Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Friday Prayer Mohammad joined my fifth grade classroom in mid-September. It has been about five months since he arrived, and he has been doing a great job on all subjects. He does not cause any discipline problems. He and his family are Muslims. My only problem with Mohammad comes every Friday. The 5th grade team at my school does weekly testing on Fridays to monitor student progress in Reading and Math. Therefore, we need all the students at school on Friday. Mohammad's father wants to take him to Friday prayer every week. I did some research and found out that the Friday prayer is a special prayer in the Muslim world. I want to respect their religion, but because of the Friday prayer, Mohammad has been missing the weekly tests. I talked to my colleagues to entertain the idea of changing the time of the test, but it does not seem possible because of the special area courses and other obligations we have on Fridays. So, my only other option is to ask Mohammad's father. I do not know how to go about this? Should I ask him? What if he says his son must go to the Friday prayer every week? What do I do then? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I completely understand where your struggle is coming from. You're not necessarily concerned with the fact that he's praying just that he is missing his tests. Also, changing the tests for every child just for one doesn't sounds very reasonable. I think I would talk to Mohammad's father and see if you could make other arrangements for Mohammad to take his test at another time, this will allow him to still attend Friday prayer and take his tests. Though it may be a small hassle if you have to stay after or come early but maybe you could squeeze in his test throughout the day at another time.