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EEOC Says New York City Discriminated Against Arabic Language School Principal

By Howard M. Friedman

According to today's New York Times, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has concluded that New York City's Department of Education (DOE) discriminated against the founding principal of a controversial Arabic-language public school when it fired her. The EEOC concluded that DOE discriminated on the basis of race, religion and national origin when it forced Debbie Almontaser, a Muslim of Yemeni descent, to resign as principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn. According to the EEOC's letter urging DOE to reach a just resolution of Almontaser's claims, opponents of the dual-language school succeeded in falsely painting Almontaser as a jihadist, instead of as the moderate Muslim that she was. Misleading characterization of remarks by Almontaser in a New York Post article triggered anti-Muslim bias that led to the Department of Education's action. (See prior related posting.) DOE says it did not discriminate against Almontaser, will not reinstate her and will defend against any litigation she brings.

Full post as published by Religion Clause on March 13, 2010 (boomark / email).