Hare Krishnas denied charter school
Jacksonville Times-Union/May 17, 1999
By Thomas B. Pfankuch
Alachua -- Tom Allin doesn't have a shaven head, he doesn't wear long robes to work and he doesn't ask people for money at airports.
Make no mistake, Allin, 49, is a practicing member of the Hare Krishna faith. But Allin says he and members of the other 200 Krishna families that live in and around this small town 15 miles north of Gainesville aren't trapped in stereotypical images of a religion that few Americans understand.
And now, Allin and a handful of other Krishnas want to open an 80-student public charter school, one with low student-teacher ratios, mandatory parental involvement and other ideas they believe will help kids learn.
But the proposed school - the Alachua Learning Center - was denied recently by the Alachua County School Board, which Allin and his lawyer claim has been influenced by "religious scare tactics" perpetuated by people who don't understand the Krishna religion.
School Board members said they are worried the school won't be open to non-Krishnas and will be a state-funded replacement for a school now run by the Alachua Krishnas.
Charter school contracts, which must be approved by county school boards, require the schools be non-sectarian. Several groups with religious ties are running charter schools in Florida and many are located inside churches. The contracts mandate the schools not teach religion and provide for monitoring by the School Board to ensure religion is kept out of the curriculum or entrance guidelines.
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