The founding principal of the city’s first Arabic-language school said yesterday that the Bloomberg administration forced her to resign in August by threatening to shut the school. She said she was applying to get the job back.
In her first detailed public account of what led her to step down after defending the word “intifada” on a T-shirt, the principal, Debbie Almontaser, presented herself as the victim of an anti-Arab “smear campaign” from conservative newspapers and blogs and of pressure from city officials.
As she stood on the steps of City Hall, Ms. Almontaser said that representatives of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, as well as New Visions, a nonprofit group that helps to start schools in the city, all demanded that she give up the job and threatened to close the school, Khalil Gibran International Academy, if she did not. Ms. Almontaser did not take any questions and her lawyer, Alan Levine, refused to name the individuals.
In a statement, David Cantor, a spokesman for Chancellor Klein, said: “In August, Ms. Almontaser said she resigned as principal from Khalil Gibran International Academy to protect the stability of the school and give it ‘the full opportunity to flourish.’” He said, “The chancellor agreed with her decision, accepted her resignation, and now considers the matter closed.”
The school, in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, one of the city’s dual-language academies, has been headed by an interim principal and the city has been seeking a full-time replacement. Ms. Almontaser is currently working as an administrator at the Education Department’s headquarters and is still earning her principal’s salary. But she also said yesterday that she planned to file a lawsuit in federal court saying that the city had violated her right to free speech.
Establishing the Khalil Gibran school, Ms. Almontaser said, “was my American dream.” She added, “It turned into an American nightmare.”
Almost from the time the Education Department announced plans for the school in February, it faced opposition from parents at public schools that were to share their space with the Arabic-culture school, as well as from conservative columnists, who said the school would promote radical Islam.
The controversy that ultimately lead to Ms. Almontaser’s resignation began in early August, when she faced questioning from The New York Post over the phrase “Intifada NYC,” which was printed on T-shirts sold by Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media, a Brooklyn-based organization. The shirts had no relation to the school. She said that the word “intifada,” — which is commonly used to refer to the Palestinian uprising against Israel — literally meant “shaking off” and did not only suggest violence.
Yesterday, Ms. Almontaser said that Education Department officials had forced her to speak to the reporter and then, not satisfied with her answer, demanded that she write an apology.
Melody Meyer, another spokeswoman for the Education Department, said that neither the mayor’s office nor education officials had threatened to close the school. “Preserving the school has been our priority throughout,” she said. “Ms. Almontaser was never forced to speak to reporters, make statements or otherwise act against her will.”
Three City Council members, including Robert Jackson, the chairman of the Education Committee, attended the press conference yesterday and said that Ms. Almontaser should be reinstated as principal.
Speaking with a calm voice but with clear anger, Ms. Almontaser said that her critics — particularly those involved with a group that calls itself the “Stop the Madrassa Coalition” — had gone after her by “fostering hatred of Arabs and Muslims.”
“They suggested that as an observant Muslim I was disqualified from leading” the school, Ms. Almontaser said. “To stir up anti-Arab prejudice, they constantly referred to me by my Arabic name, a name that I do not use professionally.”
Sara Springer, a member of the coalition who watched the press conference, said that the group believed the school should still come under more scrutiny.
“It’s a school that’s teaching Islamic culture, that’s what it’s all about,” Ms. Springer said. “The Department of Education should absolutely reject her application.”
Education officials said that 25 people had applied for the post, and that Ms. Almontaser’s application would not be considered.
