Taxpayer-funded Minneapolis high school to build prayer room and foot-washing stations for Muslim students

Published: 23:11, 20 April 2026 | Updated: 23:13, 20 April 2026 A Minneapolis-area school district is planning to add a prayer room and a foot-washing station for Muslim students to two of its high schools. The Osseo Area Schools confirmed to Alpha News reporter Liz Collin that its remodel at Park Center Senior High School includes a prayer room and that foot-washing stations are being added to Osseo Senior High School. The prayer room and foot-washing stations were apparently included in the updated plans for the district's Building a Better Future initiative, a roughly $375 million effort backed by voters in 2022 and 2023. District officials told Collin that the foot-washing plans 'were included in updated plans after hearing from user groups on student needs.' It is unclear when they added the prayer room at Park Center Senior High School to the plans, but district officials have previously said the high school would undergo a massive renovation over the next three summers. Also included in the plans for Park Center are a new media center, a brighter cafeteria, a school store and a new wing dedicated to career and technical education. 'Our district wants the students of Park Center to have the same feeling that a student at Osseo [High School] has, that a student at Maple Grove [High School] has of, "I'm here, the folks here want to take care of us, they want to teach us. We feel really good about the environment we get to live in,"' John Morstad, the district's executive director of finance and operations previously told CCX Media. But the plans sparked outrage as critics cited the US's founding principle of separation of church and state. Osseo Area Schools officials have confirmed that the renovations at Park Center Senior High School will include a prayer room The plans sparked outrage as critics cited the US's founding principle of separation of church and state The plans also call for foot-washing stations at Osseo High School 'This is undoubtedly for Muslim students only,' an unidentified tipster told Alpha News of the plans. 'I cannot understand how this can be happening in this era of no religion in schools.' House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, a congressman from Minnesota, also hit out at the plans. 'Turns out when the woke left says they want religion out of schools, they're only talking about Christianity,' he posted on X. '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,' Emmer wrote. 'Just a thought.' The Daily Mail has reached out to Osseo Area Schools for comment.  The comments below have been moderated in advance. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.