Brooklyn, NY – A 17 year old former Brooklyn high schooler and her father are suing a local Bais Yaakov for unfairly expelling the teen after an unidentified mother contacted the school’s principal, claiming that the girl had texted her son nude selfies.
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The girl, identified in court papers filed this week in Brooklyn Federal Court only as G.S., was a tenth grader at Lev Bais Yaakov when she was expelled in December 2103, according to her attorney, Robert Tolchin. Both the girl and her father, identified in the complaint as Morris S., are suing Lev Bais Yaakov, executive director Rabbi Shmiel Deutsch and high school principal Mrs. Rivka Oratz for negligence, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, engaging in lawful behavior with malice and intent to harm and breach of contract.
“This all happened in December 2013,” Tolchin told VIN News. “The parents got a call from the school one night saying, ‘Don’t send your daughter to school tomorrow. Come in for a meeting first thing in the morning.’”
The next day the parents were confronted by both Rabbi Deutsch and Mrs. Oratz who claimed that the high school principal had been contacted by the mother of an unnamed boy, saying that G.S. had sent her son a naked picture of herself.
According to Tolchin both Rabbi Deutsch and Mrs. Oratz claimed that the school was investigating the incident, but then later reversed positions and said that no investigation had ever taken place. Tolchin charged that the story was blatantly false and that no such picture ever existed and said that neither of the two administrators had ever seen the photograph and that Mrs. Oratz could not recall the name of the mother who had contacted her about the photo.
Tolchin said that before expelling the girl, who suffers from learning disabilities, the school should have made an effort to confirm the facts of the story.
“Nobody spoke to the boy,” said Tolchin. “Nobody actually saw the picture. They never told my client who had called it in or the identity of the boy. I understand that a rabbi would not want to see a picture of a naked girl but they should have shown it to her mother.”
G.S. had never been the subject of disciplinary in school nor had she ever acted inappropriately, according to Tolchin. The teen denied any wrongdoing in the incident and the complaint charged that after being expelled the school sent an email to her classmates’ parents, saying that she had a “very serious” problem with her “reputation.”
Tolchin said that G.S.’s father spoke to a rabbi, who contacted a beis din that attempted to intervene but that the school refused to get involved with the beis din, leaving G.S. and her family in a difficult position.
“She couldn’t get into any other school in the state, between the stigma from this and her learning disability,” noted Tolchim. “She wound up moving to Virginia to a school for troubled girls and had a roommate who tried to drown herself in the ocean. If you don’t belong there, it is a terrible place to be.”
Tolchin said that he was troubled by the school’s reaction to the incident.
“People send their daughters to school to educate them,” said Tolchin. “They are supposed to be building students up, not destroying them. When a school teaches kol yisroel areiveim zeh lazeh, v’ahavta l’reyacha kamocha, and not to listen to lashon hara and then acts like this? It is disgusting.”
VIN News called Rabbi Deutsch who declined to comment on the case at this time.
“This is all happening on the internet without any paperwork,” said Rabbi Deutsch. “I know that the paperwork has been filed but I haven’t seen even an iota of paperwork yet.”
If they would Obay the rules and not give their daughter a cellphone the story wouldn’t start. Lesson should be learnt.
Hopefully this will scare schools from kicking out kids over insignificant reasons.
If this story is true, it is a big scandal and scary that these people are raising the future of Klal Yisrael. If it turns out to be true, they should be thrown out of the school and the community. If it’s not true, then that was a close one…
and where there’s smoke there’s usually some fire…they should bring these monsters down, and severely penalize the school, which will force them into really making the proper reforms necessary, going forward.
When did a real estate manager become a rabbi? We people who are professionals running our schools and teaching our children.
Good for them the parents should go after that school and if they need help with legal fees put up a post I will be willing to give money to the fund
So until he sees the paperwork he can’t know if he did expel this girl without any reason.
Good for the school they deserve it just for the fact that the principal says that she can’t remember the name of the family of a complaint all of a sudden she’s suffering from memory loss
Is it not somewhat hypocritical to take the moral high ground and at the same time be so obviously animated by sin’ah towards Yeshivas and their principals.
Many reasons arising. One of them, maybe her parents are not of the rich league, and someone with more money was embarrassed to sent their daughter with that learning disabled girl…
It’s 2015 no matter if you give a phone or not, she can get it anywhere, still not a reason to kick out.
These schools are known to make up stories, everyone knows that
I shouldn’t really comment since I don’t really know anything about this story besides what’s printed here. But since when is it permissible to go to secular courts?
One of the most severe Issurim is the Issur of going to Arko’os!
May Morris S and GS be MATZLIACH in their lawsuit. Shame and Boosha on those that slandered and destroyed the life of a Bas Yisrael for no reason.
She deserves to be thrown out of school for sending such a picture and by the way it’s illegal it’s called child porn.
there is alot to be said
bottom line the school has a responsability even if its true to keep things on the qt
and work with the girl and the parents . thats what a school signs up for when they want to teach and educate
there is alot more to be said about this school and they deal with other matters.
until the parent body doesnt stand up nothing will ever change
deutsch in general wants to do good
this oratz needs to be roasted
she has one way of thinking and for chinuch and dealing with kids and shaping the future you cant be like that
Good for the parents….this story is giving me encouragement to file a lawsuit against another Flatbush school.
most of the people here are missing the point
If an innocent girls life was destroyed, based on HEARSAY, nonetheless then shame on these so called principals!
Because of the extreme sensitivity here and the damage to reputations of people and institutions.. There is obviously and of necessity missing information and facts here. How quick we are to pass judgment…
IF the girl did send these pictures, then she needs serious help & doesn’t belong in a “mainstream” school without major intevention.
IF the girl did not send the pictures (which I am thinking is probably the case) the principals should be fired & the whole Board re-vamped.
It’s precisely because of these horror stories that I & 2 colleagues are opening up a girls’ HS in Jerusalem for girls who are mistreated, abused, or just can’t make it in their current schools. Example: a girl I know personally whose Zaidie was in Dachau & Kovno ghetto was called a goy in front of the class by the teacher for standing & reciting Tehillim on Yom Hashoah. These things are indefensible and students must be treated with fairness and dignity.
In this case, the fact that the Principal “can’t remember” the name of the mother who called & no-one has seen these “photographs” makes the story suspect. If they just wanted to get rid of her because of her LD (NOT a reason for our school to reject students) they should have explained nicely & compassionately that the school is not equipped address her needs. I am appalled but sadly, not at all surprised.
1). If true, she needs help, but should be dealt with very delicately. She should not be thrown out for a very long time. Some have actually gone off the path. As long as she is not poisoning others, she should be loved, accepted and tollerated and helped…. always, but only sent away as a last resort, very carefully.
It is also possible to warn her that this behaviour is not allowed in that school, but even that, nicely too. Please don’t be frummer than that! I’m probably the frummest person who reads VIN.
2). If it is not true, then those who decided to expel her, should resign from their job. However, maybe this was not what happened! We don’t know the whole story. Maybe it was for one day and the parents took offence. And maybe it WAS proven.
3). If it was not proven, and may have been a spoof call, then absolutely, the head master should be sent out of his job.
The school can look into it, when it happened, but should never accept it as true if they don’t verify it or identify the caller. It should be life as normal.
(and i really hope that some of these posts were not posted on shabbos, like #1 and #3, as was the article seemingly!!!!!)
“the girl, who suffers from learning disabilities,” …
I cannot help but wonder whether the school, like so many other such schools in such communities, did not want to keep a student with learning disabilities, and therefore, used the supposed selfie as a pretext to unload the student.
The Complaint has been filed (I have read it). The Defendants’ answer has yet to be filed. Will be interesting to see what the Answer says.
How many lessons has this school given about Lashon Horah. How on earth can a rabbi be Mekabel such a horrible piece of Lashon Horah without verifying the facts? What happened to Halacha in the Frum world?
The school should read the story about the Chofetz Chaim and the teacher who expelled Lev Bronshtein (Trotsky).
The school did not go to Beis Din??
This story is appalling and it is not the only bad story I have heard associated with this very school. I would like to see this go through the courts until it is resolved. It seems many of our schools are run by evil people and our very future is on the line. Yes, this needs to play itself out legally and, if need be, close this school down!
a typical case of he said she said. almost all the above commentators have already formed an (un)educated opinion and taken a side in a case they know almost nothing about. UNBELIEVABLE. playing prosecutor judge and jury in less than 3 minutes of reading a piece of news. truly amazing.
That class is known as not one of the better classes in the school. Numerous girls from that class have been asked to leave or left the school.
I love how everyone jumps on the bandwagon to lambast the school without knowing the facts.
So a question to all of you who fault the school.
Let’s play devils advocate
If you had a sixteen year old daughter kicked out of school for ” no reason “, would you send her to a school for troubled kids in Virginia ?
The fact that she ended up there is telling, and means a lot is going on we don’t know about. So what about giving the school the benefit of the doubt?
What gives this Family the right to go to the goyish press and print this story ? If she did send those pictures the school should sue the family for defamation of character. While the girl’s name has remained anonymous the schools name is out in the open.
This happened in Dec 2013 and NOW, the patents wake up to sue? Something I’d very fishy there.
If the allegation is true… As hard as it is to throw a kid out of school, the correct thing was done here.
Why is the girl sexting the boy, even if they’re was no pic? THAT’S A PROBLEM!
Where theres smoke theres fire. I doubt this girl was so innocent, and i dont know how accurate this article is.
Innocent until proven guilty!!!!
This principal should be fired! (literally)
Amazing how people comment without knowing FACTS. prior to this article no one knew who the girl was. Now most people I spoke to know who she is. I do.Is this what her parents wanted for their family? As for blaming the school, I am sure the parents were told beforehand that there are issues with their daughter and as usual just ignored it until the school had no choice.. I don’t see any body blaming other Bais yakov schools such as Masores or Machon who have expelled plenty of kids for things’ as bullying or low grades. Sounds to me that all the complainers here are parents who ignore phone calls from schools regarding their children until things have exploded
Reply to #73
You sound like a parent who if the school would call you to let you know that there are issues with your daughter, you would just ignore it and only when it gets to a boiling point only then would you respond and probably blame the school
to #78
why don’t we also blame the principal when he gets tough with parents who on their last year stiff the school for tuition but have no problem going up to the mountains and flying off their children to seminary
HASHEM is going to ponish all these “HEIMISH” schools-programs for throwing out these YOUNG children out on the street with nowhere to go! its a HORRIBLE thing that they do.. they are killing yiddish neshamos.. and then we all sit and wonder why do we have so many young kids going off today at such young ages???its a crazy world out theretoday and this would have never happened 15 yrs ago what a big SHAME!!!
EVERYONE needs to tone it down.
These are the same issues that schools have had for generations, in different guise. Girls and boys as the age are curious about each other and sometimes cross the line of accepted “Frum” norms. -Nothing new.
(Even) If the allegations are TRUE: I would remind everyone that this is on par with having a “boyfriend” or kissing a boyfriend -clearly, NOT frum behavior, but it warrants a warning FIRST, and a strong reprimand second. In addition, I would appeal to the girl’s sense of dignity, pride and womanhood. I would address any self-esteem/rebellion issues if any, and raise her image and self worth. She should not debase herself with actions such as sending pictures of herself or engage in frivolous “relationships”. I would also have gotten the boy involved.
Clearly, the school seems to have overreacted. They panicked. Here they are a Frum school and a good school and they are presented with these allegations. They have a reputation to uphold and girls to educate and shelter from terrible outside influences. They acted hastily and apparently with little diligence or evidence…
It is very obvious that there are two camps here
1. Defenders of the school i.e. Parents or Hanholah themselves.
2. Defenders of the family i.e. Friends or simply people’s who had similar experiences with this school and its faculty
My suggestion is each group post their personal expereience regardless of whether we think the GS story is true and lets take a poll how many parents had similar stories where the Hanholah lied or made up stories and shared with the public etc and how many parents have positive experiences and then the world can judge if this Hanholah is really the monsters their being made to be.
I CAN’T believe that they went to bais din first, until they can prove it. It’s not hard to prove at all, it’s just sharing with the people the hazmanah and the permission from bais din to go to court. If not, it’s just an EXCUSE to go to court… and it’s NOT permitted.
As a former Talmidah of the rebetzin I can assure you all that she is a very caring Mechaneches who has worked very hard to make this school a true success a root out anyone who she feels doesn’t fit within the confines of this school. She only does this through Daas Torah and regularly consults with R Dovid Kohn and others. the unfortunate fact that she had to throw out so many girls from this school becuae it was getting a bad name is just part of her job what would you do if you were in her position. It took two years from the founding of this high school where she was BH able to throw out all the problem kids and get a top notch bais Yakov where kids from all over want to be a part of to the point that most of the graduating elementary students arnt even accepted becuAse of what a great school it is now. I am sorry that GS had to get thrown out that was just a part of the bigger picture to create the perfect school thanks rebetzin I will always love you and be your favorite Talmidah
If they got a heter arkoes then it’s permitted. But if not, why would they even want to send that girl to an orthodox school that observes halacha???
And why should the school take in kids if parents don’t follow halacha???
Do you want any if your kids to have someone that comes from a home that doesn’t follow halacha to be in same class???
To all you people who are crying about arkaos what would you say about reporting a molester to arkaos. To me there is no difference they are both different methods of abuse and ways to destroy a bas Yisroel
I don’t buy this students story for one minute. She was probably thrown out of school for doing some inappropriate stuff and couldn’t find a decent school that would take her in. She obviously had a vendetta against the school and figured it was best for her to try and clear her name by suing the school.
Rabbi Deutsch is an amazing man. I am so happy I send my girls to that yeshiva. I wouldn’t think of sending them elsewhere.
There is a reason why this has become one of the most popular girl schools in Brooklyn while other girls schools are having trouble filling their classroom seats.
Right now I am in mourning that I am part of a religion in which wholesale destruction of teenage girls’ lives actually “helps” the name of a school
While “Former Talmida” may think that she said something positive about the people involved, she issued one of the strongest indictments against the community possible.
The words cause me to shudder: “worked very hard to make this school a true success a root out anyone who she feels doesn’t fit within the confines of this school”
In other words, got rid of any girl in need of Chinuch, and kept the ones who were Mechanech themselves. And just destroy the lives of the rest.
Retzicha. Spiritual Murder.
As if it is a “good thing”
If this is the type of Chinuch this Yeshiva preaches, if they produce the type of girls who think this way, then this Yeshiva is destroying Yiddishkeit and should be shut down simply becuase it creats “Former Talmidas” like #112
People, use your Seichel for a second.
If this girl really sent that picture, do you think for a second that a lawyer would take her case, do you think for a SECOND that the picture won’t come out and she will be HUMILIATED in front of the entire COUNTRY?
From the fact that
A) The Yeshiva refused to go to Beis Din
B) The Yeshiva told the lawyer they did not investigate it,
C) All Rabbi Deutsch could say is “This is all happening on the internet without any paperwork”
D) The family is bringing this lawsuit, and a lawyer actually took the case.
It all INDICATES that she never sent that picture.
Now, if it turns out that she is lying, and really sent that picture, and the Yeshiva really did investigate, then we have a lot to apologize for.
But assuming she is innocent – AS ALL INDICATIONS POINT TO – the Yeshiva has a lot to answer for.
It is interesting to note that any comments coming from people who identify themselves as knowing the school in any sort of personal way, come across as positive. Those who either say that they know nothing about the school or don’t mention the topic at all – these are the people who are condemning them.
The obvious conclusion: those in the know are defending the place they love. Others whose goal is apparently to destroy their Jewish Brethren are spending time cursing out people they’ve never heard of.
Now if that doesn’t indicate a bit of where the truth may be…
Had the school dealt with this problem quietly rather than inform the other parents as if they were sure this girl was a clear and present danger, none of us would be talking about it!!!!! Who’s guilty of Lashon Hara?????????
The fact that they went to court, shows that they don’t belong in an orthodox school to begin with.