Marine Dad Barred from School over Protest of Islam Curriculum

In an incident mirroring a recent California case, a Marine in Maryland who served overseas and fought against Islamic extremists was barred from school premises when he protested his daughter learning about what he called “the benefits of Islam” at her Maryland high school. 

Kevin Wood asked that she be excused from class while that subject was discussed, but La Plata High School refused, prompting Wood to argue with the school. That triggered the school to issue a no-trespassing order, reported Pennlive. 

Station USA9 reported that Wood, presently a firefighter, said he had not made any threats. Wood and his wife said that if Islam was going to be taught, current events should be part of the lesson. Melissa Wood said, “That’s I guess our biggest concern right now is how they’re teaching it and what is really going on right now in this world.” Kevin Wood added,”[Schools] are not teaching about radical Islam right now – going around beheading people in America and Australia and they’re not teaching that. They’re just teaching, ‘Oh, it’s peaceful.’ And it’s not peaceful.” 

Zainab Chaudry, Maryland Outreach Manager for CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she was “saddened but not surprised,” continuing, “Unfortunately there is a growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. It’s important that if these [extremist] groups are mentioned [in schools] and that students are taught about that, that a distinction is made so students understand that these groups are not following the teachings of true Islam.”

This contretemps follows directly on the heels of parents of a boy enrolled in Manhattan Beach Middle School in California yanking their son out of class because the school was teaching children the tenets of Islam, as reported by KTLA. The parents noted that the students were asked to write down teaching from Islam, including, “The one true God, Allah,” and “All people must submit to Allah.” The parents talked to the principal, but the school would not change the schoolwork.