NEW YORK (AP) - New York City education officials saw encouraging signs at 15 ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools that were subjects of a 2015 complaint, but they were not allowed access to another 15 schools, according to a letter from city Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza to the New York state Education Department.
The leaders of the schools that city educators visited “expressed a commitment to expanding students’ exposure to secular instruction and to improving the instruction itself,” the letter sent Wednesday said.
But city Department of Education officials “made repeated attempts to gain access” to another 15 schools that were listed in the complaint by a group that has campaigned for better secular instruction at ultra-Orthodox yeshivas, the letter said.
The two sides on the contentious issue of whether schools, or yeshivas, affiliated with strictly observant Hasidic Jewish sects are preparing students for the modern world drew different conclusions from the letter.
Backers of the schools said Carranza’s letter shows that critics of the schools are wrong. “There’s so much here that’s positive and important and a cause for celebration,” said Rabbi David Zwiebel, a leader of Agudath Israel, an umbrella group for Orthodox Jewish organizations.
Zwiebel said the schools have added new textbooks and teacher training “because the schools recognize and understand not only that there are legal obligations but more importantly that children who go through the system should emerge with the basic skills and tools necessary to function as citizens in society.”
But Naftuli Moster, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education or YAFFED, the group that filed a complaint against the yeshivas, noted that all of the school visits were arranged in advance. “Undoubtedly, the schools prepared for those visits and put their best foot forward - even if it was a fabricated foot,” he said.
Moster also said it was “disappointing but not surprising” that city education officials were not allowed into 15 schools.
But Avi Schick, a lawyer for the schools, disputed Carranza’s assertion that the Department of Education was not allowed into the schools.
“Access was never denied by those schools and access will never be denied by those schools,” Schick said at a news conference with supporters of the schools Thursday.
The 2015 complaint alleged that 39 yeshivas were not complying with a state law that mandates that private schools provide instruction that is substantially equivalent to the provided in public schools.
Responsibility for determining what constitutes substantially equivalent instruction shifted from local school districts to the state Education Department under an amendment passed by state lawmakers last spring. A spokeswoman for the state Education Department, Emily DeSantis, said, “We thank New York City for submitting its letter and are carefully reviewing the findings. We are continuing to update our guidance and determine next steps given the latest change in law.”
Carranza said in a statement, “We deeply believe that all students - regardless of where they attend school - deserve a high-quality education. We will ensure appropriate follow up action is taken based on guidance provided by SED.”
Nine of the locations listed in the original complaint turned out not to be K-12 schools, according to Carranza’s letter.
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