I must admit, I have hesitated about writing on this topic, for so many reasons. First and foremost, I wonder if anything we write or discuss or wring our hands about will resolve this madness. Second, I don’t want to cause pain to all those who sit on the sidelines hoping, praying, stressing and hurting for their children to be delivered from this terrible matzav.
I also do not wish to demonize the school owners, many of whom are simply victims of circumstance and reality. I know many of them to be wonderful people with a true sense of mission and caring for the children in their institutions.
However, we cannot simply write this off as a phenomenon due solely to the stubbornness of parents who insist on a specific school, or the wrongheadedness of parents who move here and just assume that their children will be accepted into a school, without determining if they “fit”.
I have thought that perhaps this is simply a reasonable and logical manifestation of today’s times, with our polarized society, the right and the left, the haves and have-nots. Who would have thought we could get to a point as Frum yidden that the haves are about having a slot in a school and those “others” are kept out of our schools because…well…you know they don’t belong with our kids, they should move somewhere else or send their 5-yr. old out of town.
So why do I write? Because I have a radical proposal, which is probably why it cannot ever happen. In our polyglot town, with Litvish/Chassidish/Klei Kodesh/Working/former BMG/never seen BMG/name your designation population, it is difficult to understand why these crises don’t exist in some other places with a more centralized “community”, or certainly not to this degree.
I believe the problem starts and ends with private ownership of schools. ALL schools K-12.
So my proposal is to have the Rabbonim or the Moetzes or whomever establish a community school system with divisions for all those definitions listed above. This would replace the current privately owned schools. So the chassidishe chadorim can maintain their style and mesorah, but without being single sect-focused, which may in itself help heal some of our divisions. The litvish places would be the same. So many good things would come of this, not least of which is that no child of a family willing to conform to basic rules of the schools would be left out just because there is no space or their wallets are too light or their whatever is not conforming to the school’s arbitrary standards.
I know the private school owners and others who support the current status (quo) will assail this as un-doable, so perhaps let’s try K-8 and leave the High Schools and Mesivtas out for now.
Once upon a time in yiddishkeit, this is how things worked, where there was no “owner” of a school and many community-owned businesses helped subsidize the poorer and weaker. And many of us old-timers went to school with a mix of types and were not harmed by it, we were enhanced by it.
I am probably whistling in the wind, but maybe some brave “gadol” will see that if we let these situations fester, we will only perpetuate the class warfare and the enmity and jealousy between our own people. 2 weeks after Tisha B’Av and good people I know – who daven and learn and whose wives are tzniusdik etc etc – sit waiting for a miracle call that may not come. Dare we be silent in the face of this tragedy?
iMAC
(TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected])
Great idea .
First thing is that you would need somebody to take the responsibility of 150 million dollar plus budget and the large shortfall not covered by tuition .Are you or a group of your associates willing to undertake that ? In addition it is well known that any communal school will cost more than a privately run school .Once there is no individual who has a vested interest in keeping a lid on expenses and working 24 6 on making that happen , your expenses will go much higher . So once you have some group willing to undertake the 150 million to 200 million dollar budget and the 25 million shortfall not covered by tuition , then you can do that . Until then ,we will have to rely on the yechidim who are,sweating to make sure the shortfall is covered and the teachers,are getting paid .
Even a community school wouldn’t work. The largest community school existing in Lakewood for decades (not owned by an individual) was selective based on the person running the school deciding who does or doesn’t get in.
I think there is another angle your missing. In that a fast growing Lakewood there is a reason that someone may be told “don’t come here go somewhere else”.
The schools are copping with massive internal growth ( siblings, former student that have children by now and have first right etc.) someone that moves here fore NY can expect to be told by a particular school “I’m full 30 kids in a class with 3 waiting who are siblings “ that fact that you moved to Toms River to a 600k house after haveing s@sold you BP house for double, doesn’t enable us to ‘double our building’! It may sound like adittue, so say it nicer, but the message should be understood under the circumstances
The cheder and Bais Faige are not privately owned. There are 10 classes per grade and still they can’t addept everyone who applies. The problem is not who owns the schools but that there are too few schools per children in Lakewood. When ppl move from out of town the problem isn’t always the ‘tupe’ But that there is no room and first we have to take the Lakewood families!
Isn’t this one of the old time arguments between the right and left, Socialism vs capitalism? I think, i if we take control of the schools away from the private and turn it into a public school system. We would be damaging the amazing education that our system provides. I don’t mean to say we can ignore the kids that are being failed by the system that we have (those struggling to get into school). All I am saying is turning our system into a government style program will not be beneficial to anyone.
You mention the Rabonim or Moetzes or whomever.
When you find one of the above ” whomevers” thst are willing to undertake the huge financial burden associated with this, then you can make it happen . Until then maybe think about that you mentioned others to take responsibility but didn’t mention yourself . Why are you not responsible to financially and otherwise help get this to happen ? Why do you look to other unknown people as being responsible ?
Bernie Sanders has a great idea as well its called “Medicare for all” it will solve so many things. make the Haves and the have-nots equal etc.
so what if it will cost $33 trillion… liberals don’t care about logical things like math and economics… it just confuses people… we should just focus on the emotions of healing the planet…
I am responding to the first comment. I am not sure if you’re aware but every owner of a school is pulling out a salary if not a large one. No one does this free of charge. All the school owners will have to find jobs. There may be opposition to this great idea just because of that. I am guessing that on average they pull out a salary of $150-$250,000 a year. Even if it is less you’re still talking about a lot of money. This is a huge savings.
Obviously fundraisers would have to be hired to make this great idea work.
why are you guessing what their salaries are? and why do you assume they are so large? i happen to know first hand that it is a fraction of what you are guessing. Plus, i know a few “owners” of some of the largest schools in town that get a ZERO salary. i know one that only takes a modest $24,000 a year just to cover his expenses. and I know all this first hand from being involved with some of schools budgets and consulting (free of charge) I am involved with all my kids schools, and i find schools to be very open with showing their books if you are seriously interested in helping…
so instead of sitting on your couch posting the first thing that comes to your head, why don’t you get involved with the schools? how much do you donate a year to the local schools?
oh, and your fundraisers that you are suggesting to hire, I am assuming you want them to work for free…
Just so you know.
If every parent would be willing to go to any school that had room and accepted their child ,then we would have no problem .
It’s true that because of space constraints, there are alwsys going to be a handful of kids who are not accepted anywhere . But if the pool of unaccepted was limited to the small number that really had absolutely no school ,then the schools would get together and place them somehow . But since the pool is much bigger due to the fact that dozens of parents,won’t accept certain schools ,especially high schools , it is therefore logistically impossible to place such a large number .
So you ask ,why don’t the schools just place the real unaccepted and forget about the rest? Answer is ,it has been tried in the past but doesn’t work. On the day before school when there are a large number of kids not in school, then the pr campaigns dont differentiate between those that are really out and the larger group that could have had a school and turned it down .
So things are not always,as simple as they look .
To mr good idea.
I am personally aware of several schools,where the so called owners not only do not take any salary,but they also lend the school a lot of their personal funds to keep payroll current
To mr good idea.
I am personally aware of a relative who has a good school where the parents are mostly yeshivaleit and the tuitions are badly in arrears . My relative has never taken a penny from the school since it opened many years ago .He is constantly loaning the school his own money to cover the budget . He has a good income from his personal business so he can do that . I know there are others like him in similar situations .If you think you can just pull out a 250,000 salary from any school ,then why don’t you make one ?
why doesn’t rich Roberts help with this?
To Mr Great idea
1. Many schools are run by people who dont take any salary. Yes a few larger schools with wealthier parent bodies ,might be able to pay their admins nice salaries, but that is not the norm for most ,especially the schools whose parent bodies are mostly yeshaveleit or Rebeim ..
2. If you really feel people should be working for free , it would be nice if you could volunteer to open even just one small school without pay and fund it from your own pocket . Please practice what you preach .
I moved from out of town and I bowed to everything the school wanted me to do in order to get my kids in and I am so happy now that my children have a school. I didn’t wait for them to make conditions, I took care of what I knew they would want before I even applied. After that it was a breeze. It not worth fighting the establishment. If you wanna open you’re own school, go ahead but stop trying to reinvent the wheel.
The private school owners couldn’t be happier if you opened a public frum school. It would take off them the pressure to oversize their classes & no One would leave their schools either.
The only reason this situation is happening in Lakewood is because of the phenomenal growth of the frum population. It has very little to do with discrimination.
To the schools who do not accept a child for ANY reason (other then perhaps no space at all) the only thing to say to that school, and their parent body, is a well know quote from our Sar Hatorah, Maran Rav Aron Leib Zecher Tzadik Vekodosh Livrocha,
Gaivah Gaivah Gaivah
And try to say more and all it becomes is more Gaivah
There is nothing else to say. There never was nor should there ever be any standards for accepting a child. Not on the child nor on his family.
There of course should be goals and standards of what each school would like to see in their Talmidim / Talmidos and the work being put into the children should be geared towards those hopes and goals. But that is just that. The standards are for what we infuse into the children. They are NOT for anyone to decide who should have that opportunity.
To say to anyone that there are other schools in town so why come here is Gaivah Gaivah Gaivah. Just hope and pray The Aibishter doesn’t look at you the way you look at others.
It makes no difference to the Almighty what color shirt, type of hat, or level of Judaism you are. To him you are his child regardless. Let’s be G-dly and realize that our challenge today is Ahavas Chinam – I love you and want you to have the same happiness I have regardless of your shirt, hat, sleeves or anything else
NO STANDARDS???? Did you ever read the parent handbook of ANY school from the most modern orthodox to the most chassidish???? They all have standards, and expect the parents to live up to them, if they want to be accepted. Some schools even say that the mother should cover her hair and should not wear slacks when she comes to the school to pick up her child. If the mother does not wish to abide by these rules, she is not welcome to send her children to the school
To oy vey.
There is a Yeshiva in Bene Berak called Orchos Torah . It is one of the most elite Yeshivas in Eretz Yisroel .It is extremely difficult for a bochur to get in unless he is a huge metzuyan . I guess you must believe they are balei Gavah.
The Yeshiva was run by Harav Shteinman ZL. So obviously he believed that Yeshivas could have admission criteria. In the video he was talking about a 5 year old kid where there,was nothing wrong with the kid or the parents , just the father got remarried to someone from a different background and there was nothing wrong with anybody . So your claim that Rav Steinman held that any school has to accept anybody without any criteria, is absolute nonsense .
All Jews are Tzadikim. The community in LAKEWOOD , Monsey and Passaic Clifton is BH growing very strong and we just need more schools , every Jew wants to sthieg and help but we just don’t have room I have witnessed that first hand with packed to the hilt classes. The soulution is more schools , it’s a chiuv on every Jew that is capable to help in this endeavor and be mezskai Harabim , we need real gidolim who have the foresight , I am talking real ones not the fake news ones , the ones who care for the tzibur, should be mishtadle to bring and open up new schools and Yeshivos . And I am telling you guys just wait and see it will happen .
You almost had me til you came up with the suggestion.
First off The Lakewood Cheder School is a community school with no owner. They current have 11 (not 10) of each grade with 30 per class. Already , indivduism is really hard and their budget is millions of dollars per month.
Let’s not go there.
When there’s a problem, the onus on the community is to come up with a solution.
I think the solution is more schools.
More people need to come forward and open more schools;
A Chabad School, reopen the old Betzalel Day School, maybe even a Torah V’daath for all the Brooklynites.
It’s really simple math. Supply / Demand. Right now everyone is coming to Lakewood, because Lakewood is a beautiful place to live.
It probably would be Midas S’dom to tell certain segments of the community ,you can’t live here cause we just can’t handle it.
Let’s compare Lakewood to the Growth of Bnei Brak.
A school became full, new schools open up.
It’s the only solution.
I’m not sure how many new schools Bnei Brak opened, but I doubt it comes close to how many schools/classes Lakewood opened over the past 5-10 years – and without govt funding. And yes, even the new Bnei Brak scools have strict frumkeit standards that parents are expected to respect. And no, it’s not “middas sdom” for a community not to have an unlimited ability to open new schools on its own for a huge influx of people who were settled in other communities. No one stopped Belz, Satmar, etc., from opening their own schools in Lakewood when members of their communities moved here. So Chabad, TV, and the others you talk about can do the same if they have the parents, philanthropists and askanim, to do so.
There is a concept of “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”.
STEP ONE: Do we have a problem? Or is it only those who don’t have a school this year who have a problem? Once we all collectively realize that we ALL share this problem, be it this year, or if you are already nervous about high school because you have a fourth grader. Or maybe not you but your sister or friend- THERE IS A PROBLEM.
STEP TWO: We ALL have to be part of the solution. Make a strong Vaad to which each family pays dues. Use the funds to create a centralized school board that can ensure a Jewish school for all, provided that they follow the rules and pay their dues. Once this is a system that is official, with paid employees working with the schools,it may make our school system work. OF COURSE, there will be families that say-We don’t need this, we have the right name/pull/connections/wallet…Those are the people who are part of the problem. They will tsk tsk tsk and say- Oy, I heard so and so still doesn’t have a school… they will think they are immune to rejection. And to these very people, the passuk says they will be very surprised when they get up to Shamayim and see Olam Hafuch Hu.
IT WILL ONLY WORK IF WE DO THIS TOGETHER! WE MUST FEEL FOR EACH OTHER- LOOK INTO YOUR FELLOW YID’S EYES AND REMEMBER- THERE’S SO MUCH MORE THAT BONDS US THAN WHAT DIVIDES US. LIKE THE WORDS IN A FAMOUS SONG- WE ARE NOT SO DIFFERENT YOU AND I- YOU DO KNOW WHO I AM- I’M JUST LIKE YOU…
To Mark Levin
You wrote that In Bene Break, when schools filled up they just made another one. Yes that is true, but the Government funds the schools ,except for the kanoim schools who dont take from the Government . So money is not the issue there . We get no funding except a few dollars for reading,and math remedial so unless we,as a kehila start spending our tzedekah money locally abd nit zend everything to out of town mosdos ,we won’t solve this problem .
There is very little incentive for anybody to make schools ,especially girls schools where there is no harbotzas Hatorah. People,who have made them have given their full time and lots of personal money to keep them afloat . Then the thank you they get is that they have to read comments that say they are getting 250,000 salaries and if we would be able to get rid of their salaries we would be better off . With outrageous comments like that about people that in many cases never saw a dime from their schools , it’s no wonder that we dont have enough people making schools ,especially girls schools.
If anybody would be interested in being involved in opening a girls high school,then please contact me at [email protected].
This is a phenomenon that has to be dealt with by the gedolim. There’s something very off, that its either yechus or money that get you in the door. This is wrong! Although there is so much chessed & good in town , the way of being accepted into schools has to stop. We are thankful to hashem to be able to give mosdos Tzedakah….But its wrong to be put against the wall, to be asked for $25,000 to get a friend into a school. Yes Schools & yeshivas need money to run, but those that can give, give. Klal yisroel is givers and when we can give more tzedakah we all do. Theres no reason for this bribery & theres no reason to run schools like businesses. Its amazing that the school owners are becoming big real estate investors in town. They have extra money from putting people against the wall to bribe themselves into schools & yeshivas. Some how everyone gets into school at the end. Lets deal with the yeshivos the way hashem wants us to behave. School owners, lets focus on the children, lets focus on yiddishkeit, lets focus on hashem & not the money. If we want to be in the business world go into stocks, go into real estate. If you’re going to deal with our kinderlach, Please act in a manner showing hashem & our children that its about them, not about money. May we all have clarity to act in the derech hashem wants us to do.
Satmar Reb Yolish took in everyone that’s how he started with 9 Kids and a baby carriage and grew in no time to a 50,0000 student body . We litvaks should learn from this , take in anybody even if he is Chabad after all I said and done who cares , it’s the personality and good middos that really counts . Good Night
the above idea will probably not work although it sounds great.
I have been observing the lakewood school scene for many years and have noticed that the schools that are open and accepting end up struggling and/or closing down and the elitist schools that turn people away thrive.
conclusion 1– people here like elitism, it makes them feel special (if they are in)
conclusion 2 – if you want to open a successful school the first thing you must do is turn down 90% of applicants. everyone will flock to your doors
announcing that you will accept everyone is like the kiss of death!
sorry, that is the mindset around here…
To Chaim Schwartz
Yiu are realky insulting people wirh your comments .
I am a simple person with no yichus and did not give or offer any money and my daughter was
accepted to a top high school. I also know people with yichus and who offered money that did not get in to the same school. None of her friends who got accepted have either yichus or money . So I would say your comments are not true .
This is not everyone, this is many….We were asked numerous times to give money to bribe people into school. This is wrong! Hashem doesnt want this! If you want to accept certain people into certain schools because of ruchnius, thats the school decision, not saying right or wrong. But if a school wont take a family because the father wheres colored shirts…& theyll only take them if money is given then thats a real issue!
I think the schools should charge 15-18 thousand a yr per child as that would actually cover most the the costs. That’s what many schools out of Lakewood/ Brooklyn charge. Living is expensive, but what’s more important than our children’s education. Alternatively If many people can’t afford to pay that, and they realize that homeschooling 4kids is worth 60k that might be a good thing.
There is a school with multiple classes of each grade in Monsey that lets the parents specify if they want their child in a more modern class or a more yeshivish class. But even that school has politics and don’t accept everybody.
I have a solution. It’s called the Yeshiva Fund. A few million needs to be raised and placed into escrow.
Each year an accessment to how many kids coming in and how many slots.
For examole if there are 10,300 incoming and only 10,000 slots, so that’s where the fund would kick in to A. Anyone who would come forward and open a new school
Or B. Any schools that would make room and take in th excess children.
Its the only solution and we need those that can , to step forward,
So shocking to read some responses here. So sad we have so many adult bullies in our town. We should learn how to speak to people esp if they are speaking their heart out in pain. Show some compassion.
To bright idea
Your fund needs more than just a few million. You need to cover the budget every year thereafter also not just the first year. The public schools spend 90 million dollars on their regular budget for 5000 kids and they already have buildings. Our schools are pushing close to 35000 kids which is 7 times as large ,plus we need to build buildings and pay huge mortgages .
To priorities
Our schools,don’t need to charge 15,000 per year . If the schools collected an average of 6000 to 7000 per student plus a building fund to help with the mortgages, then they could survive.
Most schools are averaging collections of way less than that so it’s not working . There are a few schools that have a more financially stable parent body ,but most schools have a lot of Kkei Kodesh and yeshivaleit who just won’t pay more.
To Moshe,
I don’t run a school and I don’t so accounting for any, however if you think the schools should collect an average of 6-7k per student then like I suggested full tuition should be 15 to 18 thousand. Not convinced that that will adequately cover all expenses.
Regardless my point was that those who can’t get into school (and those who are in school and don’t pay full tuition but don’t live frugally or do pay full tuition and get bent out of shape when asked for a dinner ad or building fund)should understand that they are getting a handout. Like some others mentioned, if schools were a good business there would be enough of them.
To priorities.
I am somewhat familiar with some of my children’s schools. In Lakewood in most of the schools that have,a lot of yeshivaleit ,you cant,ask those types of numbers for full tuition . In addition ,most Lakewood working people are also struggling with tuition and claim that they can’t pay for other people so even if they want to pay full ,they only want to pay close to actual cost ,and not a big number to subsidize others who can’t pay . So it’s not feasible to do what you suggest.
Why don’t we tax the developers and real estate brokers who are the main beneficiaries of Lakewood’s too-rapid growth? Maybe they should be assessed for each property that is sold, with the monies going into a fund
to open new schools so that the new arrivals can be accommodated.
And who is going to support the annual deficits for the new schools. The tax on developers , which is really a tax on new buyers only, will only help for the first year startup.
To Moshe,
My idea not sounding feasible to you doesn’t make it a bad idea.
If tuition would be enough to cover operating costs, more schools would open and there would be room for everyone. The fundraising campaigns would change and if schools would stay closed at the beginning of the year until enough scholarships were raised I think that would get raised soon enough.