Brooklyn, NY – Days after controversy began to swirl regarding alleged improprieties at the Bais Sarah school in Borough Park and the firing of an employee known as Spikey, Assemblyman Dov Hikind has released a video sharing excerpts of complaints that he received from parents whose daughters are students at the school.
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Hikind’s video comes three days after a letter released by Rabbi Nuchem Klein, the school’s owner and dean, described the allegations as “unjustified.” Assuring parents that student safety is a top priority, Rabbi Klein said that a recording that had been sent out on social media accusing school of turning a blind eye to alleged improprieties had no basis in truth and had been circulated by someone who was not a school parent.
As previously reported on VIN News (https://bit.ly/2rk6IVh) Hikind has been asking parents of the several hundred girls in grades K through 12 who attend Bais Sarah or its associated Camp Chayei Sura to contact him if their daughters had been touched by Spikey.
In the video, Hikind blasted Rabbi Klein as a liar, saying that he had been contacted by over a dozen parents whose girls attend the school, both by phone and by email and quoted from complaints from four different parents.
One said that Spikey had taken something from a girl in Bais Sarah’s Camp Chayei Sura and asked her to retrieve it from his bungalow, trying to kiss her when she did. A second parent said that her daughter had complained to Rabbi Klein on several occasions and that no action was taken. Another student charged that Spikey had touched her private parts, but the administration did nothing after she reported the incident. And a fourth parent told Hikind that her daughter had confided that both she and a friend had been touched by Spikey.
“It is amazing that instead of dealing with the problem, Rabbi Klein sends out letters saying it’s not a big deal,” observed Hikind.
The fact that few people seemed surprised by the allegation was telling, said Hikind.
“It was no secret that these things were going up at Bais Sarah,” Hikind told VIN News. “I have had 14 or 15 parents call me and tell me that these things happened to their child and I have no doubt that I will be hearing from more of them.”
Hikind said that he planned to continue speaking to Bais Sarah parents, urging others whose daughters had similar experiences to come forward.
“Children should be safe when they go to school,” said Hikind. “To think that the schools administration did nothing to protect students from this kind of behavior is unconscionable.”
Watch below Hikind’s video message:
Hikind shld get a life and let Rabbi Klein alone. He handled it well. My daughter and all her friends are doing just fine. Ever heard te saying “people love to mish a kashe”? Stir up trouble when all is bh taken care of? Hes only making a damn chilul Hashem by his actions. We the parents are ALL fine and bh our daughters are totally safe. If Hikind REALLY wants our good, he shld shut up and go away. Were not parents burying our heads in the sand. Yes, he was inappropriate and hes gone. The stories circulating either are overdramatized or havehave NO merit. Either way its been taken care of professionally. All these so called are from outside parents that dont fargin the hatzlacha of our school.
Dont worry for our kids safety. Theyre doing great and by smearing the school for something that was taken care of with tremendous seriousness. Hikind is not doing anyone good besides putting himself in the spotlight as he always does.
So far the people smearing all these stories are the liars. Was proved. Not Rabbi Klein. Defntly he needed to be thrown out and he was. Hikind is just making a tummel cuz he wants the spotlight. Hes not seeking for the truth otherwise he wld leave it to the professionals.
WOW! Really powerful allegations! This is not only moraly wrrong it can be criminal also for failure to report!
Good going Dov!!!
Do not let up. Until u get to the bottom of this
I HV witnessed the tragic results of these atrocities
If N.Klien is innocent let him come clean
If not I hope the parents HV the courage to file a lawsuit against him & his school “business”
Why when we buy food does it need 10 הכשירים. But when it comes to souls – our children our most expensive asset, we entrust them to a single uneducated dark age money hungry man?!
whatsapp is giving a voice and a platform to those who didn’t have one in the past. Especially, the women in our community, who have close to no say in matters of great importance.
In this case it was the danger girls were in at a school/ camp. Parents were entrusting their innocent Neshama’lech with a Rabbi Klein that is continuing to display, irresponsibly and reprehensibly, terrible judgement. Terrible judgement.
Nothing was done about it for years, YEARS. So many girls were at risk for such a long time UNTIL one brave woman courageously expressed her thoughts and feelings demanding something is done.
Immediately, it ended a dangerous situation. Spikey was tired.
I hope the women who haven’t given up their smartphones to the mob which wants to keep them voiceless realize the true power of social media in 2018 and utilize it for continued betterment of our beautiful community.
Still believe it’s fabricated hallucinated exaggerated stories. We’re happy to have Mr. Hikind resign soon. The way to deal with this issue isn’t via social media.
Would you wash your laundry in public?
Since it’s a total fabrication, why was this guy fired?? enough said!!
It’s a pitty, Rabbi Klein runs a great school, he is just very arrogant, egoistic, and does not respond well to any criticism, all those who work with him know him as a stiff man.
unfortunately Klal Yisroel is at a point where we need social media to expose wrongdoings.
It’s a fact, in most of the Mosdos Hatorah, you can’t come forward with any complaints about anything, otherwise you’ll be shunned, it’s just plainfull the honest truth.. so we need to turn to the internet.
Something smells fishy here.
I am shocked and stunned the approach Hikind took.
He is using the same tactics as this N.Rosenberg fellow is using to bully and harass people they dislike or have a different approach to sensitives issues as this.
Mr.Hikind,since you announced that you are not running for office anymore your true colors are coming out. You know this community too well that you should wash dirty laundry on twitter and you tube.Very distasteful!
Unfortunately VIN gave Hikind again the platform to promote himself. Rabbi klein, albeit not perfect took matters seriously and we parents dont need Hikind to help us. We all got thru perfectly with Rabbi Klein. Sadly Hikind wants attention and cant fathom that there was a school that fortunately took care of this bad guy while he wasnt consulted or rather ignored.
We the parents, and Im talking in the name of many many are very happy how it was dealt with and we ask Dov to stick his nose out of here and to all you self haters that live off when sucha school as Bais Sura gets negative attention, all of u get a life and go check ur kids schools. Were all fine.
To those dismayed parents who are primarily concerned with protecting their own and the schools reputation even at the possible expense of their children there are really no words .
To those parents who are truly concerned , who would not turn a blind eye to possibility for abuse but at the same time are upset with Hikind , let the professionals deal with it….. Dont air dirty laundry in public…Let him be dismissed quietly…
To you I say, your trust in the professionals is misguided . They have proven themselves untrustworthy . The time for dealing with this quietly was a long time ago when the first or second allegation was brought to the Hanhalas attention .
Sadly the Hanhala took action only after this was shoved down their throat by the power of social media.
It’s too late for you to claim everything is fine leave us alone .
No everything is not fine . Hikind is calling attention to an administration that does not truly care only when the have no choice .
Whatever Hikinds motives are is not the point . The concerns he brings up are valid and responsible parents should demand answers .
Wondering how much Free Tuition its costing Her Dictator Klein! Yes we know Klein fights with bare knuckles, but at the end of the day its our children who are losing out because he is such a dictator.
My bro Munch says that unfortunately, the community has a verified history of covering up sexual harassment.
All other schools are watching Closely. Make no mistake about it.
Cannot say one way or the other ,but ….there have been cases both in NY , & Lakewood where innocent frum people’s lives were destroyed by such stories .
TO ALL those saying that Klein handled the situation well by firing ‘Spikey’
I don’t know, and I don’t know how anyone would be able to know for sure that the allegations are or aren’t true (Unless of course it is your child that had a story)
But since you seem to think that it is true and it was handled well, I would like to know what’s wrong with you? Firing now – that the stories are floating to the surface – after so many years of hiding from the problam is a serious issue. How in the world can anyone take the responsibility of exposing young kids to such things?
So if you claim that it was handled well, you obviously aren’t a ‘proud parent of bais sara’ as you claim to be. I can’t believe that a normal parent would think like that when it’s their kid on the line.
Again, I don’t know how anyone can know that it is or isn’t true. But thinking that it’s true and making those comments are hopefully not true parents.
According to the NY Post, Hikind seems to have big problems of his own. They say he is not running for re-election because his charities were subpoenaed.
I’m confused—Educated Archy says we want a liar
I have a gut feeling that not a single parent contacted Hikind. And all these graphic stories are absolutely baseless. There was inappropriate behavior. No question about it so thats the reason he was fired. What wlse does Hikind want? Close a great school cuz hes out of a job!? Dov, get a life!
spikey was just fired?! no criminal charges?!? why not? he was fired for alleged acts of criminal behavior to minors. is spikey legal? any criminal record? get him out of the usa if he has a criminal record
This is Moitzy Shem rah.. Rabbi Klien fired poor Spikey for no reason at all.
Spikey should be rehired immediately!
Rabbi Klien is as innocent as they come. All the parents that are complaining have an agenda bla bla bla…. yeah right… anyone want to buy a bridge from me??? I think I can sell one to one of these naïve-head-in-the-sanders.
Well Done Dov and thanks for always being there for the klal. Our kids are not Hefker.
I have kids in school and everything is perfectly fine #1 is100% right all of you talking just DON’T know the facts and are a bunch of dirty minded people that love dirt . just one example #4 comment quote dark age money hungry man. Rabbi klien told his house to open the school and is still paying rent most of his kids are not financially strong and his teacher’s are the highest and on time paid in BP with very responsible tuition
This is shameful and unconscionable. Why would you send your kids to s school that is owner run and operated with no board, no administration and no one to complain to when things go wrong. He is his own judge and jury and answers to no one.
Did the community learn nothing from Margolis and Applegrad protecting Kolko which allowed him to abuse more and more students each year????
sounds like this Klien fellow (can’t can a bum like him a rabbi) seems to be quite a tyrant. Sure those parents whose girls had no problems and did well in the school praise him, but there seems to be a very dark side to him and that is of a tyrant whose word is supreme in everything….
he should be exposed for misuse of his personal school for his own personal power gratification…..
I am old, so forgive me…. WHY DID THESE LUNATIC PARENTS KEEP THEIR CHILDREN IN THAT SCHOOL? Why didn’t they go to the authorities, or at least Dov Hikind, JCW, Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz etc? Why didn’t they talk to each other?
I believe that things went on and that the menahel swept it under the rug, but where is the seichel of these parents? Not only were their children violated physically, they were violated emotionally when nothing was done and their situation just carried on. If a child can’t rely on her parents to protect her, where can she turn?
The issue here is that Nuchim Klein isn’t saying ‘I understand all your concerns, trust me nothing happened, I’m setting up a meeting with all and any parent(s) that have any concerns to speak openly about this, since no one can tell me you complained to me personally since we both know the truth…. Let’s calm down…”
Instead he attacks anyone even talking about it as Lashan horah and threatend any girl / parent caught speaking about it will be expelled! He’s acting like the parents don’t have a right to be concerned.
Tell me, does this sound like someone who would take a complaint from a girl seriously if you dare offend HIS school?
He’s HARDLY the victim. Act responsibly and address it without threats.
To #42 Spikey should not be rehired! Unless you want your daughter raped!
The Rabbi did not protect the girls in his care and now he is paying the price! If girls do not come back next year, so be it! Let them transfer to other yeshivas!! In this day and age there is plenty of competition and Rabbi Klein knows it!! Now he will have to pay the piper!
Thank G-D many people started to move out to Lakewood, Monsey, Staten Island etc. Now there is more classroom space available so that parents can shift their kids out to a more stable environment. Dictators always lose out in the end. They will get “Rabbi Klein” in the end just like they got Saddam!
I suspect that this “Spikey” doesn’t limit his behavior to the school.
in the letter, Rabbi Klein says that that employee was terminated for what reason if he didn’t do anything like he says??? and surprisingly there is evidence from parents and kids that things were happening, so how can he say that nothing happened? he wrote a letter and now everyone should be happy and quiet???
We have seen this narrative before . School owner digs in his heels to defend teacher despite the risk to students . Whats extraordinary here is that it was done for a janitor .
Rabbi Klein may be a nice amazing person but in this fundamental responsibility of protecting innocent children he has exhibited a tragic blind spot and a profound lack of good judgement.
To all parents who are bewildered by the uproar and are very concerned about reputation I ask , If there were concerns that someone was spreading HIV in the school would you be so forgiving for this foot dragging .
All forms of molestation can also under certain circumstances leave life long damage .
Just because you don’t immediately see it does not mean it is not there .
It’s bad enough that the owner of the school has a blind spot but to have parents defend it is sad.
The school situation is a tragedy in our time, and will, mark my words, be the complete unraveling of Klal Yisrael. We are already losing our children to the dictators who run our schools! Do not think these parent’s can remove their daughters from the school. They cannot, because there is no where to put them. All the schools are run as a personal business, and even if there is a board — so what?! The board is comprised of baal habatim, not educators, and not rabonim. We are living in a time where too many of our children do not have an appropriate school to attend. The system that has arisen needs to end, or it will be our end in a very short time!
I feel bad for the school for all their bad publicity. I tried placing my child there 8 years ago and Rabbi Klein did not want to accept her because of a Loshon Hora on my family which was not true and he found out later its not true.
Rabbl Klein called to apologize but by then my daughter was well settled into a different school. She graduated with great marks and now teaches in special ed .
I dont understand why Rabbi klein wouldnt come clean and say i am sorry it happened and i will make sure to change the way we handle such complaints.
please dont believe anyone, its all Fake News.
Mr. Dov You were always an attention seeker apparently you must have been have some beef with rabbi Klein and were all aware that your a terrible Noykem Va’noyter so you decided to jump on the band wagon and destroy Rabbi Klein in stead of you focusing that your very close of getting arrested for funneling millions of dollars true a phony account. “Dov we had enough of you”
Lol, this story has absolutely nothing to do with Dov Hikind (any normal news source would maybe quote him in the last paragraph), yet VIN chose to make this entire story all about him— including the headline!
Predictable. Sigh. No wonder no normal person takes VIN seriously. When did VIN become a cheap tabloid, for sale to the highest bidder?
I am a former student and camper in the Belzer girls school Nuchem Klein managed. I knew it was only a matter of time until someone blew the cover on what a menuvel he is. As a camper at Bnos Belz, all the girls called Nuchem “the skunk” — bc he was dressed in black and white, and he would peep in the girls bunk windows at night (standing for extended periods in darkness, watching the girls whose lights were on). So in order to signal to eachother, so we all knew he was out there, we’d squeal — ” there”s a skunk outside!” I don’t know how frum Chassidish girls accepted it as normal that a grown man is peeping in their windows and watching them dance and sing in their nightgowns. It grows on you slowly, as if he is allowed to be there and just happening to pass by. But it was done repeatedly and very intentional and he wasn’t moving, but positioning himself on a hill where he’d have a better view, and going as far as getting into bushes to peer in the bunk windows. Of Course SPIKEY knows too much, he knows at the end of the academic year Nuchem ships a trailer truck with all the frozen chicken never served in the lunch program to the summer camp. And probably still does the same.