NEW YORK -- A veteran teacher who helped develop an Arabic-themed public school has been named its acting principal now that the original principal has resigned under heavy criticism.
Acting Principal Danielle Salzberg had been working with the team setting up professional development services at the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, which will open Sept. 4 with a sixth grade and will eventually cover Grades 6 through 12, schools Chancellor Joel Klein said Monday in announcing her appointment.
The school’s intended principal, Debbie Almontaser, quit last week after facing criticism for failing to condemn the use of the word “intifada” on T-shirts. Intifada is an Arabic term for the Palestinian uprising against Israel.
Salzberg has taught middle school and high school and has served as an assistant principal but does not speak Arabic, Department of Education spokeswoman Debra Wexler said.
So far, 45 students have enrolled in the Khalil Gibran International Academy, named after the Lebanese-American Christian poet.
The school has had a rocky path since its opening was announced last winter. Initially supposed to share space with an elementary school, the academy was shut out after parents complained that there wasn’t enough space. City officials chose another host school, but parents there raised similar concerns.
The New York Post connected Almontaser to a group called Arab Women Active in Art and Media, which sells T-shirts imprinted with the words “Intifada NYC.”
Almontaser told the paper the word intifada “basically means ‘shaking off.’ ” She said the shirts provided an “opportunity for girls to express that they are part of New York City society ... and shaking off oppression.”
