18 Hasidic Schools Failed Basic Education, NYC Finds.
18 Hasidic Schools Failed Basic Education, NYC Finds.
According to New York City officials, 18 private schools operated by the Hasidic Jewish community have been breaking the law by failing to give their children a sufficient secular education.
The results were a shocking indictment of the yeshivas, or religious schools, which receive hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding each year but have long defied outside scrutiny.
The findings about the schools—which give rigorous Yiddish-language religious teaching but little instruction in English, algebra, or other secular subjects—marked the first time the city came to the conclusion that private schools had not been able to offer a quality education.
The fact that the local authorities made the decision rather than criticising the politically significant Hasidic group made it all the more noteworthy. Additionally, it was the result of a protracted investigation that was stalled for eight years, through two mayoral administrations, and was frequently hampered by political meddling and bureaucratic lethargy.
The schools might be obliged to submit comprehensive improvement plans and be subject to government oversight if the state Education Department maintains the findings, as is anticipated. However, it is unclear from the law what penalties the institutions would encounter if they fail to make improvements.
The city’s Department of Education undertook a “thorough, fair review” of the Hasidic schools, according to a statement from a representative for the department.
The spokesman, Nathaniel Styer, stated, “As always, our goal is to build trust, work with the community, and ensure schools are in compliance with state education law and regulations. Our goal is to educate children, not to punish the adults.”
According to Richard Bamberger, a representative for some of the yeshivas, the Hasidic community “rejects the attempt to measure the efficacy of yeshiva education by applying a skewed set of technical requirements.”
Using a government checklist created and implemented by attorneys could aid in explaining the current situation of public education, he suggested. It is intended to conceal rather than reveal the excellence and beauty of yeshiva education.
Yeshiva reform proponents expressed cautious optimism regarding the results of the study.
Beatrice Weber, executive director of Yaffed, the group of former students and parents whose complaints sparked the investigation, said, “We hope that the conclusion of this investigation compels the city and Mayor Eric Adams to act on behalf of thousands of students who are being denied their right to a sound basic education.”
The city’s response came in response to a New York Times investigation that revealed some all-boys Hasidic schools in Brooklyn and the lower Hudson Valley were depriving their kids of a quality secular education and that some of the teachers there were using corporal punishment to maintain order.
More than 200 gender-segregated schools of different quality are run throughout the state by the Hasidim, a fiercely pious subset of the greater Orthodox Jewish community. Less secular education is offered in boys’ schools than in girls’ schools, with a greater emphasis placed on the analysis of religious literature. The city probe looked into concerns regarding more than two dozen Brooklyn schools, which enrol thousands of students.
Mayor Eric Adams, a steadfast supporter of the city’s Hasidic leaders, pledged to finish the inquiry into the schools after learning of The Times’ revelation. The probe had started in 2015 under Bill de Blasio, who is now mayor.
Letters were written on Friday to state education officials summarising the findings of the city’s probe. Officials came to the conclusion that four of the 18 schools the city considered to be lacking were breaking the law. The city suggested that the state determine the same thing with the remaining 14. According to the law, the city can decide definitively concerning some private schools but not others. The state Education Department’s proposals were being examined, according to a spokesman.
City officials added that the only reason five additional schools they looked into complied with the law was because of their connections to state-approved high school programmes. These schools won’t be subject to any more inspections.
Based on the calibre of their instruction, only two of the more than twenty schools the city looked into were determined to be in conformity with the law, reflecting early findings released by the de Blasio administration late in 2019. A yeshiva for girls was one of the schools.
Officials acknowledged visiting schools and finding problems with course planning or documentation of teacher preparation in the letters summarising the investigation. Officials reported observing no instruction at all on fundamental areas in other instances.
Inspectors said that after numerous trips to Oholei Torah in Crown Heights, one of the state’s major yeshivas, they had discovered “insufficient evidence that teachers have the appropriate knowledge, skill, and disposition to deliver” suitable secular education.
