Background

What Happend? A brief timeline

• KGIA opened as a small new school this year, with a focus on Arabic language and culture. The founding and visionary principal of this school was Debbie Almontaser, who worked to assemble a diverse & impressive design team and group of supporting community organizations. Ms. Almontaser is a highly qualified educator with a long and very visible history of work to promote dialogue, peace and tolerance in the community.
• Arab Women in the Arts and Media (AWAAM), a community group that provides leadership opportunities in community organizing, art and media skills to young women and girls, printed t-shirts that said “Intifada NYC”.
• With voices amplified by sensationalist articles by Daniel Pipes in the New York Sun and Shavuna Abruzzo in the Brooklyn Paper, right wing hate groups such as Stop the Madrassa had already started looking for ways to attack and shut down KGIA from the moment it was announced, and targeted Ms. Almontaser and KGIA for the t-shirts because Ms. Almontaser was on the board of an organization that shared space with AWAAM, although she personally had no affiliation with the community group.
• The Department of Education forced Ms. Almontaser to do an interview with the New York Post in regards to the t-shirts and the controversy. At the end of the interview, Ms. Almontaser responded to a question and explained the Arabic root word meaning of the word intifada. In response to a further question, she defended the girls of AWAAM after the reporter accused them of training for a Gaza style uprising in NYC.
• As a result of criticism from right-wing hate groups and the New York Post about her interview which the Post had distorted, the Department of Education forced Ms. Almontaser to resign from the position of principal a few weeks before the school opened, threatening not to open the school if she did not, and putting in an interim principal.
• As the Department of Education began the hiring process, Ms. Almontaser applied for the job of permanent principal, and her application was rejected without consideration. Instead of Ms. Almontaser, a less qualified non-Arab woman was selected for the job.
• Ms. Almontaser has brought a lawsuit claiming that, in forcing her to resign and denying her the opportunity to be considered fairly for the position of permanent principal at KGIA, the DOE violated her First Amendment rights.. She is also claiming that the Department of Education discriminated against her on the basis of her race, ethnicity, and national origin.
• Meanwhile, KGIA is having many problems including insufficient supplies, inadequate support of students and staff, lack of staff it needs to serve its students, lack of leadership, and plans to move the school far from the Arab-American community in the upcoming year. Teachers at the school and family members of students at the school have been speaking out about the intolerable situation at the school and the need to support KGIA and to enable Ms. Almontaser to be fairly considered for the position of principal.
• At this time of extreme anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism, it is key that we support KGIA and its founding principal, Debbie Almontaser, so that this school can live up to its vision as a place that fosters growth, understanding, and tolerance for students of all backgrounds as well as becoming a national model.