NEW LEADER PICKED TO RUN NYC ARAB PUBLIC SCHOOL

New Leader Picked to Run Arabic School (NYT)

An education official experienced in starting new schools in New York City, but not in speaking Arabic, will take over immediately as the interim acting principal of the city’s first public school dedicated to the study of Arabic language and culture, Chancellor Joel I. Klein said yesterday.

The official, Danielle Salzberg, 35, a senior program officer at the nonprofit group New Visions for Public Schools, will replace Debbie Almontaser, the founding principal of the school, the Khalil Gibran International Academy. Ms. Almontaser resigned under pressure on Friday.

The Department of Education frantically scoured for a replacement principal after Ms. Almontaser announced her resignation, partly to quiet the furor that has surrounded the school since it was created.

“Danielle is a strong leader and an excellent educator who knows what it takes to help our students succeed,” Mr. Klein said in a statement announcing Ms. Salzberg’s appointment. “With her leadership and the commitment renewed today by teachers and staff, Khalil Gibran will add a new, important option for our students who are interested in a rigorous academic program with an international and Arabic theme.”

Ms. Almontaser’s leadership of the school became an issue after she was quoted last week in The New York Post defending the use of the word “intifada” as a T-shirt slogan. The word has come to be associated with Palestinian attacks on Israel.

Ms. Salzberg’s résumé, provided by the Education Department, shows that she earned degrees from New York University and Teachers College at Columbia University. She also did graduate work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Department officials said that she did not speak Arabic and that they did not know what she studied in Jerusalem, or whether she had a background in Arabic culture. Ms. Salzberg did not return phone calls seeking comment.

She joined the Education Department in December 1996, working as a high school English teacher. She has been an assistant principal at Millennium High School in Manhattan since 2004.

Ms. Salzberg was selected partly “on the basis of her experience and her work with the school,” said Debra Wexler, a department spokeswoman. Along with Ms. Almontaser, Ms. Salzberg has spent the past several months preparing for the school’s opening this fall.

Khalil Gibran will open in partnership with New Visions, which has helped create dozens of small schools in recent years. Robert L. Hughes, the president of New Visions, called Ms. Salzberg “a committed educator with a proven track record in the public school system.” Another partner in the school, the Arab-American Family Support Center, a Brooklyn social service agency that will provide the Arabic language instruction, said its staff was pleased with the selection.

At a news conference yesterday morning, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg reiterated his support for the school, following his remarks on Friday in which he said he welcomed Ms. Almontaser’s resignation. “We’re confident the school will continue,” he said.

IF SHE CAN'T SPEAK ARABIC, HOW IS SHE GOING TO KNOW WHAT HER FACULTY IS TEACHING?