New York City officials have not been open or candid, critics say, about a controversial public school set to open in Brooklyn next month that will teach Arab language and culture -- the Khalil Gibran International Academy.
A local group, Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition, fears the school will become a Muslim-oriented school that promotes a religious and political agenda to its incoming sixth-grade class.
Administrators have claimed otherwise, but the coalition has received few details about the school’s curriculum, faculty, textbooks and students, so its questions are still unanswered.
The suspicions are fueled by comments made by the school’s incoming principal, Debbie Almontaser, as well as by some of her allegedly radical Islamist associations.
She has said, for instance, that U.S. foreign policy is “racist” and that the U.S. “triggered” terrorism by not being a fair mediator in the Middle East.
Further, the advisory board for the school includes three imams (Islamic leaders), as well as Christian and Jewish clergy.
“What’s to hide? We know what we see,” said Pamela Hall, a New York resident and a spokeswoman for the Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition. (A madrassa is a Muslim school). “We see a religious advisory board and a principal with a track record in radical Islam,” Hall said.
The group filed a Freedom of Information Act request with city and state agencies last month for more information on the school.
The school is not religious and will be shut down if it becomes religious, said Joe Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education, in several news accounts.
“It would be against the Constitution for a public school to teach a religion,” Melody Meyer, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Education told Cybercast News Service. “Religion will not be affecting the curriculum.”
Even though New York City has Greek, Chinese, and Russian public schools to teach distinct cultures, those cultures aren’t as intertwined with a single faith as are Arabs and Islam, said John Matthies, assistant director of Islamist Watch, which has monitored the situation.
He also expressed concerns about the advisory board for the school.
“I don’t know why all these religions are on the board. It’s evenly divided among Christians, Jews, and Muslims, seemingly to allay concerns,” Matthies told Cybercast News Service.
Yet the make-up of the advisory board “absolutely” did not have anything to do with religion, said Meyer.
“The board was chosen because they are people who could speak to the hearts and minds of the community,” she said. “They were chosen based on their ability to communicate.”
Meyer added that the curriculum and textbooks would be the same as those of other New York City schools.
Meanwhile, the Arab-American Family Support Center, which initially organized the school, said on its website that the school would include Arabic as a second language and college prep courses in common subjects such as science, math and social studies.
Hall, who described the Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition as a “broad spectrum” of about 50 parents, teachers and other New York City residents, said citizens want to know how the school will be monitored by the city.
They want to ensure it isn’t influenced by politics or religion, and the lack of transparency from New York City officials hasn’t boosted their confidence.
Hall wants more information on how history will be taught. She further noted that some English-language textbooks have been published that teach the radical Islamist perspective of history.
Meyer said there would be no point of view in history classes: “We have rigorous accountability on public schools that measures student performance and a grade for each school. We have feedback from students and parents should any concern come up. Schools do not operate in isolation.”
It was in March, this year, when New York City Department of Education officials announced the establishment of the academy, named for Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese Christian poet.
The school faced near-immediate controversy when parents and teachers at the original site of the school - inside an existing Brooklyn public school - objected to its location. Officials then chose to move the school’s proposed location in June to occupy space in another school in Brooklyn and agreeing to invest in construction at the school.
The school will host grades 6-12, but it will include only a sixth grade class the first year and then expand each year as students are promoted. The academy will enroll 60 students at a cost of more than $12,000 per pupil and about five faculty members - all certified teachers, Meyer said.
Some of the contention about the Academy surrounds Almontaser’s past political comments such as, “Fundamentalist Muslims were blamed for the terror attacks ... I have realized that our foreign policy is racist; in the ‘war against terror’ people of color are the target.”
She has also said, “terrorist attacks have been triggered by the way the USA breaks its promises with countries across the world, especially in the Middle East, and the fact that it has not been a fair mediator with its foreign policy.”
Almontaser was also given an award by the controversial Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others in Congress have accused of having ties to terrorism.
“In this situation, they are giving a green light to an inexperienced principal who has ties to an Islamic organization,” said Hall.
Others contend that Almontaser has reached out to all communities.
“Through joint coalition work in Brooklyn against hate crimes, she has demonstrated her support for the civil liberties of all people,” Joel J. Levy of the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish anti-discrimination group, said in a letter last May to The New York Sun.
“She is deeply committed to creating an inclusive learning environment that embraces the unparalleled diversity of New York City,” Levy said.
Opponents concede the school will open after Labor Day as planned. But the protests will continue, and the school will be closely watched, said Hall.
“When the school meets, we’re not just going to say, ‘oh, we lost’ and walk away,” Hall said. “This is the tip of the iceberg. When the school opens, it will be a harder fight.”
