ISRI in the Providence Journal

First Islamic school in R.I. buys parish buildings

Monday Dec. 15, 2008

Asiyah Bennwahhoud, 3, a pre-K student at the Islamic School of Rhode Island, is festively dressed for the celebration.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

WEST WARWICK — Rhode Island’s Islamic community paused yesterday afternoon to mark a milestone: the purchase of a former Catholic school and adjacent gymnasium building to serve as an Islamic elementary and middle school.

The Islamic School of Rhode Island — the state’s first and only — had been renting space from Sacred Heart Church for the last five years. But, on Nov. 19, the Islamic School bought Sacred Heart’s former school and gym for $750,000.

Yesterday, the school held a dinner in the gym to celebrate the purchase. Among the guests was the Rev. Richard A. Bucci, pastor of Sacred Heart, which extended an interest-free mortgage to the school.

Before renting from Sacred Heart, Rhode Island Muslims had to send their children to an Islamic school in Sharon, Mass., or to secular schools in the Ocean State.

But leaders of the Islamic community, including Mohamed Abdul Rahman, Nasser Zawia, Jennifer Ead and Nieema Nurrideen, wanted to bring the state’s Muslims together in a way that would focus on their faith, according to Dr. Amjad Kinjawi, a dentist in Franklin, Mass., who is president of the school’s board of trustees.

“There’s a need of presenting Islam in a right way,” Kinjawi said yesterday, “trying to integrate our values into society ourselves, how to be a walking example of what Islam should be.”

The Islamic School is much like any other Rhode Island school for youngsters from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. The 117 students study reading, writing, math and other secular subjects from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in coed classes. But it also has classes in the Koran, Islam’s holy book; Arabic, the language of the Koran, and religious values. The school also has classes in physical education, including karate and kickboxing, to promote development of the body as well as the mind, Kinjawi said.

The school, on Providence Street, is a two-story building with 17,000 square feet of floor space. The gymnasium building is about 5,000 square feet.

A next step for the Islamic community will be to establish a high school in Rhode Island. Currently, students must travel to Mansfield, Mass., to attend an Islamic high school. That dream may have to wait awhile, Kinjawi said, as Rhode Island deals with the recession.

pparker@projo.com

Above, teacher Nancy Quartaro-Kattan chats with 4-year-old Iman Izoli, 4, while the teacher’s daughter, Nor El Iman Kattan, 3, colors with a crayon.
 

Rhode Islands first full time Islamic School opens

JOURNAL PHOTO / SANDOR BODO

WEST WARWICK: Yesterday was the first day of classes at the Islamic School of Rhode Island, in West Warwick, the first Islamic school in the state. As of yesterday, the school had an enrollment of 37 students in pre-kindergarten through third grade. Churches throughout Rhode Island sent greeting cards and flowers welcoming the new school, Ead said. “It actually gave me goose bumps and put a couple of tears in my eyes.

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Nasser Zawia and Jennifer Ead, members of the board of trustees of the Islamic School of Rhode Island, look forward to the school's Sept. 7 opening.
New school serves Muslim students besides traditional subjects, children will take classes in Arabic, the Koran and religious studies.

01:00 AM EDT on Friday, August 20, 2004

BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Wrtier


WEST WARWICK -- The first Islamic school in Rhode Island is set to open here next month, serving

Muslim students from Rhode Island and nearby states.

In past years, Muslim parents have had to take their children to parochial schools in Massachusetts, or send them to local public schools, where they sometimes face prejudice, said Jennifer Ead, spokeswoman for the new Islamic School of Rhode Island.

The new school is in an unusual place -- the site of a former Roman Catholic parochial school, just behind Sacred Heart Church -- and its front door looks out on a grotto honoring an Italian saint.

"It's good to be in the background of a church," said Nasser Zawia, a member of the school's board of trustees who said he wants the school to be an accepted part of the community. "It erases a lot of misconceptions."

The school is open to any student, pre-kindergarten through grade six, although enrollment may be limited to pre-K through grade three during the first year, Ead said. Fewer than 50 have signed up so far. Students are expected from as far away as Massachusetts and Connecticut. So far, no non-Muslims have enrolled.

There's been a need for an Islamic school in the area for some time, but the backlash against Muslims following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks galvanized the effort to create one, Ead said.

"We wanted our children to come and feel free in who they are and not have backbiting and ridicule," she said. Ead said public schools are particularly difficult for Muslim girls, who often stand out because they cover their heads.

Zawia and Ead said overt hate crimes are rare in Rhode Island, although just last month, someone spray-painted slurs on a convenience store across town that is owned by an Egyptian-American.

Ead, also a member of the board of trustees, grew up in Glocester and is a convert to Islam. She has been home-schooling her children, ages 7 and 4, but plans to send them to the new school when it opens Sept. 7.

In addition to traditional academic subjects, students will take classes in Arabic, the Koran and religious studies. They will break for midday and afternoon prayers. Non-Muslim students would have the option of forgoing those activities.

The state Department of Education has granted the school "provisional approval" to open next month, said Stephen Nardelli, who handles parochial school matters for the department. Final approval would come once building, fire, and other inspections are complete, he said.

For decades, Sacred Heart Church rented the school building to the West Warwick School Department, which used it as an annex to the Providence Street Elementary School.

The Rev. Richard A. Bucci, pastor of Sacred Heart, said his church welcomes its new neighbors -- and the new source of rent.

"A Muslim family has had the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since the Middle Ages, so I don't think giving them the keys to our school was a particularly momentous event.

"I've had less trouble with them than I've had with the Town Council, let's put it that way."

The school operates on a shoestring, relying on donations and a $3,000 annual student tuition. Every donation helps, Ead said, such as the $100 worth of paint that Home Depot recently gave the school.

"Our biggest challenge is transportation," said Zawia, who is also a professor at the University of Rhode Island. Enrolled students are from all over the state, and there is no money to bus the students in. For now, parents will be responsible for that.

If the school succeeds, it will try to pay for busing in the future, Ead said. She added: "Insha Allah" -- "God willing."


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Town gets 3 proposals for former school site

Thursday, February 12, 2004

BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer



WEST WARWICK -- Developers competing to acquire the former Providence Street Elementary School, in Natick, variously propose redeveloping it as an office building, an Islamic school and an apartment complex.

The three bids, ranging from $500,002 to $526,000, were opened yesterday morning in Town Hall. The town, in initiating the second round of bids on the land and vintage building, had stipulated a minimum bid of $500,000.

Arthur A. Yatsko, a Warwick developer whose last bid for the property was rejected by the council in November, again proposed renovating the three-story building and leasing it to a mortgage company and other professional offices. His offer was $500,002, slightly less than his previous offer of $502,000.

The Islamic School of Rhode Island proposed to keep the building in use as a grade school. The newly-formed organization bid $501,000, but proposes paying only $50,000 up front and the rest in installments over 10 years.

Warwick property owner Frank Neri proposed turning the school into 12 apartments, and erecting one or two additional buildings to bring the total number of apartments to 48, according to Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer. Neri offered $526,000.

The validity of Neri's bid was in question yesterday, because he did not include a required $25,000 check with his proposal, Bauer said. Neri could not be reached for comment.

Other details of the proposals were not disclosed. Bauer refused to allow a Providence Journal reporter to examine the bids, although they were opened in public.

"We're not going to give you documents we haven't screened," Bauer said, suggesting that a written request be filed for the for the documents.

The last time bids for the school were opened, last September, copies were provided immediately.

Those earlier bids had been submitted by Yatsko, the Warwick developer, and by Goldstein Associates of Providence. Goldstein offered $555,000 for the property, proposing to convert the former school into apartments and building a small retail center on what is now the parking lot.

In the face of public opposition to the plan, Goldstein later withdrew its proposal. Then, the council rejected Yatsko's bid, with members saying that another round of bidding might yield a higher price.

Yesterday's opening seemed to prove those hopes vain, because no one proposed paying even as much as Goldstein had.

After his first bid was rejected in November, Yatsko had suggested that he would not pursue the project again. But he said yesterday that support from local residents changed his mind.

"I got a lot of lobbying from neighbors and townspeople," he said.

Yatski said the only substantial change in his proposal was the addition of a gazebo near the intersection of Providence and Wakefield Streets.

He said he was offering slightly less money because of the gazebo, which he said would be an extra expense but a boon to the Natick neighborhood.

Yatsko would use federal and state historic-properties tax credits to finance the renovation, which in his earlier proposal he estimated would cost $2.2 million.

Neri's proposal involves a two-year tax abatement deal with the town, and would require the town to remove an underground fuel tank, Bauer said. If all 48 apartments could not be built, Neri would no longer be interested in acquiring the property, Bauer said. The Muslim group envisions establishing the first Islamic school in Rhode Island, said Mohamed Abdelrahman, the group's president. The school would be for pre-kindergarten to either third grade or sixth grade."The Muslim community needs an Islamic school," he said. "Now they send their children to schools outside the state."

In addition to academic subjects, students at the school would study Muslim culture and religion and Arabic, Abdelrahman said. "Its vision is to produce children that are well-rounded American citizens who are responsible and who are conscious about their role in the society," he said.

The group would hope to be able to open the school this fall, depending on the results of fire and building inspections, Abdelrahman said. He said parents of 30 to 40 youngsters had expressed interest.

Zachary R. Mider can be reached at 277-8068 or zmider#projo.com.

http://www.projo.com/westbay/content/projo_20040212_ww12pss.2e3f6.html


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Bidder on school says town 'must have lost' his check

01:00 AM EST on Friday, February 13, 2004

BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer



WEST WARWICK -- Frank Neri says the town "must have lost" the $25,000 check he says he included with his bid, opened Wednesday, to buy and renovate the former Providence Street School.

The validity of the proposal that the landlord and developer submitted, in competition with two other bidders, was in doubt because the check -- required to demonstrate that the bid is valid -- wasn't there, Town Manager Wolfgang Bauer said at the time. (The checks are returned to successful bidders.)

"They must have lost it," Neri said yesterday. "They must have dropped it on the floor." He said he would submit a check to replace it.

Bauer could not be reached for comment yesterday afternoon. Finance Director Malcolm A. Moore declined to say whether Neri could validate the bid by sending another check.

Neri, whose offices are in Warwick, proposes to turn the former school into 12 "upscale" apartments and build 36 more apartments in the adjoining parking lot. He offered to pay the town $526,000 for the property, and estimated that the redevelopment project would cost $1,750,000.

The other bidders were Arthur A. Yatsko, a Warwick developer who would convert the building into office space, and the Islamic School of Rhode Island, which aims to open a religious school.

Zachary R. Mider can be reached at 277-8068 or zmider#projo.com

http://www.projo.com/westbay/content/projo_20040213_ww13bid.41167.html




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Town suggests swapping school for church

01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, February 17, 2004

BY ZACHARY R. MIDER
Journal Staff Writer



WEST WARWICK -- The town has informally floated the idea of swapping the town's vacant Providence Street School, in Natick, for the closed St. James Church, in Arctic.

Town Council President Jeanne-Marie DiMasi said town officials have asked Capstone Properties, the real estate agent for the newly formed Saints John and James Church, if parish officials and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence would consider a trade.

The town is interested in acquiring the church, in the center of the Arctic business district, as the possible site of a new police or fire station or a senior center, DiMasi said.

DiMasi said she is awaiting the results of a meeting, scheduled for the end of the month, at which Capstone is to discuss the idea with parish and diocese officials.

St. James Church, after seeing its congregation dwindle in recent years, closed last September. Its congregation merged with that of nearby St. John the Baptist to form Saints John and James Church.

Capstone Properties is asking $2.2 million for the St. James property, said John A. Pagliarini Jr., a lawyer for Saints John and James.

DiMasi characterized the asking price as not "realistic." But she she conceded that the church property is worth more than the school property and said the town would offer cash -- no figure has been discussed -- as part of a swap.

The town last week opened three developers' proposals to buy and redevelop the Providence Street School. The purchase offers ranged from $500,002 to $526,000.

Pagliarini played down the significance of the idea broached by the town.

"There is no negotiation going on that I am involved with," he said, adding that the idea originated with the town. "This is a 'wish' kind of scenario that's out there," he said.

But DiMasi said she is interested in pursuing it.

Providence Street School is across the street from Sacred Heart Church and, until its closing, it leased the former parish school there for use as an annex.

DiMasi said that Sacred Heart Church has put the old parish school on the market, and she suggested that it might be interested in acquiring Providence Street so that it could market both schools as a package.

Acquiring the St. James site would give the town more options as it pursues a renewal of Arctic as part of a "municipal economic development zone," DiMasi said.

"It shows that the town has an interest in building up Arctic," she said.

Councilman Edward A. Giroux, whose Ward 3 includes the area, said he envisions a "public safety and government center" that would help spur Arctic's hoped-for renewal.

"I'd like to see the town invest in [Arctic's] future so that others will too," he said.

The Police and Fire Departments, both of which are headquartered in Town Hall, have been looking for more space for years, and the Senior Center is said to have outgrown its building on Factory Street.

The proposals that the town opened last week for the Providence Street School called variously for turning it into an office building, an Islamic school or apartments. DiMasi said that the town has the option of rejecting all three bids.

Giroux said he would ask that the council to postpone any consideration of the bids until the potential swap can be discussed in detail.

Zachary R, Mider can be reached at 277-8068 or zmider?@projo.com

http://www.projo.com/westbay/content/projo_20040217_ww17chur.135a78.html