Education Department Distances Itself From Khalil Gibran Rally

By ELIZABETH GREEN, Staff Reporter of the Sun
August 20, 2007

The city's Department of Education is distancing itself from a rally in support of one of its own schools, the Arabic-language Khalil Gibran International Academy set to open in Brooklyn in two weeks.

Khalil Gibran's founding principal, Dhaba "Debbie" Almontaser, resigned earlier this month after she was quoted speaking in support of T-shirts that read "Intifada NYC," saying the message did not advocate violence but rather "a shaking off."

The quotation led opponents of her school to schedule a rally calling for Ms. Almontaser's immediate dismissal; they canceled it after Ms. Almontaser resigned the next day.

Now the women's art group that made the T-shirts, Arab Women Active in Art and Media, and seven co-sponsors, including Jewish, Muslim, and Baptist groups, have scheduled a rally for today — this one a show of support for the school.

The Department of Education has "nothing to do with it," a spokeswoman, Debra Wexler, said.

In a joint statement, the rally's organizers said the city has not adequately defended the school or Ms. Almontaser.

The group's statement says she was "unfairly pressured" to resign, and calls for city leaders to oppose the school's critics vigorously. A department spokesman, David Cantor, said Ms. Almontaser was not pressured to resign.

Since Ms. Almontaser's resignation, city officials have appointed an interim principal, a Jewish woman with 11 years of experience in city schools, to plug the gap Ms. Almontaser left, saying they stand behind Khalil Gibran's concept.

"It has nothing to do with a religion or an ideology or politics," Mayor Bloomberg said last week, vowing his support for the school as long as it met academic standards.

A supporter of the rally, Rabbi Michael Feinberg, said yesterday these shows of support have not been enough, arguing that the city should reinstate Ms. Almontaser. "Both the mayor and Chancellor Klein seem to jump aboard the bandwagon and accept Debbie's resignation and encourage it in a sense," Rabbi Feinberg said. "If they were leaders, they wouldn't be pandering to this anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry, but standing up to it."

The leader of the Arab art group, Mona Eldahry, did not return repeated phone calls. In a radio interview last week, she defended the "Intifada" T-shirts, which she said advocate a "shaking off" of pressures to be silent from both inside and outside the Arab community. "We have to speak out, and if we don't speak up for ourselves, who will?" she said.

Education Department Distances Itself From Khalil Gibran Rally

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