TiZA, ACLU settle lawsuit

A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against a now defunct charter school, Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, has been settled.

Three years ago the ACLU sued the school, known as TiZA, in federal court claiming it violated the constitution by teaching religion in a public school. TiZA had campuses in Blaine and Inver Grove Heights.

The settlement claims no wrongdoing by school's officials, according to Chuck Samuelson, the head of the ACLU in Minnesota. But it temporarily bans TiZA's its former leaders, including co-founder Asad Zaman, from holding leadership positions at a public school, Samuelson said.

"We wanted to make sure that Asad Zaman was not involved as an officer, director or administrator of a Minnesota public charter school, and should not be the leader of an educational studies program at a Minnesota public school for three years," he said.

Neither Asad Zaman nor his attorney could be reached for comment.

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