Communities in Support of KGIA

May 6, 2008

The group of community leaders and concerned individuals below wrote and asked to meet with the Mayor, but he (his office) turned them down. Rabbi Matalon wrote on behalf of the group twice more but they still said no. They said it was because of the lawsuit; however, the Mayor regularly talks about things he’s being sued about.

Dear Mayor Bloomberg,

As members of the religious, higher education, and K–12 communities of New York City, we request a meeting with you to discuss the current status of Debbie Almontaser, the founding principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, and the growing threat to democratic education imposed by a small group who make the hateful and unfounded claim that “radical Islam” is being promoted in the school system

There is a general consensus among fair-minded New Yorkers, confirmed by this past week’s article in the New York Times, that Ms. Almontaser was the victim of a campaign of religious and ethnic bigotry that threatens the integrity, diversity, and democracy of public education K - 12. The impact has gone well beyond the wrong that was done to Ms. Almontaser. New York City’s public education system is recognized nationally and internationally for our commitments to pluralism, the small schools movement, and our rich history of dual language programs.

The episode has sent a chill through the small school movement and dual language programs, both of which, as you know, are such a vital part of our City’s public school system, and has dangerously circumscribed the range of acceptable discussion, debate and even hirings in our colleges and universities. In the City at large, the attacks on Ms. Almontaser and KGIA have re-ignited the forces of hate and intolerance, censorship and intimidation that have afflicted not only the Arab and Muslim communities since 9/11, but the Jewish communities, the world of higher education, and public K – 12 educators.

We would like to meet with you to enlist your help not only in rectifying the grave injustice done to Ms. Almontaser, but to also address these other critical issues affecting all New Yorkers.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Imam Shamsi Ali, Islamic Cultural Center of New York

Professor Louis Cristillo, Teachers College, Columbia University

Professor Michelle Fine, The Graduate Center–City University of New York

Professor Ofelia Garcia, Teachers College, Columbia University

Dr. Paula Hajar, educator

Deborah Howard, consultant and member, KGIA Design Team

Rabbi Rolando Matalon, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun

Professor Deborah Meier, Steinhardt School of Education, New York University

Pomposa Pena, PTA president, Khalil Gibran International Academy

Muhammed Shahadat, parent, Khalil Gibran International Academy

Rabbi Burton L. Visotzky, Jewish Theological Seminary

*affiliations for identification purposes

Please respond to:

Rabbi Rolando Matalon

212-787-7600 ext 234

RMatalon@bj.org

Check out the blog in full! Here are a few quotes:

Finally, after eight months the truth about Debbie Almontaser and the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) comes out! My only question is, what took so long?

Debbie’s staff stood by helplessly, in tears, while someone we all came to care about, and develop great respect for, was forced, yes FORCED, out.

I had the privilege of being Debbie Almontaser’s administrative intern during in July and August of 2007. Together with a carefully chosen, fully committed, extremely hardworking “Dream Staff”, I worked in small ways to help Debbie create a school I knew as a New Yorker, educator and citizen I would be proud to be part of. I had recently resigned my position as a teacher with the D.O.E., in part, like many others, because of the frustration with “the system”. Being at KGIA that summer reenergized me, and my belief that the education system could make a difference…

— Denise Harding, Brooklyn, NY

As a teacher at KGIA I have to say things have barely improved since Holly Reichert’s appointment. This week alone we have 6 students out on Suspension, one for carrying a knife to school. We have a teacher on a medical leave of absence after a student threatened to beat her, this caused her blood pressure to spike to a very unhealthy level. Ms. Reichert has threatened to fire this teacher, who is on medical leave, for missing work. She has given a new teacher, from Egypt, absolutely no support, which he has asked for on multiple occasions, but has rated him unsatisfactorily, grounds for termination at the end of the year. She has given another teacher an unsatisfactory rating after he followed her advice on how to teach a lesson. She speaks to the Arab-American teachers in a most disgusting manner saying things like, “You’ll do it cause I’m the principal” and “This isn’t a discussion.” She has zero ability to work with staff members. She makes policy up behind our backs and imposes them upon us without addressing any of our concerns.

KGIA is a mess and we believe that this was the city’s intention all along, open the controversial school so they don’t get tied up in a Constitutional Lawsuit and then do everything they can to close it down. We have been denied supplies. Daniel Pipes is curious what text we use to teach Arabic, we don’t have text. The administration will not supply a text or a curriculum. We have no proper science materials: microscopes, beakers, goggles, gloves, etc etc. We have a map that we can’t use. We don’t even have looseleaf paper.

You may not like the idea of a school teaching Arabic, but the only ones being hurt here are the kids. Given the current culture of the school, a culture of fear, the staff is afraid; afraid we may not have jobs next year because a political anti-Arab agenda, afraid we may get hurt: multiple staff members have been threatened, harassed, and hit by objects.

All we want is to do our jobs and do them well. Help us. We need materials that the Administration and DOE are denying us: looseleaf paper, folders, art supplies, science supplies, maps, atlases, the list goes on and on. So put your money where your mouth is, don’t just type your thoughts help us challenge what is being done. If the Mayor sees that ordinary citizens are providing us our materials they will be forced to take notice.

— A Teacher, Brooklyn

One last thing, if I may. KGIA does not, will not, nor was ever planned to teach an “Islamic Curriculum.” We teach the same curriculum as every other school in NYC. In fact the only thing we teach that differs is a language. That’s it. A language. People are up in arms over language. Yes, we want to include culture, which we haven’t, just like when I took Spanish in high school I learned about Spanish holidays such as Dia De Los Muertos or when I took Latin in high school and went on a trip to Italy.

Language. That’s what this is all about.

— A Teacher, Brooklyn

[Read the release for Oct. 16th press conference]

WATCH THE VIDEO!

STATEMENT TO THE PRESS AND THE PUBLIC BY DEBBIE ALMONTASER

October 16, 2007

Good evening. My name is Debbie Almontaser. I am the founding principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which is known as KGIA. . Over a two-year period beginning in 2005, I devoted my life to establishing a school that reflected not only my vision, but the ideas of a design team that included other educators, prospective parents, community members, and the Arab American Family Support Center.

Throughout the planning process, I worked with a wonderful and devoted design team…I would like to continue that work and to build KGIA into a model dual language school…

In early August of this year, under pressure from the New York Post, the New York Sun, and right-wing bloggers, representatives of the Mayor, the Chancellor, and New Visions demanded that I resign as KGIA’s principal. They threatened to close down KGIA if I refused. The next day, I submitted my letter of resignation. Because I believe that I am the person to carry forward the mission of KGIA, I have today submitted my application to become the principal of KGIA. I have also asked my lawyer to begin preparing a lawsuit against the DOE for violation of my constitutional rights.

When I first discussed with New Visions for Public Schools the creation of an Arabic dual-language public school in New York City, controversy was far from my mind. I was thrilled to create a unique school that would provide a rigorous regents-based curriculum with Arabic language and cultural studies, and that would equip students for work in such areas as international affairs diplomacy and cross-cultural understanding. As with the more than 60 other dual language programs in the city, KGIA was created to foster multilingual and multicultural education. It was also joining many New York City public schools that use theme-based approaches to inform and enrich curriculum across subject areas. As an Arab-American Muslim, born in Yemen and raised in the U.S., establishing KGIA was my American dream. It turned into an American nightmare.

Although the Post story distorted my words, it accurately reflected my view that I do not condone violence…

On February 12, 2007 the Department of Education announced the establishment of KGIA. In the days following, right-wing blogs began spinning KGIA as an Islamist school with a radical extremist Jihad principal. And local NYC papers fanned the flames with headlines like: “Holy war! Slope Parents Protest Arabic School Plan,” “A Madrassa Grows in Brooklyn,” and “Arabic School Idea Is a Monstrosity.” From the day the school was approved to the day I was forced to resign, the New York Sun plastered my picture on its website with a link to negative articles about KGIA.

Leading the attack was the “Stop the Madrassa Coalition” run by Daniel Pipes, who has made his career fostering hatred of Arabs and Muslims. The coalition conducted a smear campaign against me and the school that was ferocious. Members of the coalition stalked me wherever I went and verbally assaulted me with vicious anti-Arab and anti-Muslim comments. They suggested that, as an observant Muslim, I was disqualified from leading KGIA, even though the school is rigorously secular, and its namesake, Khalil Gibran, was a Lebanese Christian. To stir up anti-Arab prejudice, they constantly referred to me by my Arabic name, a name that I do not use professionally. They even created and circulated a YouTube clip depicting me as a radical Islamist.

Then in early August, the New York Post and the Stop the Madrassa Coalition tried to connect me to t-shirts made by a youth organization called Arab Women in the Arts and Media. The t-shirts said, “Intifada NYC.” Post reporters aggressively sought my comment. Because the t-shirts had nothing to do with me or KGIA, I saw no reason to discuss the issue with the media. I agreed to an interview with a reporter from the Post at the DOE’s insistence. During the interview, the reporter asked about the Arabic origin of the word “intifada.” I told him that the root word from which the word intifada originates means “shake off” and that the word intifada has different meanings for different people, but certainly for many, given its association with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, it implied violence. I reiterated that I would never affiliate myself with an individual or organization that would condone violence in any shape, way, or form. In response to a further question, I expressed the belief that the teen-age girls of AWAAM did not mean to promote a “Gaza-style uprising” in New York City.

Although the Post story distorted my words, it accurately reflected my view that I do not condone violence. That should have been the end of the matter. DOE officials should simply have said that it was clear that neither I nor KGIA had any connection to the t-shirts. They should have pointed out that I had devoted my entire adult life to the peaceful resolution of conflict and to building bridges between ethnic and religious communities. In other words, they should have said that the attacks upon me were utterly baseless. Instead, they forced me to issue an apology for what I said. And when the storm of hate continued, they forced me to resign.

In closing, permit me to explain why I am speaking out at this time. While I have been the victim of a serious injustice, the far larger offense has been to the Arab and Muslim communities of New York City. In the years since 9/11, our communities have been the object of the most vile and hateful attacks. The attacks on me are part of a larger campaign to intimidate and silence marginalized communities. Among other strategies, the right-wing is trying to get people from other communities to view Arabs and Muslims as threats to their safety and security. As a result, well-meaning people sometimes act out of fear—not just a knee-jerk anti-Arab, anti-Muslim response, but the fear that, if they do not succumb to right-wing pressure, they too will become targets

Those seeking to harm our communities would like nothing more than for me to remain silent in response to their hate. For the sake of the Arab and Muslim communities and for all marginalized communities, for the sake of the families of KGIA, and for the sake of all of us committed to creating a society that we can be proud to leave to future generations, I stand here today to say that they will not prevail. I will continue to stand against division, intimidation and hatred; I will stand for a society based on mutual respect and understanding and dignity for all our communities. These are values to which I have devoted my entire adult life and career.

I am applying to be the principal of KGIA because, as its founding principal and the person who envisioned the school, I believe I am the person most qualified to be its educational leader. Throughout the planning process, I worked with a wonderful and devoted design team comprised of educators, parents, students, and community members. I would like to continue that work and to build KGIA into a model dual language school that, to quote KGIA’s mission statement, “helps students of all backgrounds learn about the world” and fosters in them “an understanding of different cultures, a love of learning, and desire for excellence in all of its students.”

[Watch the video in our Press Room...]

September 27, 2007

To the Producers of the Hannity and Colmes show:

We were extremely dismayed to see the interview you did last night with City Councilmember John Liu. Your show is an example of the ill-informed campaign of hatred by a powerful corporate media outlet to discredit the KGIA and its founding principal Debbie Almontaser. As an editorial show, you have a right to establish a position; however, you have an obligation not to condone and perpetuate the misinformation that led to Debbie’s forced resignation. By doing so, we believe you are furthering a bigoted and hateful environment that jeopardizes the safety of the children attending KGIA.

If your show had done the necessary research and analysis, you would know that:

1. Any reporter who links the school to the T-shirts is one who promotes lies and distortion. Debbie Almontaser did not endorse violence in any way and was not connected to the “t-shirts”. She did not do or say anything wrong. Additionally, the youth organization that made the t-shirts was never connected to the school.
2. This incident is part of a relentless anti-Arab and anti-Muslim campaign against the school that has been led for the past seven months by virulently White supremacist and anti-immigrant organizations and individuals.
3. Debbie Almontaser has an impeccable track record as an educator and human being who has devoted her life to building meaningful and sustained relationships among NYC’s many different communities.

Sean Hannity, who opposes the school, led the interview, disrespecting and interrupting Councilman Liu. Your approach revealed a lack of interest in having genuine and substantive dialogue about why so many individuals, organizations and elected officials believe Debbie Almontaser must be reinstated as principal of KGIA. Despite the ad hominem attacks and interruptions, Councilman Liu—one of the most ethical, thoughtful and eloquent members of the New York City Council—was able to point out a few very important things:

1. There are many dual language programs throughout the City that are a vibrant part of our public school system, teaching students to be multicultural, bi-literate and bilingual. In addition to the clear benefits of learning a second language, dual language students tend to fare better academically than students who are in monolingual programs.
2. The DOE had a responsibility to defend Debbie Almontaser against the smear campaign against her and the school and did not. They should do what is right and set an example for our children and the City by inviting Debbie to resume her position as principal of the school.
3. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, a well-respected political figure, spoke out in support of Debbie Almontaser and condemned the racist campaign against her.

We hope you will think about your tactics as interviewers and how you made it impossible to have an honest and intelligent discussion about one of the most profound examples of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry that our educational system has encountered.

~ Communities in Support of the Khalil Gibran International Academy

[Watch the video in our Press Room...]

 [Note from CISKGIA webmaster: we are still working on identifying the date of this letter] 

Apology is necessary

To the editor [of the Brooklyn Paper],I am writing to demand that The Brooklyn Paper apologize for its deeply irresponsible coverage of the Department of Education’s proposal to locate the Kahlil Gibran Academy in the school building that houses PS 282, and that you remove the article dealing with this issue from your Web site.Your article unfairly characterizes a legitimate dispute about where the Kahlil Gibran school should be housed into an ethnic or religious conflict.

I fear that your suggestion that religion or ethnicity is at issue in the [KGIA] disagreement gives credence to a reprehensible bigotry that, regrettably, does exist…Your article was a cheap attempt to sensationalize a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed with good faith and good will.

The specific proposal to locate Kahlil Gibran together with PS 282 raises a host of concerns, just like other situations where two schools are housed within a single building. It is entirely appropriate for current PS 282 parents to express these concerns. PS 282 parents, just like supporters of the Kahlil Gibran school, want the best for both groups of students.Worst of all, I fear that your suggestion that religion or ethnicity is at issue in the PS 282 disagreement gives credence to a reprehensible bigotry that, regrettably, does exist. Responsible Brooklynites must not and do not abide such bigotry. Your article was a cheap attempt to sensationalize a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed with good faith and good will. You owe your readership an apology.

Sincerely,

Council Member David Yassky

Chuck Bennett, the primary reporter at the NY Post covering KGIA, responded to the World Socialist Web Site article:

Bennett penned an article headlined “City Principal is ‘Revolting,’” which centered not on the school or its curriculum, but on an utterly spurious attempt to tie Almontaser to a T-shirt produced by a group providing video production training to young Arab-American women.

Friday, September 14, 2007 :Chuck Bennett, a reporter who wrote a series of articles for the New York Post that furthered a smear campaign against Debbie Almontaser, the principal of the Khalil Gibran Academy, a new New York City public school offering courses in Arabic and Arab culture, has written to the World Socialist Web Site complaining that we misrepresented his journalistic efforts by accusing him of “ambush” journalism.

Bennett penned an article headlined “City Principal is ‘Revolting,’” which centered not on the school or its curriculum, but on an utterly spurious attempt to tie Almontaser to a T-shirt produced by a group providing video production training to young Arab-American women. This group happened to have been granted office space in a building run by a Yemeni-American cultural organization where Almontaser is a board member.

The T-shirt bore the logo “Intifada NYC.” The principal’s attempt to provide a reasoned answer to Bennett’s insistence that she explain the meaning of the word “Intifada” was then used by the Post to launch a ferocious witch-hunt, referring to her as the “Intifada Principal.”

The campaign by the Post proved crucial in whipping up a right-wing furor—joined by various Democratic officials and United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten—against the school and Almontaser, forcing her to resign.

Source: Indybay.org

Re: Plan to Open an Arabic School in Brooklyn Arouses Protests

Debbie Almontaser, principal of the planned Khalil Gibran Academy, has long been a well respected New York City educator working with communities to foster cross cultural understandings. She is a co-founder of Brooklyn Bridges, the September 11th Curriculum Project and the We Are All Brooklyn Coalition. In June of 2002 she coordinated a mural-making project at PS 230 to document the cross-cultural friendships and alliances that flourished in the aftermath of September 11th.

Those of us committed to public education in New York City should be most grateful that Ms. Almontaser has agreed to direct the new Khalil Gibran Academy where children from across racial and ethnic groups will be invited to study deeply both Arabic language and culture.

“Debbie Almontaser has long been a well respected educator working to foster cross cultural understandings…”

The New York City Department of Education should stand firmly behind this school — it will serve us all well. Media criticisms of this proposed school ironically reveal how desperately we need the Gibran Academy. Perhaps the curricula could be made available city-wide so that children across the city can learn how to challenge the stereotypes that pollute the public imagination about Arabs, Muslims and Islam. And then, maybe, the children will teach the rest of us.

Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Urban Education
The Graduate Center, CUNY

September 4, 2007

By Steve Quester

PHOTO: ULA KURAS

Imagine a Latina principal being hounded out of her job because she defended a Latina empowerment group’s Che Guevara T-shirts. Imagine an African-American principal being hounded out of her job because she defended an African-American girls’ empowerment group’s Malcolm X T-shirts. Neither scenario is far-fetched.

But in either of the above scenarios, we’d know it wasn’t about the T-shirts.

However, this basic fact has been obscured in the recent takedown of Debbie Almontaser, the veteran Brooklyn educator, Yemeni-American and hijab-wearing Muslim who was the founding principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA), an Arabic-English dual-language public secondary school in Brooklyn that is scheduled to open with the new school year.

I’m at a loss to explain why my union, which continues to support KGIA, piled on when the attacks on the school’s principal were at their shrillest. The union leadership insists that we were acting on our deep commitment to peace and nonviolence, but that’s a strange excuse for joining in a transparently racist and Islamophobic attack.

Before Almontaster was ambushed by the New York Post, KGIA endured months of vitriolic attacks from right-wing websites like Stop the Madrassa, Militant Islam Monitor and Little Green Footballs.

Predictably, the Post, the New York Sun, Fox News and New York State Assembly Member Dov Hikind jumped eagerly into the fray. It’s the same cast of characters, Daniel Pipes among them, who trumped up false charges of anti-Semitism to try to shut down Arab scholars at Columbia University in 2004 and 2005.
According to a report in the Aug. 17 Jewish Week, Almontaser was misled by Post reporters in an interview for an article published on Aug. 6.

The Post submitted questions in advance before the NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE) would agree to let them interview Almontaser. All of the questions were about KGIA. At the end of the interview, the reporter asked offhandedly what “intifada” means.

Those of us…who are outraged at the attacks on Almontaser, are not going to just let this matter drop. We will continue to expose the racist consequences of Weingarten’s statements, so that the next time the right-wing media hit squads go after an educator, she’ll think twice before lending them her voice.

Almontaser, who is after all an educator, looked up the word in the dictionary, and translated it accurately: “shaking off.” The reporter then told Almontaser that the Yemeni-American organization on whose board she sits shares office space with Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media (AWAAM) and that AWAAM had produced a T-shirt with the words “Intifada NYC.” Almontaser, to her credit, refused to throw the girls from AWAAM under a bus, instead referring to their nonviolent struggle to shake off oppression in their own lives. More…

Steve Quester is a Brooklyn-based UFT Chapter leader and veteran early childhood educator. For more, see Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (jfrej.org) and Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media (awaam.org).

September 1, 2007

(Submitted to New York Times)

To the Editor:

Samuel Freedman (”Critics Ignored Record of a Muslim Principal,”
8/30/07) describes in compelling detail the six-month anti-Arab and
anti-Muslim smear campaign against the Khalil Gibran International
Academy and its founding principal, Debbie Almontaser, a campaign that
culminated in her resignation. The campaign “worked,” as Mr.
Freedman says; however, the article leaves some unanswered questions
about why it worked:

Where was Ms. Almontaser’s employer, the DOE, during this time? Where
were its support and outrage when she and the school were being so
recklessly defamed? And, with the recent attacks on Ms Almontaser–so
obviously a part of this campaign of lies and hatred–why, rather than
standing up for her, did the Mayor “welcome” her resignation and
Chancellor Klein say her resignation was in the best interests of the
school? And why did UFT President Weingarten say “maybe, ultimately,
she should not be a principal.”? Had she received the support she
deserved, the smear campaign would not have achieved its goals.

Donna Nevel

August 31, 2007 | Page 5

DARREN VERACRUZ and MEGAN BEHRENT report on the attack on a New York City school.

SOME 300 people rallied in New York City in support of the Khalil Gibran International Academy and its former principal Debbie Almontaser at an August 20 demonstration in front of the city’s Department of Education headquarters.

Teachers at the press conference said that Weingarten’s views did not represent those of many rank-and-file members of the union, and joined the call for Almontaser to be reinstated.

The school, which is scheduled to open this fall, has been subjected to sustained attacks by right-wing media outlets and racist organizations ever since plans for its creation were announced earlier this year. More…