Netlets for Sunday, March 16

As a lead teacher at Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), I am saddened and confused by inflammatory statements I have recently read about TIZA.

Based on three years of experience working closely with staff at TIZA, including the director Asad Zaman, I have experienced firsthand this school's dedication to student achievement and well being.

Part of my job responsibility is to conduct teacher observations. I have never witnessed any religious instruction during school or any pressure to adhere to particular religious beliefs. In fact, I am Christian and have always felt completely welcome at TIZA.

I have witnessed excellent teachers from different religious and cultural backgrounds striving to improve their instruction and student achievement in reading and writing English as well as in math, science, social studies, physical education and Arabic.

I have witnessed test scores of students steadily increase as a result. In fact last year, TIZA had one of the highest math proficiency rates in the state. Reading rates were also high, even though most students are still learning the English language.

That is what is really happening at TIZA. It should be happening in more public schools.

WENDY SWANSON-CHOI, EAGAN

"Seizing plates from unlicensed drivers" (editorial, March 9) makes sense, but it doesn't go far enough. We need a permanent solution to stop killing on our highways by unlicensed drivers.

A 99.9 percent-effective solution would stop illegal-unlicensed-uninsured drivers from buying gas. Without gas they can't drive.

Can we stop these dangerous drivers from buying gas? You bet.

Minnesota could make its driver's license a credit card that can buy gas at Minnesota gas pumps. To buy gas, this VISA-like driver's license would have to be used. In four to five years unlicensed Minnesota drivers could not buy gas in Minnesota.

The Department of Motor Vehicles could get unlicensed/illegal/uninsured drivers off Minnesota highways if a VISA-like operator's license was needed to buy gas by Minnesota drivers. The good news: Credit card systems are proven and can be quickly adapted by DMV.

TOM O'MARA, STACY, MINN.

Why just seize the license plates? Seize and confiscate the car. Then the unlicensed driver will have nothing to drive and insurance won't be an issue.

The car owner who lends his/her vehicle to anyone will have a vested interest in making sure that the borrower is a licensed driver. Would you lend your car to someone you didn't trust to tell you the truth in this regard? I wouldn't.

GAIL MATHEWS, APPLE VALLEY

I wholeheartedly agree with Lori Sturdevant's March 9 column on the Dream Act. I have met a number of the students lobbying for this legislation. We should be recruiting these highly motivated young people to attend our state's public colleges and universities, not obstructing their access to higher education by forcing them to pay out-of-state tuition rates.

These students' families have paid Minnesota taxes and deserve the same access to our public institutions of higher learning as other residents. This education would enable them to make great contributions of talent and financial resources to the state they call home.

RANDY CROCE, ST. PAUL

In "A Tale of Two Malls" (Business, March 9), the Southdale Mall in Edina is referred to as "the nation's first enclosed shopping mall," when an assortment of shops were connected to Gabbert's furniture store in 1974.

"The Arcade," however, is a much older enclosed shopping mall that was built in 1828 in Providence, R.I. This mall significantly predates Southdale and is a stunning example of Greek Revival style. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

KAREN HARDER, MINNEAPOLIS

Jim Wallis speaks eloquently on issues of poverty and the church, but I am always troubled when he makes statements like this (Opinion Exchange, March 9): "They suspect that Jesus would likely care more about the 30,000 children who die globally each day due to totally unnecessary poverty and utterly preventable disease than he might worry about gay-marriage amendments in Ohio."

I think Jesus does care about gay-marriage rights in Ohio. I think Jesus cares deeply that a whole segment of society is not only treated as second class citizens but, even more important, that religious leaders are the ones teaching the discrimination.

It is time for progressive evangelical leaders like Jim Wallis to condemn the anti-gay teachings in the faith communities. Like slavery and the second-class citizenship of women, the Bible has been used to condemn the gay community. Wallis seems to miss that lesson time and again.

May the new "faith-inspired movement for social justice" that Wallis writes about understand the truth that gay people are children of God and they are loved by God exactly as they were created. When that lesson is taken to heart, the gay community should be treated with equality in all areas of life.

RANDI REITAN, EDINA