First NYC Madrassa fails to meet Any Standard

The first public school madrassa in Brooklyn is an abject failure. They are closing the middle school because of the low enrollment and perhaps the worst violence of any of the city schools. Last year I reported that the school was forced to suspend more than one-third of its student body for infractions ranging from hitting to weapons.

In March of 2010:

“Every day, they’re fighting,” said Voneeda Black, who nervously sends her 6-year-old to the elementary school with which Gibran shares a building.

“You don’t see parents,” she said. “Three or four times a week, there are cops here, if not more.”

It may be the worst record in the city.

So I think it appropriate to take a hard look at Gibran — a school founded on the flawed notion that segregating Arabists will lead to harmony.

Since it opened, the tiny school on the edge of DUMBO has had one of the city’s highest rates of violence. A teacher was taunted by kids as a “terrorist” in 2008. It’s gotten steadily worse.

More than a third — one in three! — of Gibran’s 114 students, grades six through eight, have been suspended this year, according to the Department of Education.

Twenty-two were yanked from school for five days. Eight kids were considered so rowdy or dangerous, they were banned from class six to 10 days.

Nineteen fights led to student injuries or intimidation. In two other cases, weapons were used. This number has climbed from last year’s 17 violent incidents and 26 suspensions.

So they are closing the middle school and reopening as a a high school (!). Why is beyond me -- just close this publicly funded madrassa.And you'll notice in the reportage the violence and school failure is never mentioned.

Join me -- we have been fighting this madrassa, the Khalil Gibran International Academy, since the city announced plans to open it in 2007. Pamela Hall has been leading this fight as well. We were both first on the story and the fight, Atlas as early as February 2007. August 2007: NY PUBLIC SCHOOL MADRASSA IMAM: “Jihad is our way, And death in the way of Allah is our promised end”