Preserve Ramapo

www.preserve-ramapo.com

You are here: Home / Archives for Yeshivas

Resident fights Ramapo law allowing schools without final approval

by

Peter Katz Photo: John Meore/ The Journal News

Peter Katz has become the first Ramapo resident to take the town to court for permitting the conversion of a single-family house into a school without approved site plans and other permits.

Katz argues in his legal action that Chief Building Inspector Anthony Mallia arbitrarily issued a temporary building permit for Congregation Yeshiva Zera Yakov to open a school at 101 Carlton Road and the Ramapo Zoning Board of Appeals incorrectly upheld Mallia’s decision as valid under town zoning law. [Read more…]

FBI Probe Raises Questions about Yeshiva Funding

by

 

“Chutzpah comes with power,” said Samuel Heilman. “When it comes to fraud and crime, the people who do it think they’re smarter than everyone.” The FBI raids this week on Ramapo-area yeshivas have given new ammunition to critics who question both the quality of secular education in that slice of the Jewish educational system, and how those private religious schools spend public money.

[Read more…]

Ramapo Raid Targets Area with more Yeshivas Planned

by

“Planning Board considers three more school in the Highview Road-Spook Rock Road area, even as one unapproved school is raided by FBI in technology fraud case. Talmud Torah OHR Yochanan went into business one morning in October 2009 when several busloads of children were dropped off at 97 Highview Road, a single-family house with a narrow one-car driveway. The school has yet to get final approval from the Ramapo Planning Board, yet it receives tuition and state assistance for more than 200 students as it operates under a temporary certificate of occupancy. The school added 93 and 97 Highview Road to its campus, plus two classroom trailers and converted the second floor into classrooms. Wednesday afternoon, the school was among the 22 places raided by FBI agents and Rockland District Attorney’s Office detectives armed with search warrants demanding vendors and yeshivas account for computer-related equipment allegedly bought by religious schools with millions in federal subsidized education technology dollars. No one has been arrested and no criminal charges have been filed.” Read the complete Journal story here.

ABC raid on schools

Watch the ABC news coverage here.

Thousands of Ill-educated Yeshiva Boys

by

They Deserve Better
Article in the New York Daily News

By Naftuli Moster

Each year, approximately 32,000 boys in New York City are not being taught science, history and geography among other subjects. If they’re lucky to be under the age of 13, they get 90 minutes of English and math, taught by untrained and unlicensed teachers.
Alarmingly, when these boys turn 14, most of them spend 14 hours a day in school, from around 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., yet learn no general subjects at all. An estimated 17,500 additional boys attending schools in Rockland and Orange Counties are subjected to the same. [Read more…]

Ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva Controversy

by

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly on PBS

Rel and Ethics Newsweekly screenshot

“Are private yeshivas run by Hasidic Jewish sects providing students with an education equal to that of public schools? New York filmmaker Menachem Daum reports on accusations that ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools are failing to teach secular subjects that would help prepare students for jobs. A lawsuit alleges that some of these religious schools are not complying with New York state law by not teaching English, math, and science.” To view the PBS news story click here.