, “Under God”. The case was an awkward mess that went to the Supreme Court, but should never have gotten that far and ended up being tossed out because Newdow didn’t actually have custody of his daughter. 

The ACLU however had weighed in support of Newdow. And yet I suspect it will have nothing to say about Muslim prayer rooms at Elk Grove.