Although “Debbie” Almontaser has stepped down as principal of the Muslim-oriented Brooklyn public school over the “intifada” T-Shirt flap, there are still some very important questions that remain. That a woman whom the bureaucrats at the Department of Education viewed fit to head a project as potentially troublesome as the Khalil Gibran International Academy did not see a problem with kids promoting an “intifada” is alarming. And it raises red flags about some of the other aspects of the school that have passed DOE muster.
For one thing, a good number of the textbooks to be used will be in Arabic. Is it not reasonable to think the positions taken in those books will not exactly be those found in conventional public school textbooks? Will Al Jazeera be a prescribed resource? What website resources will be recommended?
For another, there are several Muslim-oriented organizations that will be closely affiliated with the school, providing volunteers, social services, counseling and other assorted services. Yet there have been questions raised about their public advocacy and positions relating to American society and government. Moreover, taken together these affiliations seem to suggest that a mission quite different from traditional public school education is contemplated for the school.
DOE officials continue to insist that the Arab-themed school is no different than Chinese- or Hispanic-oriented public schools currently in place or planned. Yet on the face of it, none of the other schools is comparably faith-driven – and single-faith driven at that.
Of course, a big part of the problem is that there has been precious little transparency on the part of DOE officials. Efforts to obtain specifics concerning the decision-making leading to the approval of the school are routinely resisted – even when those efforts are through Freedom of Information Law requests.
If anything, the sad history of special studies departments in colleges and universities demonstrates that concerns about an entire special studies school are well taken. Yet, as is unfortunately the case in many areas of official decision-making in New York City, there is little recourse for those with questions about the wisdom of Bloomberg administration policies – except when there is superior political power brought to bear.
Perhaps the New York City Council should try to get to the bottom of all this through a series of hearings.
