A San Diego school that set up a “madrassa” for Somali Muslim students, allowing prayer time during class hours and segregating males from females, has been forced to knock it off after a large public outcry: School Stops Scheduling Class Time For Muslim Prayer.

SAN DIEGO — A San Diego school that drew international attention for setting aside time for Muslim students to pray in the classroom will no longer do so, it was reported Friday.

Instead, Carver Elementary’s schedule will be reconfigured so students can say their required midday prayers during lunch. Courts have long upheld students’ rights to pray on their own during lunch or recess, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. When the new school year begins, Carver will have two lunch periods, including one that will fall when Muslims typically say their midday prayer — between 1 and 2 p.m., the newspaper reported.

Another controversial element of Carver’s educational program geared toward Muslim students — single-gender classes — will be eliminated, the Union-Tribune reported.

Superintendent Carl Cohn stressed in a July 18 memo that single-gender education is legal under federal law, but at Carver it “has become a serious distraction from learning rather than a vehicle to promote learning,” according to the newspaper.

Carver added the single-gender classes and a daily 15-minute in-class break for voluntary prayers last September after it absorbed a failed Arabic language charter school that served primarily Somali Muslims.

More details on just how egregious this little exercise in dhimmitude was, at Roger Hedgecock’s site:

As Roger ranted for weeks the school district had allowed Muslim students a special prayer hour during regular class time, allowed them to pray under the supervision of a paid school employee inside a locked classroom with window blinds drawn and the American flag wadded up in a corner. Further the classes were segregated by gender. Additionally the Muslim students were involved in an Arabic language immersion program so that they can better read and understand the Koran.

(Hat tip: LGF readers.)