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Education Dept. discriminated against principal ousted from Arabic-themed school: panel
The New York City Education Department discriminated against the former principal of a controversy-plagued Arabic-themed public school when they forced her to resign, a federal commission ruled this week.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission vindicated Debbie Almontaser, who helped found Brooklyn's Khalil Gibran International Academy.
An ethnic Arab and a Muslim, she resigned amid a firestorm of criticism about the school's theme, later claiming city officials threatened to close the school if she didn't leave.
"DOE succumbed to the very bias that creation of the school was intended to dispel," the commission wrote this week, finding Almontaser faced discrimination on "the basis of her race, religion, and national origin."