Al-Iman School Committee

Alhumdulilah, we have made it to the end of the 2020-2021 Academic Year. All the Dua, effort and countless good intentions have truly blessed this year to be successful. Even through the pandemic, we have not only survived but we have come out stronger. There were times in the last 15 months where I lost a lot of sleep trying to come up with ideas on how to get through the pandemic. With the efforts of all the great Muslims in our community, I sleep better now. I want to thank everyone from the deepest part of my heart, and I want to ask forgiveness from the deepest part of my soul for any shortcomings I have had through this academic year. 

We received remarkable support from the IAR Administration, Security Team, Finance subcommittee, Grant Team, the Shura and the IARSB during the pandemic. Each of these teams played a significant role in our ability to find ways to continue to deliver our Islamic School services at a high level. Do not underestimate what you have done for the school and for our community. May Allah accept from all of us. Ameen.

Special thanks goes to all the School Staff and Administration. They were able to get the school through a pandemic by being the hands, feet and minds on the ground day-to-day while delivering Islamic education at a high level. 

I look forward to working with all our Muslim communities for the next academic year and, in sha Allah, working together to enhance, empower, and energize our community to grow our Islamic Schools in meaningful ways.

May Allah always protect, support, and bless this community. Ameen

Here is a list of our accomplishments for this year:

• We are also proud to say that this year was Al-Iman School’s five-year review from our accreditation agency, Cognia. The job of the team was to evaluate the school’s performance against the organization's established standards. They reviewed the schools’ documentation, interviewed stakeholders, and observed our processes. The school was given a well above average score of 300 where the average range was 278-283 from the accreditation agency and the team found the following themes evident within the school:

o   Al-Iman School has a strong culture and community that has established who they are and how the school interacts with the school community. 

• The data driven work that the school implements is evident throughout the school culture and is implemented effectively. 
• Al-Iman School is a student-centered school that has created a deliberately engaging culture and academic environment focused on meeting the needs of individual student learners in all aspects of the educational experience.
• Al-Iman School is a school that has created a culture that deliberately engages student learners in an academic environment that implements and focuses on Islamic integration in every aspect of the learning experience.
• The ASC established a marketing subcommittee to recover from the loss of enrollment and were able to successfully have a significantly higher enrollment for next academic year with over 170+ new applications and almost every single grade level being at capacity and/or waitlisted.
• The ASC established a needs-based scholarship for the next academic year to support parents’ financial needs as the school looks to continue to support itself operationally. Currently, the tuition only meets approximately $700 of the approximately $900 operational cost per student per month.
• Our fundraiser was very successful in meeting its goal for raising over $150K
• Br. Glenn provided extraordinary support helping the school qualify for stimulus funds that allowed the school to essentially stay open this year. 
• COVID-19 Task Force:
• Members: Maha Ali, Ayaz Pathan, Eman Barakat, Firdos Pathan, Waddah Sayed, Farea Khan, Rana Al-Sabawi, Emily Ealey, Maher Al-Hertani
• The COVID-19 Task Force was put into place in the summer of 2020 to manage the effect of the pandemic on the operation of Al-Iman School. Our objective was to keep the school functioning as “normal” as possible, while establishing and enforcing health and safety guidelines based on the latest research and recommendations from the CDC and Wake County Health department.
• Key Resources: Sr. Eman Barakat who has completed an Emergency Medical Services certification program. She received job specific training from Dr. Ayaz Pathan, Sr. Maha Ali and the Al-Iman administration.
• Established a handbook of health related and specific COVID -19 policies/procedures
• Provided Covid-19 Vaccine education to all teachers and assisted with location of vaccination sites. Maintains vaccine records for all staff members.
• Partnered with Andor Labs to provide Covid testing for all staff members prior to the start of academic school year. Worked with IAR and ExpressTest NC to facilitate voluntary drive through COVID-19 testing after winter break
• Completed process for requirements necessary for Al-Iman School to become a certified site for (On-site COVID 19 testing). This will be used with consent for any staff/student exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms on site
• Thus far, total of 4 isolated COVID-19 cases, Alhamdulilah. None of these cases traced back to the school. This number includes students as well as staff members. We have had zero instances where the school had to be shut down due to the spread of Covid, or where a whole grade level had to be quarantined Alhamdulilah.

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Firdos Pathan