The ultimate goal, Almontaser said, is for schools to teach children to become “empowered, independent thinkers who are able to work with cultures beyond their own.”

Donna Nevel, coordinator of the Participatory Action Research Center for Education Organizing (PARCEO) that operates in partnership with the Educational Leadership Program at NYU Steinhardt, introduced the lecture, praising Almontaser for her unwavering commitment to justice in the education system. “She is committed to challenging our two-tiered system of education that privileges some at the expense of others, and to ensuring that all our children receive the education they deserve,” Nevel said.

Read more and watch video…

Debbie Almontaser who founded and was principal of Khalil Gibran International Academy, was a teacher and administrator in New York City’s public school system for twenty years. Currently she is a doctoral candidate at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education. Donna Nevel, a community psychologist and educator, has been involved with a wide range of organizing efforts for justice. She is coordinator of the Participatory Action Research Center for Education Organizing (PARCEO) in partnership with the Educational Leadership Program at Steinhardt-NYU, where she teaches PAR.

This article appears in two parts. The first tells the story of what happened to New York’s Khalil Gibran International Academy and its founder, and the second describes the organizing campaign that followed.

The Story of Khalil Gibran International Academy

by Debbie Almontaser

In 2005, I was immersed in working with the Mayor’s Office on the inauguration of Arab Heritage week. In the midst of this, New Visions for Public Schools, a school reform organization, decided to begin the development of an Arabic/Hebrew-language high school with a co-existence theme. After months of searching for an Arab-American educator to work on such a school, Adam Rubin contacted me after the recommendations from the Department of Education (DOE), the Mayor’s office of Immigrant Affairs, and lastly, even from an Arab-American woman at a Brooklyn falafel stand.

Read more…

The Department of Education recently announced that it plans to close the Khalil Gibran International Academy’s middle school, NYC’s first Arabic dual language program. There’s an important backstory.

In August 2007, New York City’s then Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott called Debbie Almontaser, then the acting principal of KGIA, into his office to tell her that Mayor Michael Bloomberg had lost confidence in her and wanted her to resign from her post. But that wasn’t all. Walcott also told her that the mayor wanted the resignation immediately because he intended to announce it on his radio show the next day. She was told that if she did not resign, KGIA would be closed. Knowing how much the school meant to the Arab community and to so many others, Almontaser submitted her resignation.

She brought suit soon after, charging that the city and the DOE had discriminated against her by bowing to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry in demanding her resignation. In March 2010, the federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission upheld Almontaser’s charge of discrimination. It ruled that, in demanding her resignation, the DOE “succumbed to the very bias that the creation of the school was intended to dispel, and a small segment of the public succeeded in imposing its prejudices on the DOE as an employer.”

We need a school that has the leadership, resources, and support it deserves. Such a school is also necessary at a time of increased Islamophobia and racism. We will continue to demand a public education system that is truly respectful of, and responsive to, all our communities.  Read more…

April 10, 2011, NYC— After having done a great deal to ensure that the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) would not succeed, the New York City Department of Education is closing the middle school—citing its low enrollment and failing marks on its School Report Card.  KGIA was founded in 2007 to be a model Arabic-English dual language school designed to “help students of all backgrounds learn about the world and foster in them an understanding of different cultures, a love of learning, and desire for excellence in all of its students.”

The DOE has, over the years, taken numerous steps that undermined any chance for the middle school to carry out its mission:

Even before the school opened in 2007, the DOE and Mayor (with Dennis Walcott as the Mayor’s messenger) forced the resignation of founding principal Debbie Almontaser after the New York Post, which asked her to define the word intifada, misreported and sensationalized her response. Right-wing groups that had been opposing the school chimed in with their own brand of anti-Arab/anti-Muslim bigotry. Ms. Almontaser was fully vindicated by a March 2010 ruling of the federal Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, which stated that, in demanding her resignation, the “DOE succumbed to the very bias that the creation of the school was intended to dispel, and a small segment of the public succeeded in imposing its prejudices on the DOE as an employer.”  Her removal from the school reflected the willingness by the Mayor and Chancellor Klein to bow to right-wing hate groups.

After a deeply flawed search in which the DOE refused to consider Ms. Almontaser’s application, it replaced this long-time educator, who is bilingual and bicultural, with a New Visions’ employee, who spoke no Arabic and had no local community roots or demonstrated commitment to KGIA’s initial vision. The school’s next leader, who also came from New Visions and who resigned with the school in disarray, also had little knowledge of, or relationship with, NYC’s Arab communities, and had no experience leading a school.

The DOE and New Visions consistently refused to provide KGIA with the staff and other resources necessary for it to succeed. Months went by, for example, without the school having a special education teacher.  Increasingly, the school was staffed by those who lacked commitment to KGIA’s initial vision; as a result, a school that had begun with great promise as a grade 6-12 dual language school designed to educate its students about the Arabic language and Arab culture, became just another middle school in which students study a foreign language a few periods per week.

Without consulting with parents of KGIA students, the DOE decided to move the school in September 2008 from its original site near neighborhoods with sizable Arab communities to a site in Fort Greene, where only 1 percent of the population is of Arab descent (U.S. Census) and public transportation is sparse.  Although parents of students then enrolled in KGIA objected to the move, they were too late.  As is all too typical, the DOE informed parents only after it had made its decision.

“This is one more story of a DOE and a Mayor who–without the participation of any community and in capitulation to a campaign of racism and hatred–destroyed a school whose purpose was to educate students of different backgrounds to be socially engaged citizens,” stated Mona Eldahry of AWAAM: Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media.

In a letter to the Mayor at the height of the controversy, a group of nationally respected educators wrote the following:

“For those of us working in the field of education, the treatment of Debbie Almontaser represents a threat not only to our rights as educators and citizens in a democratic society; it is also an attack on the small-schools movement and on the push for diversity and equity within our system of public education. Will bigotry be allowed to decide which public schools can exist and who can lead them?”

Ujju Aggarwal from the Center for Immigrant Families added, “We need KGIA and schools like it more than ever. At a time when profit is being put before the needs of our children; when a top-down approach of mayoral control has replaced partnerships among schools, communities, students, and educators; when there is increased Islamophobia, racism, and xenophobia; we need schools like KGIA that respect, reflect, and serve all our children and communities.”

Adem Carroll of Communities in Support of KGIA stated: “Despite their closing the middle school down, those of us who were part of this movement pledge to continue this struggle on many different fronts.  Those of us who were part of Communities in Support of KGIA have continued to work together to challenge Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism and for equity and justice in our public schools.”

March 24, 2010

The Department of Education (DOE) has notified the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that it is unwilling to engage in a process of conciliation concerning the EEOC’s finding that the DOE discriminated against Debbie Almontaser when it forced her to resign as acting principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy. The DOE’s position was conveyed to Ms. Almontaser and her lawyers in a letter received yesterday.

The EEOC’s ruling on March 9, 2010 had given the DOE until March 24 to indicate whether it would work with Ms. Almontaser’s lawyers and the EEOC to reach a “just resolution” of her claim. Within hours of receiving the EEOC’s ruling, the DOE responded that it had “in no way discriminated against Ms. Almontaser and she will not be reinstated.”

Commenting on the DOE’s unwillingness to engage in conciliation, Cynthia Rollings, one of Ms. Almontaser’s lawyers, said: “Given the DOE’s dismissive response to the EEOC ruling, we were not surprised to learn that the DOE now says it is unwilling to engage in conciliation. The response is clearly prompted by considerations having nothing to do with the substance of the EEOC Determination.” Co-counsel Alan Levine concurred: “The EEOC’s finding of discrimination is thorough and persuasive. The DOE’s cavalier dismissal of that finding is stark evidence that the merits of the ruling played no part in its refusal to engage in conciliation discussions.”

Ms. Almontaser’s lawyers announced that they intend to bring a lawsuit based on Ms. Almontaser’s discrimination claim. In addition, as a result of the DOE’s refusal to conciliate, the EEOC has referred the case to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to consider whether it, too, will bring a court action against the DOE.

”Although all of us familiar with these events knew that the DOE had discriminated against Debbie Almontaser, this is the first time that a finding of discrimination has been made by an impartial agency. We have all witnessed the DOE’s arrogance on many occasions, but this is particularly appalling,“ stated Ujju Aggarwal of the Center for Immigrant Families.

“This case is of great importance to the Arab and Muslim communities, and we will urge our political representatives to contact the DOJ in an effort to get the DOJ to sue, “ said Dalia Mahmoud of the Muslim Public Affairs Council-NYC (MPAC-NYC).

In 2007, New York City public schools were poised to break new cultural ground. The city established the Khalil Gibran International Academy, a comprehensive public school specializing in the Arabic language. The grade 6-12 school, the first of its kind, was designed as a symbol of cross-cultural understanding in a city still healing from the scars of September 11.

the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vindicated Almontaser, ruling that the New York City Department of Education’s treatment of Almontaser was discriminatory

It was also the opportunity of a lifetime for Debbie Almontaser, a Yemeni-American New Yorker, longtime educator and activist, who was chosen to head the new school. But that dream was soon extinguished by those who believe the city has no business engaging Arab culture through the classroom.

Before the school even opened its doors, a right-wing cabal launched a smear campaign against Almontaser and the city’s Arab and Muslim communities. In the end, the school survived, but Almontaser was ousted in a storm of anti-Muslim screeds from the conservative media and blogosphere.  Read more…

What is the Department of Education (DOE) up to? Its recent behavior in the case of Debbie Almontaser “is suspicious, to say the least,” stated her lawyers, Alan Levine and Cynthia Rollings. According to Levine, “Only days earlier, the DOE was charged by a federal agency with having discriminated against an Arab-American principal, and then they install an Arab-American as the school’s principal. The timing seems a bit more than coincidental.”

What actually happened? This past Thursday, March 11th, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a Determination that “the evidence obtained during the investigation establishes that Respondent Department of Education discriminated against [Ms. Almontaser] on account of her race, religion, and national origin by constructively discharging her from her temporary position as acting principal and disqualifying her as candidate for the permanent position.” Further, the Determination stated that the “DOE succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel and a small segment of the public succeeded in imposing its prejudices on DOE as an employer.”

Despite these findings of discrimination on the part of the DOE by an impartial federal agency, the DOE’s lawyers responded dismissively by saying that the DOE “in no way discriminated against Ms. Almontaser and she will not be reinstated.”

Five days later, the principal of KGIA gave the school’s families one day’s notice that she was leaving the school and that a new principal, Beshir Abdellatif (who would be leaving the school where he was principal), would be coming the next day. This means that two principals abruptly left their schools in the middle of the year, and that parents at both schools had almost no advance knowledge of the changes.

Michelle Fine, noted educator and expert on dropouts, educational inequity, and the small schools movement, said: “Does the DOE really believe the public will be appeased by the appointment of a new principal— introduced late in the school year, with no community input, provoking leadership disruptions in two schools and a media diversion? The DOE shouts transparency and accountability and ‘we know what’s good for the children’ as they refuse to consult with educators, youth or parent groups and ignore the EEOC! To whom is the DOE accountable?”

If the principal is leaving KGIA, then, in light of the EEOC determination, fairness demands that Debbie Almontaser be placed back into the position she held of interim acting principal until the C-30 application process can take place. She was, after all, the person that the DOE and community agreed was most qualified to lead the school in the first place.

According to Linda Sarsour of the Arab American Association of New York, “If the DOE was operating in good faith and not trying to deflect the impact of the EEOC determination, they would certainly not have removed a principal and installed a new one with one day’s notice. The DOE must not be allowed to ignore the very serious findings of discrimination of the EEOC Determination.”

3/16/10

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled the New York City Department of Education discriminated against the founding principal of an Arabic-language school in Brooklyn by forcing her to resign in 2007. In a non-binding ruling, the commission said the city had discriminated against the principal, Debbie Almontaser, “on account of her race, religion and national origin.” We speak with Almontaser and her attorney, Alan Levine.

By Jeanine Ramirez

Speaking exclusively with NY1, the woman who had the idea for the first Arabic language school in Brooklyn opened up Monday about her recent win in court.

Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the Department of Education discriminated against Debbie Almontaser in 2007 when they forced her to resign.  Read more and watch video…

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled the New York City Department of Education discriminated against the founding principal of an Arabic-language school in Brooklyn by forcing her to resign in 2007. In a non-binding ruling, the commission said the city had discriminated against the principal, Debbie Almontaser, “on account of her race, religion and national origin.” We speak with Almontaser and her attorney, Alan Levine

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