Student’s hijab was ‘out of compliance’ at Massachusetts charter school, letter says
After a Muslim student wore a hijab to school, she was handed a letter saying the head covering was “out of compliance” with the Massachusetts charter school’s dress code.
The girl recently chose to begin publicly wearing a hijab, which is worn by women of Muslim faith, and received the school uniform infraction letter on her first day of school at Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden, according to a social media post from her sister.
The student, who is in eighth grade, according to CBS, is one of roughly 1,600 K-12 students who attend the charter school that requires students to be in uniform.
“It’s (her) first day of school wearing hijab for this year and she gets sent down to the office for not being uniform compliant,” an Aug. 18 Facebook post from another family member said.
The Aug. 18 letter, which misspells hijab as “jihab,” warns the child’s parent that if the dress code infraction is not corrected, it will result in detention.
Meanwhile, school Superintendent Alex Dan told McClatchy News in a statement that the school “wishes to express its regret” over how the incident was “mishandled.”
“It is our current policy to allow students to wear religious attire as an expression of their sincerely held beliefs,” Dan added. “As part of this process, we request a letter expressing this desire from a member of their clergy.”
In the student’s sister’s Instagram post, she wrote that she also attended the charter school, as well as their older sister, and they each wore a hijab. The post added that the head covering is “nothing new” to the school.
Now the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Massachusetts chapter (CAIR-MA), which is a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, is “investigating” the matter, according to an Aug. 21 news release.
“Wearing a #hijab or other religious attire shouldn’t require families to seek an accommodation,” a Twitter statement from the organization said.
The school superintendent said, “While we would like to reiterate that the well-respected staff member overseeing the process should bear no responsibility for what has transpired, we understand how our handling of the situation came across as insensitive and look forward to using this moment as a learning opportunity to improve our policies and procedures.”
“The school has begun reaching out to the religious community for input regarding how it may handle religious accommodations in the future,” the superintendent’s statement added. “We look forward to obtaining the input of the interfaith community, to resolving the current issue in a timely manner, and to sharing the product of our work soon.”
Lawyers from CAIR-MA are now representing the student’s family amid their investigation of the incident, according to the release.
Malden is roughly 7 miles north of Boston.
This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 3:17 PM with the headline "Student’s hijab was ‘out of compliance’ at Massachusetts charter school, letter says."
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