New York, NY – The Orthodox Jewish community leaders in New York City published an ad campaign Tuesday pushing for Mayor Bill de Blasio to change the new universal pre-K policy to add half-day slots so that Orthodox Jewish children will have time for religious studies.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
The ads say, “Mr. Mayor…Make Universal Pre-K Universal.” The ad goes on to say that, “89 percent of Jewish day school children have been unable to participate in Mayor de Blasio’s universal pre-kindergarten program.”
The program, which started in September 2014, enrolled more than 53,000 kids across the five boroughs, but less than 1,000 Orthodox Jewish families have participated.
According to NY Daily News (http://nydn.us/1EpiArd), Orthodox Union political director Maury Litwack says it’s against the city’s policy for parents to sign children up for full-day pre-K and then take them out early.
Because of the lack of time for religious studies in full-day pre-K, Orthodox families spend approximately $10,000 per year for other pre-K programs, according to Litwack.
Litwack said he met with city officials on Dec. 2 to discuss the issues, but has not heard from officials about a solution.
Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for de Blasio, said city officials worked with Jewish groups before the universal pre-K system rolled out, and that there has been an increase in the enrollment of Orthodox Jewish families.
Information taken from NY Daily News
Too bad! Yet another program you want to shnor off of, but only on your terms. Sorry, the program has rules, and those rules have specific hour requirements. If you want to cut it short by 4 hours so you can teach your children religious studies don’t expect tax dollars.
Comrade Wilhelm DeBlasio, tear down this wall!
Time to change city policy
Actually, the heavy burden of tuition on our young families needs to be addressed in some way. I think that creative change can bring relief. Perhaps they could work out half day sessions in public schools throughout for secular studies and complement that with religious studies the other half of the day.