But Some Parents at P.S. 287
Object To Sharing Space
By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
FORT GREENE — The Department of Education has confirmed that the Arabic-themed Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) will be moving from Boerum Hill to a building occupied by P.S. 287, at 50 Navy St., near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.
But parents at P.S. 287, who were told about the move at an “emergency” meeting Wednesday evening, say they are outraged.
“They ambushed us,” said Matrice Sherman, mother of two students at P.S. 287. “Garth Harries [DOE’s Chief Portfolio Officer], when he met with us last time, said there would be a dialog, and that they would hear our concerns.
“Who did he speak to? Not to the people at this school.”
P.S. 287 currently shares space with another high school, the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice. But this school will be moving into the renovated Family Court Building on Adams Street in September. PTA President Edgardo Rivera told the Brooklyn Eagle that parents at P.S. 287 have been unhappy sharing space with the high school.
“High school children and elementary children do not mix,” he said. “High school students will be high school students. This is the age where they do what they’re not supposed to be doing. You don’t want your 8-year-old daughter exposed to certain things at that age.”
Parents also say that there are space issues at the school. “Our children are lucky if they get gym once a week,” said Ms. Sherman. “There’s no break-out rooms – we have to hold the award ceremonies in a classroom. And they have to eat lunch starting at 10:30. Can you imagine? They eat breakfast at 8 and eat lunch at 10:30, then they have to last until 3 -- some of them get out at 3:38.”
DOE spokesperson Melody Meyer disputed some of these concerns Thursday. “There is enough space in the school, and the space is outfitted to serve middle and high school students.”
In late February, Meyers expressed puzzlement with P.S. 287’s sudden aversion to older students in the school building.
“We have been talking with the School Leadership Team since early February,” Meyer said at that time. “For two or three weeks there’s been no issue; everything was fine until yesterday. The PTA president was part of our conversation from the beginning. He invited the Department of Education to the regularly scheduled PTA meeting to answer questions.”
Rivera said that a meeting would be held at Brooklyn Borough Hall Friday to discuss the issue.
A Long History of Controversy
Although KGIA was conceived as a way to expose children to Arabic language and culture, conservative Web sites and newspapers, including the New York Sun and the New York Post, have voiced vehement denunciations against what they call a “jihad school.”
Ms. Sherman insists that parents’ objections “have nothing to do with the school.” Rivera concurs. “We understand the other school has its issues, but it’s not really about that. It’s about space, and the safety of our kids.”
This is not the first time KGIA has faced protests over its siting. In March of 2007, parents at P.S. 282/Park Slope School decried the DOE’s plan to “shoehorn” the planned KGIA into their elementary school. Parents said they worried about loss of space and about their elementary school children sharing space with older children.
KGIA did not open at P.S. 282, but did open in September in a building shared with the Brooklyn High School of the Arts and M.S. 447. It has now outgrown this space.
KGIA’s Ex-Principal Continues Her Lawsuit
Founding Principal Debbie Almontaser stepped down as principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in August, shortly before the opening of the school, after being criticized for comments to the New York Post that appeared to condone “Intifada NYC” T-shirts. Afterward, Almontaser said that she had been pressured to resign; she initiated a lawsuit.
The Second U.S. Court of Appeals last Thursday upheld a district court’s denial of her demand to get her job back while waiting for her case to wind its way through the court system.
Almontaser was replaced with interim principal Danielle Salzberg, who was later replaced with permanent principal Holly Anne Reichert.
KGIA started at sixth grade and will grow one grade a year through 12th grade.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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