Holly Anne Reichert with Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, at a news conference announcing her selection.

After Debbie Almontaser was forced to resign as principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy last summer, she was replaced by an “acting” principal who had no background in Arab history or language.

The entire affair, whipped up by anti-Arab racism in the NY press and anti-Arab organizations, was a disgraceful attempt to shut the school down. Progressive organizations were split, with many groups, including a number of prominent Jewish organizations and leaders supporting Almontaser, and the head of the NY teachers’ union calling for Almontaser’s resignation.

Wednesday’s NY Times reports that the acting principal has now been replaced.

The new principal, Holly Anne Reichert, 42, has worked in the city public schools for more than nine years, first as an English as a Second Language teacher and, later, as a teacher mentor.She has also spent much time in the Arab world, including stints as a Peace Corps volunteer in Yemen, as a teaching fellow at the American University in Cairo, and as head of the English department at an English-Arabic dual language school in Bahrain.