GothamSchools — daily independent reporting on NYC public schools

• City officials stand by the schools’ new bake sale rules, which many parents are opposing. (Times)
• The city’s new “Trayless Tuesdays” program to cut down on cafeteria waste kicked off yesterday. (NY1)
• The Post criticizes Trayless Tuesdays as a distraction from the business of teaching and learning.
• Students from PS 59 in the Bronx are dancing at the White Houses St. Patrick’s Day celebration. (Post)
• The new principal of Khalil Gibran Academy is Arab-American. (GothamSchools, Post, Daily News)
• The Daily News says Khalil Gibran’s first principal wasn’t discriminated against but was a bad leader.
• The Obama administration’s next job is to convince skeptics about its education plans. (Times)
• Education policy could be a source of bipartisan consensus after the divisive health care debate. (Time)
• Former education secretary Margaret Spellings agrees that NCLB is ready for a revamp. (NPR)
• Chicago’s schools chief is banning teachers union campaigning at city schools. (Chicago Tribune)
• Teachers and officials in Chicago are sparring over how bad budget cuts will be. (Chicago Sun-Times)

The former principal of a dual-language Arabic-English school was forced to resign by city officials who discriminated against her, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found today.

A report by the commission found that in 2007, when Khalil Gibran International Academy interim principal Debbie Almontaser was forced to resign, Department of Education officials acted out of ethnic and religious bias. Almontaser, an Arab Muslim, was asked to leave the school after some found comments she made in the press offensive and began a campaign to paint her as an extremist. Since then, the school has struggled to get back on its feet and Almontaser is arguing that she should be allowed to have her old job back.

The commission’s report states that “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.” It goes on to suggest that the DOE consider reinstating Almontaser. (more…)

Earlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Sidney H. Stein issued a decision in Almontaser v. New York City Board of Education, 07 Civ. 10444, finding that a principal fired for statements leading to a misleading press report was not protected under the First Amendment.

The decision and the actions it protects are problematic on grounds of law and policy. First is the misapplication of precedent by the District Court, carried over from an earlier opinion and repeated by a Circuit Court ruling in the same case. Second, and perhaps more seriously, is the extent to which the Bloomberg administration continues to push a policy agenda squelching free expression.

Background

On August 5, 2007, New York Post reporter Chuck Bennett interviewed Debbie Almontaser, the interim acting principal of the Kahlil Gibran International Academy, a New York City public school which was due to open the following September. KGIA was the focus of intense public scrutiny for its emphasis on Arab language and culture. Also at issue was an allegation that Almontaser had ties to Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media which had created t-shirts stating “Intifada NYC.” (more…)

Khalil Gibran International Academy supporters outside the school on its first day. Via Flickr.

From February 2007, when the Department of Education announced it would open a dual-language Arabic-English school, until the end of the school’s first year last June, Khalil Gibran International Academy was wracked by bad news.

Now, partway into the school’s second year, Colorlines, which bills itself as “the national newsmagazine about race and politics,” has taken a look at KGIA’s progress. Sadly, the problems don’t sound like they’ve abated.

From the article:

This past September, many of the original sixth-grade students had not returned as seventh graders. The school has cut back on Arabic language instruction, is no longer set to become a high school and has moved twice in its first year of operation. The founding principal, Debbie Almontaser, was forced to resign following a media storm over the meaning of the word “intifada,” and the school is being led by its third principal. None of the original teachers remain at the school, and those who have left claim they were fired or forced to leave because of the stress. (more…)