Excerpt:
A group of charter school, religious and black community leaders called Wednesday for the state to end what it called unfair scrutiny of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA).
The half-dozen people who spoke at a news conference at the State Capitol alleged that critics -- especially the state Department of Education -- have targeted the Inver Grove Heights charter school because most of its students are minority group members and Muslim.
The heavy scrutiny amounts to "a high-tech lynching," said Eric Mahmoud, executive director of Harvest Preparatory, a Minneapolis charter school. Mahmoud pointed out that TiZA students have scored well on standardized tests even though many come from poor families.