New York says 18 yeshivas provide inadequate education. Advocates say they’re not the only ones
An Orthodox-led reform group encouraged further investigation after the NYC Department of Education found inadequate secular education in private yeshivas
A yeshiva school bus drives through Brooklyn. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
A New York City Department of Education probe into Orthodox schools recently found that 18 yeshivas failed to provide basic secular instruction to their students.
But the group whose efforts catalyzed the investigation thinks even more scrutiny is needed.
New York began investigating the educational standards of 39 yeshivas in 2015 after YAFFED — or Young Advocates for Fair Education — raised concerns about lack of adequate instruction for Orthodox students in secular subjects like science and history.
Yet even now that the probe is finished, YAFFED — an organization founded by people from Hasidic and Haredi communities — says the city has more work to do. The organization hosted a press conference to discuss key gaps in the investigation outside DOE headquarters Wednesday morning.
“While we were relieved that the NYCDOE concluded its work, the fact that some of the schools were given a stamp of approval by the city without being thoroughly investigated represents a severe lack of oversight,” said Beatrice Weber, executive director of YAFFED, in a Tuesday press release.
Weber said the process involved a loophole that allowed select yeshivas to “pass” the investigation because of their affiliation with other educational institutions, even if they themselves did not provide secular education.
At the press conference, Weber announced that YAFFED would be filing an appeal to the Commissioner of Education, and pressuring the state and city to look again at the schools that were deemed compliant.
They also announced the establishment of an informational phone line in Yiddish, to give information to Hasidic and Haredi families impacted by “educational neglect.”
The press conference included testimonies from former yeshiva parents. Shaindy Weichman — YAFFED’s parent ambassador and one of the original 2015 complainants — spoke about her 17-year-old son’s subpar experiences in school: “Imagine being a curious child who is continually scolded: ‘No! Don’t read that novel! Don’t learn about prehistoric humans! Why do you need nonsense like geometry or history of the United States? Don’t wonder!’”
“My soon-to-be-adult son — and thousands like him — are compromised by their education deficit,” said Weichman. “They are hobbled.”
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