Results tagged “debbiealmontaser”

Two members of a three-judge federal appellate court panel took the city to task yesterday for removing the principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy. Debbie Almontaser, who helped found the dual-language school with an emphasis on Arab culture, stepped down before the school opened last fall, after controversy over remarks she made in the NY Post.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible abduction on Warwick St. and Livonia Ave. in Brooklyn, a police involved shooting on West Kingsbridge Rd. in the Bronx, and an abduction on 33rd St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan.
• A contestant on Deal or No Deal from Bayonne, NJ tells host Howie Mandel that the godawful smell around there is from the dump on Staten Island. Residents of Richmond County are not amused.
• Two pitbulls, one dead and the other severely injured, were found in a dumpster at a Yonkers gas station Sunday morning. Police say that it appears that the two animals were used as bait in a dog fighting session.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unusual elevator rescue on Washington Ave. in Brooklyn, a pipe explosion on Richmond Terrace on Staten Island, and a person fatally struck by an A train at Van Siclen and Pitken Ave. in Brooklyn.
• NYC already has 91,000 practicing attorneys, but we can expect a lot more. Nearly 11,000 freshly minted JDs sat for the bar this summer and more than 70% of them passed.
• A 63-year-old man riding his bike north up 6th Ave. today struck an open car door and was thrown into oncoming traffic. He was killed when run over by a truck.
• Debbie Almontaser lost her legal bid to prevent the City from permanently replacing her as the principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy.
• If you were wondering how much the Chelsea Hotel would change under new management, cops were recently called because "manager" Glennon Travis suspected someone had been smoking weed in one of the hallways.
• The lights illuminating the catenary cables of the Brooklyn Bridge will soon be replaced with environmentally friendly energy efficient bulbs.
• Sometimes even Chelsea Clinton can't get a seat in a crowded Starbucks, and is forced to type away on her laptop while sitting on the floor.
• Serendipity 3 has re-opened after a three-week closure by the City's Dept. of Health for violations that included mice and roaches.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a construction accident on 23rd Ave. in Queens, a child was struck on West Houston and Thompson St. in Manhattan, and shots fired on 29th St. in Brooklyn.
• Going along with a network-wide environmentally conscious theme at NBC this season, the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center will be decorated with low power-consuming LEDs.
• The flat rate for a single subway fare will remain $2 until 2009. The fares will go up for all riders eventually, but not as much as previously expected. Also, only 15% of riders pay the $2 flat fare and will be spared any expected increase.
• Debbie Almontaser, the former principal of the Brooklyn dual-language school that teaches students Arabic, is suing the city. She maintains that she was forced out of her job under threat of closing the entire school.
• A man, woman, and young girl died in a Suffolk County apartment from carbon monoxide poisoning even though the building had already been condemned. We'll again stress the importance of making sure smoke and CO monitors are operable in your homes.
• If you missed the full display last year, we're sorry to say that the LED decorations around Brooklyn's Prospect Park will not be reinstalled this year. The Gowanus Lounge reports, however, that a Grand Army Plaza installation will be in place at the beginning of December.
• Despite being named Man of the Year by "the press" and making billions of dollars as a press magnate, Mayor Bloomberg finds the media annoying.
• Place those Christmas Eve carrots out for Santa instead of his reindeer, because some are saying that the plump jolly elf is a bad example for kids suffering from childhood obesity. We apparently need a Santa who's ripped and has sixpack abs.

Debbie Almontaser, the erstwhile head and founder of Brooklyn's Khalil Gibran International Academy, will sue the city for violating her freedom of speech. She also claims Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein forced her to resign as principal under threat of closing the dual-language school.

The Khalil Gibran International Academy––a new bi-lingual school dedicated to teaching children Arabic and instructing students about Middle Eastern history––received a new principal after the abrupt departure of its founder Debbie Almontaser in a flap over a t-shirt. The new interim principal is Danielle Salzberg, who is an Orthodox Jewish woman that has been working with the Dept. of Education to establish the Khalil Gibran school.

Debbie Almontaser, the erstwhile founder and principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, resigned this week after controversy arose over a t-shirt. With less than a month before kids report to school, Almontaser resigned when she failed to initially denounce a t-shirt that was being sold by a group called Arab Women Active in Arts and Media that read "Intifada NYC". Almontaser said that the word "intifada" literally meant "shrugging off" in Arabic and was supposed to be a feminist slogan connotating women shrugging off oppression. That is indeed the literal Arabic translation of the word, according to our dictionary. The general understanding of the word, however, relates to an armed uprising that has resulted in thousands of deaths in the Middle East and includes urban warfare, bus bombings, and terrorism. Critics were appalled that Almontaser would defend a shirt that appeared to advocate a violent uprising by Arabs in New York City. After public criticism, Almontaser denounced any association of the t-shirt with violence.

The NYCLU and ACLU are suing the Transportation Security Administration and Jet Blue over an incident where a passenger was forced to cover/change his shirt, which had Arabic lettering. Last year, Reid Jarrar, an American resident of Iraqi descent, was taking a JetBlue flight at JFK when a TSA official asked him to over his shirt, which read "We Will Not Be Silent" in both English and Arabic. The shirt's message is taken from the motto of an anti-Nazi resistance group, the White Rose.

One of the 40 new schools the city is opening in the fall will be the first public school dedicated teaching the Arabic language and culture. The NY Times reports that half of the classes at the Khalil Gibran International Academy will eventually be taught in Arabic. It will be located in Brooklyn, though it's unclear where yet. Principal Debbie Almontaser says the school will start out with just sixth graders, but will eventually have 500-600 students. She said, "We are wholeheartedly looking to attract as many diverse students as possible, because we really want to give them the opportunity to expand their horizons and be global citizens."