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Muslim students at school in Buffalo

Interesting read, hat tip to Brothers Judd.

It was story time.

Children in white polo shirts and navy jumpers or slacks gathered around their teacher and chimed in gleefully as they listened to a story. On the wall hung pictures, letters and lesson plans along with a list of virtues: wisdom, perseverance, friendship, honesty, love, generosity and cooperation. The classroom scene could have been mistaken for any private or parochial school, a tight-knit school environment where academics and moral values carry equal weight.

But a few things set Universal School in Amherst apart.

The classroom's character words were written in both English and Arabic. And the female teacher wore a head scarf, just as all female pupils in fourth grade and above do.

Universal School is a Muslim elementary school, the only one of its kind in Western New York. In the past five years, it has nearly doubled in size and now serves 55 children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. "It seems to look like a different school, but it isn't," said Khalid Bibi, a Canisius College professor, founding member and parent who served as the school's first executive board president. "This is an American school, first and foremost."

The school adheres to state education standards. Pupils take the same standardized tests as their peers in the Williamsville School District and have shown higher literacy levels overall, said Vice Principal Kathy Ahmed.

Though all the pupils share a common religious heritage, their ethnic heritage is remarkably diverse. In this place, children from Somalian, Yemeni, Pakistani, Indian, African-American, Lebanese and Syrian backgrounds are friends.