The principal of the city’s controversial Arabic public school stepped down yesterday, just days after a federal panel ruled that her predecessor was discriminated against when she was pressured to resign.
“Holly Reichert has decided to leave Khalil Gibran International Academy to take a position as a literacy coach at a secondary school in Queens,” Department of Education spokesman David Cantor said.
Reichert, the principal since 2008, said she decided to transfer because she felt she “had taken the school as far as I could and was looking for a new professional opportunity.”
Parents and students gave her mixed reviews yesterday outside the school in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn.
“It could have been better. Some respected her, some didn’t,” said parent Deborah Rivers. “There was a lot of running around and my son had some discipline problems.”
Former principal Debbie Almontaser was pressured to quit after criticism surrounding her failure to condemn “Intifada NYC” T-shirts made by a youth organization with which she was associated.
Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a nonbinding ruling that Almontaser, who is of Arab descent, was discriminated against.
But city lawyers said the EEOC ruling would not affect their opposition to Almontaser’s claim for reinstatement.
Reichert’s interim replacement is Beshir Abdellatif, a veteran of city schools.
