“Can I Take the Hijab Off?”: Developing Safe Spaces for Somali Children in Mainstream Classrooms

  Sirad Shirdon In September, my two nieces began school at a local Montessori school, a far cry from their previous school: a charter school in Columbus with questionable educational quality. The charter school she attended, like many in North Columbus, has a large Somali student population.  In recent years, Somali parents in the US…