Rockland Yeshivas Sued for Inadequate Education

A class action lawsuit was filed Friday in state Supreme Court on behalf of current and former students in several Rockland County yeshivas.

According to failedmessiah.com, the suit names “New York State’s Department of Education, its Board of Regents, the haredi-controlled East Ramapo school board, and others” for a state of affairs that denies students an adequate secular education.

The suit is being handled by Advocates for Justice, a law group that is also involved with public school parents in East Ramapo.

SEE: Parents Threaten to Sue State over East Ramapo if Corrections Aren’t Immediate

The problem in ultra-orthodox yeshivas was described in detail this fall by Amy Sara Clark and Hella Winston “12 Hour School Day but Can’t Do Math,” an investigative article in Jewish Week and on WNYC.

The article says the fact that many ultra-orthodox yeshivas:

... are neglecting to teach their students basic English and math — or any other secular subjects — is hardly a secret. However, the situation — highlighted over the last decade in a spate of books, articles and blogs about chasidic life — has only now captured the attention of public officials.

This summer, for the first time, the New York City Department of Education has launched an investigation into whether these yeshivas are meeting state requirements to provide an education that is “substantially equivalent” to what public schools offer. And on the heels of the DOE move, The Jewish Week and WNYC have learned, Daniel Dromm, the influential chair of the city council’s education committee, is pledging to hold the schools more accountable.

But reformers, led by a chasidic yeshiva graduate, face an uphill battle, hindered by the same forces that have caused government officials to turn a blind eye for decades. Their fight for better secular education turns on a number of thorny issues, including the separation of church and state, the cozy relationship between local politicians and powerful chasidic leaders thought to control significant voting blocs and questions about whether, in fact, those leaders are purposely neglecting secular education as a way to keep their followers in the fold.