Results tagged “khalilgibraninternationalacademy”

Debbie Almontaser was publicly drummed out of her job as the founder and principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, but she is now the one on the receiving end of a defamation lawsuit filed by members of an organization who attempted to prevent the dual-language school from opening. Sara Springer, Irene Alter and Pamela Hall are members of a group called the Stop the Madrassa Coalition. They're alleging that they were defamed by Almontaser, who said that critics of the school were stalking her.

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, a member of Communities in Support of KGIA, a group devoted to having Ms. Almontaser reinstated as the school principal, said: “They picked this whole fight from Day 1. I don’t know if they stalked her or not. But they have been absolutely relentless in the campaign of lies, distortions and calumny to shut down the school and have Debbie step down as principal.”

Critics of the school's opening characterized it as a terrorist training academy and a school meant to religiously indoctrinate children in radical Islamism. Khalil Gibran was actually a Lebanese Christian who was educated in Boston; and naming the school after him was supposed to be emblematic of intercultural understanding.

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.

Untitled photo of carolers under the arch in Washington Sq. Park, by ~Raymond at flickr

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.

Mayor Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Klein, City Council Speaker Quinn, and other city and school officials celebrated the first day of school yesterday with an appearance at P.S. 53 in the Bronx. P.S. 53 was selected because it will be receiving almost a half million dollars more in funding, due to Bloomberg's "fair student funding reforms."

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.

We've written a few pieces about the Khalil Gibran International Academy's attempt to find a physical home. The dual-language Arabic public school that has declared itself non-religious is, nonetheless, having trouble finding and sharing space with educational neighbors, who fear that they'll be hosting a terrorist academy. The fact that Khalil Gibran was an American-educated Christian poet seems to have drifted off into the ether of historical irrlevancy.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Lenox Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Farragut Rd. in Brooklyn, and a home invasion robbery on 84th St. in Queens.
• The City honored Jay-Z's mom, Gloria Carter, today for her work overseeing the Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund, a college-oriented educational charity that helps disadvantaged and non-traditional students.
• A Queens man, already under arrest for threatening a police officer with a gun in front of the officer's children, multiplied his troubles by attempting to hire a hitman to kill that cop before he could testify. The would-be hitman is now also under arrest.
• After robbing a bishop of $1,500 at gunpoint in his Queens church, one of three thieves returned to the neighborhood to target the pizza place next door to the church, where he proceeded to rob an old lady while beating her with her own cane. He was stopped by an off-duty cop and held for arrest.
• Stock up on or increase the use of those subway-themed condoms while you have the chance, because the city's health commissioner will stop distributing them unless New Yorkers pick up the pace and start justifying the program. Get busy people; those condoms aren't going to use themselves.
• Former NYSE chairman Dick Grasso got four counts closer to winning his court case to keep his full compensation package, after a judge ruled in his favor on technical issues.
• Organizers of PrideFest and the city are fighting over which gay-friendly neighborhood should host the post-parade bash. The city wants to keep the event in the West Village and organizers want to move to Chelsea.
• The Dept. of Education found a temporary home for the Khalil Gibran International Academy next year. The school will be split between existing schools approximately 12 blocks apart in Park Slope.

(Superheroes at Jamba Juice, by d.wen at flickr)

Few things get NYC parents more antsy than making sure their children get into the "right" school. And whether it means camping out for days to get into a public school or forcing the mightiest Wall Street tycoon to corrupt himself in addition to forking over millions to reserve a spot in a private sandbox, getting into the school of one's choice can make applying to Harvard look like child's play. The dream of acceptance, however, can prove to be a chimera, at least to some parents of pre-kindergardeners who might not make it all the way to the show, prime time, the big leagues: Kindergarten.

Given that Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese-Christian poet and artist, whose family moved to Massachusetts when Khalil was young and he learned English in a Boston school, the name for the Academy seems apt for a place that will emphasize bi-lingualism. Almontaser is planning to open the school in September, but is meeting resistance from the current users of PS 282 in Park Slope, where education officials suggested it be located. Parents of PS 282 students are worried about locating older kids (the Khalil Gibran International Academy will begin at the 6th-grade level) with their younger children and fear the new school could be a security risk.

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."