This is one column where it’s not good enough just reading the headline.

This whodunit should be followed right to the end.

You see, on Monday it was time to set the record straight or at least figure out what the heck was going on.

It was not a time to jump to any conclusion until we sorted out the dog’s breakfast of a tale.

Here was a local story scoring international interest.

Calgary was on the map this day but not in a way the public school board necessarily wanted.

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The headline in the Daily Mail U.S. edition: Woke Canadian school bans children from eating in its cafeteria and lunch room to avoid offending Muslim students during Ramadan.

Then there was the New York Post talking about the story shooting into the spotlight.

Their take? Canadian school sparks controversy over no food zones to serve Muslim students fasting for Ramadan.

The firestorm started with a notice to parents dated Feb. 18.

The school, Fairview School in Calgary, tells parents that to support students who may be fasting during Ramadan they will provide no-food spaces during lunch.

For Grade 4 to Grade 6, the cafeteria will be a No Food space for the first half of lunch. For the second half of lunch students will go outside. The capital letters are the school’s doing.

For Grade 7 to Grade 9 the lunchroom will be a No Food space for the entire lunch hour.

No Food cafeteria and No Food lunch room. What were people supposed to think? There is no more detailed explanation of what that all means for the other students, those not observing Ramadan because they are not Muslim.

Some folks hit the roof.

Some could say the parents of the kids at the school understood the notice. They needed no further explanation.

We found out the Calgary Board of Education knew some parents were confused. Some parents had questions. Some parents contacted the school.

We are told the questions have now been answered but the horse has left the barn. The tempest is swirling in the teapot.

As well, you would think when dealing with sensitive issues the school would dot every i and cross every t and be crystal clear about what they are doing.

And the school should also assume, in today’s world, any notice they put out could make its way to social media and the spark could become the fire.

Feeling the heat, the Calgary Board of Education pumped out a statement.

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Their policy is their schools can accommodate students. This can include accommodating students during Ramadan. This may include designating spaces as non-food areas.

The public school board continues.

The school has different grades eating in different spaces.

No changes have been made to these designated lunch areas. Alternative foodless spaces are available for fasting students during Ramadan so they are not around others who are eating.

So let us go back to what the school said and run it by the public school board.

The Grade 4 to Grade 6 students in Calgary public schools could be eating at their desk. They could be eating in the cafeteria, which at Fairview School doesn’t serve food.

The notice to parents says the cafeteria will be a No Food space for Ramadan. That is INCORRECT.

Apparently there is another no-food space in the school so Muslim students will not have to sit at their desk at lunch time and watch the other kids eating while they are fasting.

For Grade 7 to Grade 9 students, where a No Food lunchroom is mentioned, it is said. There is a no-food place for Muslim students who are fasting but it is not a space where students normally eat their lunch.

I think I’ve got it. Or do I? My head hurts. I am left imagining how anyone could send out the notice to parents as written.

By the way, with Muslim students observing Ramadan in many Calgary schools, there is one question.

Why was there no blowback from any of the other Calgary public schools? Why is it Fairview is the only school sticking out like a sore thumb?

And are individuals still confused?

Will the Calgary public school board have to issue a clarification of the clarification?

One thing they do know. Ramadan ends this week.

© Calgary Herald