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SOUND: KGIA students chatter. Open full to establish. Fade, but keep running underneath.
Only nine of the sixth graders at Khalil Gibran International Academy are actually Arab speakers. The rest of the majority African-American class has just learned how to greet someone in Arabic for the first time.
ACT: Taisha Williams: (0:06): Like when I meet people, I say "Mal-ka-buh." Ma-hu-bah, I mean. That means welcome.
Like many of her classmates,12-year-old Taisha Williams signed up for the school because her parents think learning Arabic will one day lead to lucrative translation jobs.
ACT: Taisha Williams: (0:08): I like learning about the Arabic culture thingie, cuz we get to learn the numbers from 1 through 60 and then we learn the alphabets.
The school doesn't let reporters into the building. Williams is walking home with her Arabic classmate Edyam Rulam. He says he's glad other kids are learning his language, even if they butcher a few words.
ACT: Edyam Rulam: (0:12): That's kind of good that they're gonna learn. But they also kind of suck at it because they don't have the accent.
Chang: The accent that you have?
Rulum: It comes from the front of your throat.
These days, the students aren't getting much practice on their accents because the short-staffed school has had to reduce language classes to three days a week. Special education classes have also been cut. And after one semester, the school is on its third principal. Debbie Almontaser resigned as the first principal amidst public outcry when she failed to condemn T-shirts bearing the slogan "Intifada NYC."
SOUND: Street Ambi. Open to full to establish. Fade, but keep running underneath.
After the stormy first semester, the group Stop the Madrassa gathered on the steps of City Hall to call for the school's shut down. "Madrassa" literally means "school" in Arabic, but it often refers to a place that teaches Islamic fundamentalism. Group member Stuart Kaufman says Khalil Gibran is different from the 70 other dual language public schools in the city.
ACT: Stuart Kaufman: (0:15): What we're afraid might be taught …is a doctrine which could be anti-Western civilization …. We're concerned about the indoctrination of students into a branch of Islam which is radical.
The Department of Education says no religious curriculum is being taught. But Stop the Madrassa doesn't believe the city and filed a Freedom of Information request for all of the school's textbook titles and lesson plans. Mona Eldahry is standing in the audience. She's a member of the group Communities in Support of Khalil Gibran International Academy, and she says the Kaufman's demand for more information is motivated by bigotry.
ACT: Mona Eldahry: (0:07): They think the school is going to indoctrinate radical Islam simply because it teaches the Arabic language and culture.
Kaufman says that a radical Muslim imam sat on the school's advisory board, but the school design team says no advisory board was ever formed. Joel Levy directs New York's Anti Defamation League, and he says that Stop the Madrassa shouldn't be worried. Khalil Gibran maintains separation of church and state, like all other public schools.
ACT: Joel Levy: (0:19): I don't think Stop the Madrassa is a hate group, not at all. I think they are people who are very well-intentioned, they have concerns about the security of the U.S. …..I just think that their efforts in labeling this particular school as a madrassa ….It's not a private school. It's not a religious school.
SOUND: Street Ambi. Open to full to establish. Fade, but run underneath.
The school has tried to ignore the public scrutiny and plow ahead with its after-school program in Arab-themed music, theater and creative writing. Drama teacher Leila Buck says groups like Stop the Madrassa should not undermine the city's mission to celebrate diversity.
ACT: Leila Buck: (0:06): Certainly the idea of teaching Arabic doesn't mean you're teaching terrorism, and I think anyone in their right mind understands that.
Undaunted by the protests, the city is moving Khalil Gibran next fall out of its small space, where partitions now serve as walls. The school will eventually expand into grades 6 through 12, and half of its classes will be taught in Arabic.
SOC: This is Ailsa Chang, Columbia Radio News.