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The Gibran Academy: Anatomy of a disaster

The Brooklyn Paper
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Matthew Weinstein
In 2007, plenty of supporters rallied for the Khalil Gibran Academy. Now, not so much.
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The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan
Founding principal Debbie Almontaser didn't do herself or her school any favors.
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The Khalil Gibran International Academy, an Arabic language and culture middle school named after the famed Lebanese Christian poet, was a lightning rod of controversy from the very beginning. Given the school’s demise this week, we felt it was time for a fond look back.

• February, 2007: The city announces that the Khalil Gibran International Academy will be located somewhere in Brooklyn.

• March, 2007: The fight begins as the city announces that the academy will share space inside PS 282 in Park Slope.

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• April, 2007: The outrage begins: Daniel Pipes, a commentator on radical Islam, writes that “Arabic-language instruction is inevitably laden with pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage.” A week later, the city announces that the school won’t be in Park Slope.

• May, 2007: The school is officially moved to Boerum Hill.

• September, 2007: The first day of school was covered by practically more media than were in Little Rock for the desegregation of the high school.

• August, 2007: Founding principal Debbie Almontaser resigns amid pressure from the city after she didn’t forcefully condemn a T-shirt reading, “Intifada NYC.” The city appoints non-Arabic speaker, Danielle Salzberg, to replace Almontaser.

• November, 2007: Almontaser sues the city for violating her free speech.

• January, 2008: The school gets its third principal, Holly Reichart, who replaces Salzberg.

• March, 2008: School relocated to the PS 287 building in Fort Greene.

• April, 2008: Parents there say they feel “bamboozled” after learning that the academy would be housed inside their Navy Street building.

• March, 2010: Almontaser is vindicated when a federal commission rules that the city “succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel” when it forced Almontaser to resign.

• This week: The city plans to kill the Gibran middle school and try to turn it into a high school.

— Gersh Kuntzman

©2011 Community Newspaper Group

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Reader Feedback

Joe Z. from Greenpoint says:
So, I can wear a shirt with "Muslims Suck" written on it, since I have the Contitutionally guaranteed right to exercise free speech, right?

Since I'm on the subject of constitutionality, promoting and teaching religion in public schools is against the laws of this country. Muslims deserve no special entitlements or exceptions which other religions do not receive. Last time I checked, NYC, and its public school system, are still in the United States. Nothing other than English should be used in classrooms to educate students.No accomodations should be made to provide prayer rooms for Muslim students. They are no better than students of other religious backgrounds who are not afforded the same courtesies. If learning Arabic and Islamic culture are the paramount concern of the students' parents, send the kids to a madrassa. Diversity is nothing more than separatism and another step toward the balkanization of this country. The greatness of this country was the result of immigrants who came here to find a better life for themselves and their families. They accomplished this by assimilating into American society. This can't be accomplished by encouraging people to live in ethnically or religious enclaves,im essence, a ghetto mentality. Anyone who argues that they have the right to have separate schools is correct. Only, not on the taxpayer's dime.
April 10, 2011, 12:10 pm

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