30 19 Full Magazine

Read your local stoop inside. Read them all at BrooklynPaper.com Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 834–9350 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2007 WEB EDITION AWP/20 pages • Vol. 30, No. 19 • Saturday, May 12, 2007 • FREE INCLUDING ALL EDITIONS SLOPE OUSTS ARABIC SCHOOL City caves, relocates Gibran Academy to Boerum Hill By Dana Rubinstein Science Exploratory School, a middle one by Alicia Colon that invoked the spec- Park Sloper Steven Rosenberg, who wrote, The Brooklyn Paper school (see page 15). B’HILL REACTS ter of 9-11. “There’s no better way to atomize our cul- Park Slope parents hailed the city’s re- SEE PAGE 15 Colon charged that the city was “bend- ture than to allow each little group to nev- The city has given up its controversial location as a victory over what they re- ing over backwards to appease those sym- er have the need to enter the larger society, plan to squeeze an Arabic language and garded as a top-down and unwise plan, city plan to move another school into its pathetic to individuals who would destroy learn its values, language, etc.” culture middle school into a Park Slope given the limited space of the PS 282 Park Slope building at its March 12 meet- us again.” She asked, “During World War Others were harsher. elementary school, an endeavor that in- building and concerns about mixing ing, and PTA members have been holding II, did we open a German public school to The Department of Education skirted this cited weeks of parental protests over the young children with the teenagers at the protests in front of the school and at the explain the Third Reich?” line of opposition in announcing the school’s school’s limited space and raised ques- Gibran Academy. Department of Education’s Manhattan “How delighted Osama bin Laden and al site change, holding that its decision was tions over the notion of an Arabic school. “We are so glad, so happy,” said Sherry headquarters ever since. Qaeda must have been to hear the news — based on space considerations at PS 282. On Wednesday, the Department of Ed- Rodriguez, who has two children at the While PTA members said their con- that New York City, the site of the worst “We took a look at what impact sharing ucation announced that the Khalil Gibran school, which is on Sixth Avenue and Lin- cerns were limited to the logistical, others terrorist attack in our history, is bowing space would have on both schools and de- Babak Ghahremanpour International Academy would instead be coln Place. “Now we can have all the pro- focused on the propriety of establishing an down in homage to accommodate and per- cided not to move forward,” said Melody Parents at PS 282 in Park Slope blocked a city housed at the Brooklyn High School for grams we need, and we don’t need to mix Arabic school in the first place. haps groom future radicals,” Colon added. Meyer, an Education spokeswoman. She plan to put an Arabic-language middle school the Arts, whose building on Dean Street in pre-K kids with older kids.” The New York Sun ran two harsh Letters critical of the school received by said the decision was made in “consulta- within their elementary school. Boerum Hill also includes the Math and The PTA at PS 282 found out about the columns criticizing the school, including The Brooklyn Paper included one from See SCHOOL on page 15 By any objective standard, a city plan to house an Arabic language and culture middle school within an up-and- coming Park Slope elementary school was badly handled, marked by surprise announcements and poor commu- Timeline of a debacle nication. Here’s how the plan, imposed on a neighborhood known for its multi-cultural ethos, went down in flames. Read your local stoop inside. Read them all at BrooklynPaper.com Brooklyn’s Real Newspaper BrooklynPaper.com • (718) 834–9350 • Brooklyn, NY • ©2007 BROOKLYN HEIGHTS–DOWNTOWN EDITION AWP/16 pages • Vol. 30, No. 11 • Saturday, March 17, 2007 • FREE February 12, 2007 INCLUDING DUMBO March 16, 2007 April 24, 2007 April 30, 2007 HOLY WAR Slope parents protest Arabic school plan By Dana Rubinstein action to combat the plan, and was The Brooklyn Paper set to rally on Friday. “[The Department of Educa- Park Slope parents exploded tion] couldn’t answer any ques- at Department of Education offi- tions at all, [like] who decided on cials who hope to squeeze a new this school, and where the securi- Arabic-language middle school ty will come from,” said Fraser. into the elementary-level PS 282 Her outrage was echoed by Do building on Sixth Avenue. lores Louison. The Department of Education an- The up-and-coming elementary “This is totally unacceptable,” school already houses 600 stu- said Louison. “We fought hard for Dozens of parents protest in front of PS 282, while dents, from pre-K through fifth our science lab, our computer lab, our Daniel Pipes (below), a com- grade, and parents say it can’t music room, our art room. It doesn’t hold many more. New York Sun columnist Alicia Colon argues that the city’s plan for an Arabic- take a rocket scientist to see that this “We’ll lose space, we’ll lose will change things for the worse.” services, and we’ll lose safety,” The PTA has found a champion / Julie Rosenberg said Parent Teacher Association in Councilman David Yassky (D- President Xiomara Fraser, whose Park Slope), who told The Brook- son is a fourth-grader at PS 282. lyn Paper that the plan was “a mis- “We would rather they give us take and would be very harmful to the option of putting our own sixth efforts to help that school grow.” The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn graders back here…if they think The Department of Education Patti Hagan with her beloved pooch, Lady Day. there’s enough space,” added Fras- Web site claims that the school is er. “That creates continuity.” only at 63 percent capacity. Fraser’s concerns were echoed “We wish every new school in by dozens of parents at the March the city could have its own build- 12 PTA meeting, where the city un- ing, but we rarely have the luxury veiled its plan amid widespread in- of sufficient space and money,” dignation that the Khalil Gibran In- said Melody Meyer, an Education nounces plans for the Khalil Gibran ternational Academy hadn’t been Babak Ghahremanpour Department spokeswoman. drafted with any consultation from Parents at PS 282 in Park Slope are hoping to block a city plan to put an Arabic- The school is named for Gib ran, the community. language middle school within their elementary school. a beloved Lebanese Christian poet. Gibran Academy principal Debbie Almontaser DOGGONIT! The day after that raucous mentator on radical Islam, says meeting, parents Jennifer Bacon themed school amounts to “bending over backwards to appease those sym- Fossati and Filippo Fossati sent Friends, foes cheer as Hagan’s dog Schools Chancellor Joel Klein a letter complaining that the Arab- turns up after odd disappearance language and culture school would “invade” PS 282 with a Honor program that “is an abdication of By Gersh Kuntzman munity-wide effort to find the pur- — “It’s run by a Bhutanese guy, by the basic principle behind public The Brooklyn Paper loined pup that ended thanks to a the way,” Hagan said — and was education [by setting] up separate hunch by a receptionist at a Fort told that a “strange” woman with Residents of Prospect Heights schools to teach uncritically one Greene animal hospital. gray hair and a dark coat had poked history and one culture.” at the — whether they support the At- The drama began on March 6, her head into the shop demanding to The letter cited a report pub- lantic Yards mega-project or not when Hagan tied up her dog out- know whose dog was tied up out- — were united in their joy at lished on MilitantIslamMonitor.org side New York Naturals on Flat- side. that referred to the Gribran Acad- hearing that Patti Hagan had got- bush Avenue near Bergen Street. “I went next door and talked to emy as a “Jihad school.” ten her dog back. court! Hagan was actually going into a Mike Hussein and he said the The academy, which would be That is, except Bruce Ratner. different store, but wanted Lady to same thing about this lady,” Hagan the city’s first dedicated to Arabic Building to be International Academy, to be locat- But more on that later. be in the sun, not in the cold (re- said. “And the optometrist said he language and culture studies, is be- Lady Day, the peripatetic At- member that, it becomes important saw a woman acting strange.” ing run by Debbie Almontaser, a lantic Yards protester’s 12-year-old Convinced that Lady had been named for Carey tours the building with her PS 282 counterpart later). native of Yemen who is a 15-year in the New York Sun that “Ara- black Lab, had been stolen last Ten minutes later, when Hagan dognapped, Hagan made the rounds veteran of the school system. week, setting into motion a com- returned from photocopying pro - of the local animal hospitals to get The Gibran school would have By Gersh Kuntzman pathetic to individuals who would destroy us again. ... How delighted Osama test flyers (what else?), Lady was the word out and posted flyers all only a sixth-grade class next year, The Brooklyn Paper nowhere to be found.

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