New York – NYC Mayor Expresses Confidence In Positive Educational Changes As City Concludes 3 Year Yeshiva Probe Which Calls On State For Further Guidance

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    In this April 26, 2018 photo, a Jewish boy walks to a yeshiva in the Brooklyn borough of New York. APNew York – One day after the release of a letter detailing the findings of a three year long investigation by the New York City Department of Education into whether city yeshivos were providing students with a substantially equivalent education as required by law, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that he felt confident that the schools that had been visited as part of the probe were headed in a positive direction, while also calling out schools that refused access to their facilities.

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    As previously reported on VIN News, 52 former yeshiva students, parents and teachers demanded that the DOE to investigate 39 ultra-Orthodox schools in July 2015, alleging that students were receiving a sub-par education.

    Speaking after a press conference today on an unrelated matter, the mayor was asked multiple questions on the 14 page letter written by New York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza to New York State Department of Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia.

    de Blasio said that after conferring with senior educators and Carranza, he felt that the15 schools that had been visited had demonstrated that they were “on the right track.”

    “Those yeshivos either had already reached a standard that fulfilled what the law required, or were moving toward it steadily and were accepting the recommendations that the DOE had given them and were making the changes and that’s the name of the game,” said de Blasio.

    The mayor fended off questions asking why the probe took three years to complete, noting that the goal was to achieve positive results at the schools in question, praising the institutions visited for their willingness to upgrade their curriculums. Describing the behavior of the schools that refused to allow the DOE visits as “unacceptable,” the mayor said that he hoped the state could advise the city on how to proceed with those schools.

    de Blasio also noted that any school, public or private, that fails to live up to legal standards needs to improve and reluctantly admitted that some of the city’s public schools are not properly educating their students.

    “We have schools that also are in the process of evolution that we are pushing harder to do better and taking steps to make stronger,” said de Blasio. “So if we think a school is either there or getting there consistently, that is what we need to see and that is what the educators believe.”

    In his letter, Carranza noted that the job was a delicate one that entailed balancing cultural sensitivities and community traditions with the legal requirement that nonpublic students receive an education that is comparable to that of their public school peers.

    He emphasized the importance of collaboration and community engagement as the most effective path towards positive change, something that he said has already taken place at many of the schools visited.

    Ongoing efforts have been made to improve yeshiva curriculums, observed Carranza, with the nonprofit Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, also known as PEARLS, developing culturally sensitive curriculums in math for first through third grades and English for grades four through six. Plans are being put in place to further expand those subjects in additional grades and the DOE is exploring whether portions of the Jewish studies curriculum that teach reading comprehension, analytical thinking and some math and science skills may satisfy some Common Core Learning standards.

    Carranza reported that of the 39 schools mentioned in the initial complaint, nine were not relevant to the investigation because they were no longer operating, were post high school institutions, and in the case of two addresses listed, housed businesses, not academic institutions.

    15 schools were successfully visited during the course of its investigation, with DOE staff meeting with administrators and observing anywhere from four to eight classrooms engaged in both secular and Judaic studies.

    The remaining 15 schools listed in the complaint did not allow the DOE to visit their facilities.

    Six of those institutions were high schools and the remaining nine, all elementary schools, agreed to allow the DOE visits but never gave its staffers access to their buildings.

    Eight schools who agreed on Wednesday to eleventh hour visits were asked to schedule those appointments by 5 PM the same day but it is unclear if those visits were ever arranged.

    Corranza’s letter expressed both concern regarding the schools that did not allow the DOE visits and praise for those who did, noting that they had demonstrated a “clear spirit of collaboration and interest in continuous improvement.”

    He concluded his letter by asking Elia for guidance on continued collaboration with the schools visited and on engaging those who have yet to cooperate with the investigation.


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    17 Comments
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    Sholi-Katz
    Sholi-Katz
    5 years ago

    I personally know, and do business with several Chassidish people that have extraordinarily talent in the field they work in. They took some courses after kollel and are using their talent to make a parnusa for their families. They are wonderful, caring people, however they must restrict their business to frum companies. They cannot talk English properly nor spell anything straight (relative common words) even with spell check they don’t recognize the spelling and click the wrong one.
    I have asked many times – with their talent why they don’t solicit business from the outside word, as today most companies do not care how they dress.
    However, as their pronunciation of English – Vhat, Vhen, come heere, don’t baader him etc. they are very ashamed to go soliciting business. How sad it is for them to have this disability not able to expand their base. Many times if their particular field get swamped in our community, there is no alternative for them.
    Why can’t the Chassidisha yeshivas teach them proper ENGLISH ,SPELLING and the basics so they are not handicapped all their lives?Every Chassidisha person in Hungary spoke a good Hungarian and were proud of it — why is English trief?

    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    5 years ago

    This mayor is one of the most corrupt politicians I have ever met

    5 years ago

    Once again I have a simple question.

    Let me be clear we don’t want the govt to regulate our education . That makes sense. And I don’t want that either .

    But why don’t chasidish and yeshvish high schools offer a secular education on their own terms ? What’s wrong with teaching some math and science ?
    Is it bitul Torah ? How many 8th graders have Zits fliesh to learn Torah all day ?
    Is it mesora ? Well satmar high school had English 40 years ago under the holy rebbe zya. Yeshivish high schools till 20 years ago all had secular studies so where is tne mesora ?

    What’s wrong with secular studies ??? Why not ?

    JackC
    JackC
    5 years ago

    Why do you keep using a photo of the school on Coney Island Ave and Avenue I that probably DOES give an “adequate secular education”?