Report: Minnesota school district has plans to construct Muslim prayer room

Two Minnesota high schools are planning to add a designated prayer room with a foot-washing station used in Muslim prayer rituals.

Reporter Liz Collin shared construction documents on X revealing that both Park Center Senior High School and Osseo Senior High School, part of Osseo Area Schools, would include a “prayer room” and adjacent foot-washing facilities as part of ongoing remodel projects.

“This is undoubtedly for Muslim students only. I cannot understand how this can be happening in this era of no religion in schools,” a tipster told Collin.

School officials responded to the report by claiming the prayer room was “mislabeled in construction documents” and the room will be a “multipurpose space.”

“The space could be used for prayer, or other student or staff multipurpose needs throughout the day,” said Kay Villella, executive director of school relations, in a statement to the Daily Mail.

The U.S. Supreme Court has previously addressed religion in public schools in cases such as Engel v. Vitale (1962), which prohibited state-sponsored prayer, and Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000).

While these rulings limit school-sponsored religious expression, courts have also recognized that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”

Critics argue that public schools have historically enforced strict limits on Christian expression while allowing accommodations for other faiths under the framework of “diversity and inclusion.”

Minnesota is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States, particularly within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. School officials have indicated that facility planning decisions often reflect input from students and community members, though the district has not publicly detailed specific requests tied to the proposed space.

Congressman Tom Emmer of Minnesota criticized the plans in a post on X, writing that calls to remove religion from schools are applied unevenly.

“Turns out, when the woke left says they want religion out of schools, they’re only talking about Christianity,” Emmer wrote.

“Maybe if Osseo worried about Somali gang violence as much as they worry about pandering to America-hating leftists, their schools and streets would be safer for their students. Just a thought,” Emmer continued.

This development comes amid an ongoing national debate over the role of religion in public schools.