New York Times Article about failing Hasidic Schools
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Anonymous
In the E Ramapo story, it was because the Hasidic community (who took over as majority on school board) slashed the budget for the school district to try to minimize costs of the district which would allow for more funds to be paid out for "special needs' students. They - apparently against state law - took the cost allocated to special needs kids in public schools and sent to their private religious schools. They also closed one of the public ES schools and sold it to their community to be used as a religious school. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/27/school-board-east-ramapo-public-school-funding-private-yeshivas https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/2022/03/17/east-ramapo-payout-fund-aid-public-school-children-stem-programs/7048345001/ https://www.nyclu.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/20210914_nyclu_eramapo_report.pdf https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-a-ny-town-increasing-haredi-influence-turns-a-school-board-into-a-battleground/ Or you can listen to the bit by This American Life, which was quite detailed. |
Anonymous
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Here is a Wikipedia article about a town they took over in upstate New York. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York
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Anonymous
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I listened to the podcast. I remember hearing about this years ago.
I just can't get over the hypocrisy of people who claim to be so pious actively screwing over others. And children at that! |
Anonymous
They also owned a lot of the “special needs” schools themselves and profit from each child that is sent there. There was a huge case in nj about this |
Anonymous
That’s messed up. Why isn’t the state gov addressing this? |
Anonymous
+1. I was so angry! If a group decides to start private schools and lower standards for children to attend, that's awful for those children, but the family made a choice. The ER NY situation makes me want to scream because they knowingly pulled so many resources from the public schools to funnel to the private schools. How can a public school board have all private parents? How can these people rest at night knowing what they are doing. Shame on them. |
Anonymous
Because they vote in a bloc and impact elections. Mario Cuomo made regular pilgrimages back in his time, so did Spitzer, so did Andrew Cuomo, so does Houchel. They are hugely impactful in local elections as well. |
Anonymous
That’s the million dollar question. ACLU got involved and sued on behalf of disenfranchised black and Latino communities. As a result, state sent a rep/arbiter to sit on school board. But if you look at the school board makeup currently, Hasidic still hold majority seats. Only 3 are actual public school parents. Messed up |
Anonymous
Aren’t there state regulations that put guardrails on local school boards? I just can’t wrap my head around the religious content with public funds |
Anonymous
WTF? 75% of the town lives below poverty level. 40% on food stamps. Highest rate of poverty of any town in the country?! Jesus. “The median income for a household in the village was $15,138, and the median income for a family was $15,372. Males had a median income of $25,043, versus $16,364 for females. The per capita income for the village was $4,355. About 61.7% of families and 62.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 63.9% of those under age 18 and 50.5% of those age 65 or over. According to 2008 census figures, the village has the highest poverty rate in the nation, and the largest percentage of residents who receive food stamps. More than five-eighths of Kiryas Joel residents live below the federal poverty line, and more than 40 percent receive food stamps, according to the American Community Survey, a U.S. Census Bureau study of every place in the country with 20,000 residents or more“ So everyone is on govt handouts? |
Anonymous
Welcome to NY. Locals have been dealing with this for decades. They’ve been shut down at every turn and regularly called anti-Semitic for their concerns. |
Anonymous
| For those who want more background information, this detailed article will take you down the rabbit hole. https://www.villagevoice.com/2014/11/12/all-the-young-jews-in-the-village-of-kiryas-joel-new-york-the-median-age-is-13/ |
Anonymous
My family are the locals up there. Not Jewish, back to the Mayflower. They also ARE anti-Semitic. This is not to say that any particular concern is not founded, just that it helps if you are able to clearly differentiate a concern you are expressing from anti-Semitic sentiment. Locals, as a group, are not passing that bar. |
Anonymous
I’m sure the residents of Ramapo who’ve had their schools decimated and the residents of Clarkstown, many of whom are Jewish themselves and realize their schools are at risk next, greatly appreciate your input. So important that the immigrant and low-SES families in Spring Valley keep their mouths shut while their kids attend failing bankrupted schools, lest they be confused with your anti-Semitic relatives. |
Anonymous
Hasidim, please. Hasidic is the adjective, Hasid/Hasidim (plural) the noun. And yeah, the scope of this may be news but the background isn't. NYT runs articles every few years about early 20s folks who leave the community and find themselves virtually unemployable or unable to pursue higher education because of they receive virtually no science or English instruction. It's not that they aren't educated -- they are highly educated. In Yiddish, in Torah, in Talmud, in subjects that are valued in the community but not in the rest of the country and don't contribute to holding down a job and supporting a family. If they are breaking the law, hopefully they will be prosecuted. If they are funneling public funds to religious charter schools and the like, well, I don't agree with that but our Supreme Court does - at least for Christian schools - so let's see where that goes ... |