In the fight against discrimination in the school system, the school in Emannuel has been getting almost all the headlines, as its case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Another case that has been in the news is a school in Bet Shemesh that has refused to take a girl, seemingly because of her being of Sephardic origin.
R' Yoav Lalum has been fighting the fight and pressing on to stop the discrimination. He has been behind both the battle in Emannuel, and the smaller battle in Bet Shemesh.
Some recent progress in Bet Shemesh is that the principal in the Bet Shemesh school that was caught "on tape" threatening the child with social isolation if the parents would press to send her to the school is being suspended from her position for 1 year, after which her employment will be re-evaluated.
Her husband was on the telephone-based news broadcast today crying about how horrible it is, how she is being treated terribly and nobody is concerned about their welfare and parnasa and all Lalum is concerned about is generating headlines and ratings....
His tears should be weighed against the tears of the kids and parents who have been tortured by people like he and his wife. Of course nobody wishes them to have parnassa problems, but that does not justify what she has done. Perhaps she should consider a new line of employment, considering the way she deals with kids she is clearly not principal material.
I know the principal for many many years. I also have my daughter in the school.This is somthing that has been going on all year. One of the many reasons that I sent to the school was because of her. She is a person who deserves deep respect. This mother who has shoved her daughter into the school by these insane means SHE is a very evil and dangerous woman. and does NOT have her childs intrest at hart in any way. This story can NOT be taken at face value at all. the school is more than 40% sefardi. That has nothing to do with them not taking her child. ALL of the parents of the school want her child out. She is a horrible person and will have do face a very strong din vcheshbon when she gets to shamayim for what she has done to the principal.
ReplyDeletealso why are you saying she toutured her child. How in the world do you know? She is in kita aleph and they are treating her BETTER than all the other girls due to a pesak that they got from their rov to treat her as if she is a yesoma due to the fact that she has this very sick and dangerous mother.
ReplyDeletealso :-) ( I am just very upset about this) She was right to say that she wont have friends outside of school. Do you think that any parent in this by type school will EVER send a kid to her house? She secretly tapes her coversations with the principal and brings it to the media? This is a charadi school! she had lots of other choices where to send her child.
ReplyDeleteeverything you say might very well be true. They might be horrible people just looking to make trouble.
ReplyDeleteBut if that is the case, the principal handled it all wrong. And for her to threaten the kid with isolation when her fight is with the parents?
The parents might be everything you say, but the principal still has a problem.
I dont think the mother was threatened with isolation for the kid. Its a fact that no one would want thier child to socialize with this womans child. (Note, I call her the woman's child, since the child herself is not the problem. The mother is)
ReplyDeleteI would never send my kid to her house as I dont trust the lady at all. She no longer has a chezkas kashrus, and I would be scared that beats her kids. I would be scared that she would tape a conversation with my kid, cut and paste it, and blast it all over the news. Moreover, clearly her hashkafos are not in sync with the school's as she was willing to go to secular court, something with is an Issur (absolute) if youre in the chareidi camp.
She clearly has some agenda here, and her agenda does not match the agenda of either the school, the community (to which she is not ever a part of), the parent body, or mainstream chareidim.
And, of course, I ask as I always do, if Ashkenazim dont want you, why do you beg to be accepted? Do you think this will help you (and people like you -- not all sefardim are like her, but those that are) get accepted in the "velt" ? Do you think that making a chillul hashem and making things up is the ratzon hashem? Did her Rov advise this approach?
I am actually quite surprised that there have not been any signs up blasting her and her illegitamate method of achieving her goals. I am surpirsed that other forms of attack have not been used against her, as she is a moser, and probably also a rodeif
whenever a mass murderer gets caught, they always interview neighbors and family who say, "he was such a nice person, I can't believe this". Great Mrs. Anonymous. The system worked for you. But for this girl and others, your "wonderful" principal threatened them. Isolation for a young child has long term negative effects and can be considered a form of "murder".
ReplyDeleteyour made up psak of moser and rodeif is a typical response by people who can't acknowledge the wrongdoing, just lay blame elsewhere.
Your childish argument about "why go there if they don't want me" is even funnier. why don't you find out why? maybe the education or services provided are better than what's available elsewhere? Maybe that's what white supremicists told the blacks? Are you a racist? You are not God, don't try to play God. It's not your concern why they want to come there, only that they should be admitted andtreated with respect.
whenever a mass murderer gets caught, they always interview neighbors and family who say, "he was such a nice person, I can't believe this". Great Mrs. Anonymous. The system worked for you. But for this girl and others, your "wonderful" principal threatened them. Isolation for a young child has long term negative effects and can be considered a form of "murder".
ReplyDeleteyour made up psak of moser and rodeif is a typical response by people who can't acknowledge the wrongdoing, just lay blame elsewhere.
Your childish argument about "why go there if they don't want me" is even funnier. why don't you find out why? maybe the education or services provided are better than what's available elsewhere? Maybe that's what white supremicists told the blacks? Are you a racist? You are not God, don't try to play God. It's not your concern why they want to come there, only that they should be admitted andtreated with respect.
you use the words "Ratzon Hashem" because the parents are protecting their child and trying to prove that behind closed doors they are being mistreated. what a chutzpah. did you ask yourself, Is this ratzon hashem to exclude a child? Is it ratzon hashem to treat people this way? Is it ratzon hashem to have a principal with a complete lack of rachmonus for a child who needs it?
Wake up!
I listened to the audio of the interview (http://www.bhol.co.il/news_read.asp?id=16759&cat_id=1) and according to the husband the only problem is that the family doenst live in the neighborhood. They even suggested they move to the neighborhood and then the kids would be accepted, and she refused. Other sefardi kids, including membersof her extended family, have been accepted, because they live in the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all that is great.
Second, anyone who says this family is bad (as you can see about them in the comments here or in the original post) and that is why her kids was not accepted - either you are lying or the husband is lying. According to him the only problem is not that they are not "matim" for the school, just that they live in the wrong neighborhood.
3. Whether it is discrimination or not (and I dont know that not accepting one sefardi girl when many others are accepted is discrimination), it sure smacks of discrimination, especially the way she threatened. Maybe it was the heat of the moment, maybe she just did not know how to handle the situation. Either way, more is expected from a principal. No matter how nice a person she normally is.
This is what happens when people who run schools are not trained nor educated in anything more than in how to have a gan get positions like this.
I dont know her or her background and education, but this situation is rampant in our school systems. Teachers and principals, and people who open schools, with absolutely no background or education in education or administration, are the nes running our schools and educating our kids. Sometimes it works out great and the person is very talented, and sometimes they can't deal with it, not necessarily any fault of their own, just they have never been trained to deal with anything like it.
I did not hear HOW the principal said it. She claims that she was NOT threatening, rather she was saying a metzius. There is a shtark difference.
ReplyDeleteI have a prrof that this is a bad family, and every chareidi will agree with me - they went to the press and bagatz in order to get thier way. This is ENOUGH of a reason to exclude them from the school.
Thre is a Rov in town who is the address for those who do not get into the school. He has gotten in many sefardim and ashkenazim who have not gotten in thru regular channels. And yes, we believe that the Rovs daas torah is the ratzon hashem, and that is what we wish to follow. If you dont accept that, again, why come to our school?
Why does she have to be admitted? Are we allowed to have standards and rules as to who comes to our schools? Would you let a goy ito your school? An Arab? A chiloni with no intent of becoming frum? How about Neturei karta? Who decides?
not saying the parents were right, but what they did was after the fact. Sure they went to the press and courts, but after they were already not accepted and it turned into a fight. Were they wrong? perhaps, but once they are in a fight, people do stupid things and justify it. I have no idea, but maybe they got a hetter to go to court.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying anything the parents did was right. I am not justifying it. I have no idea if they have to have been accepted to the school. I already said a number of times I have no idea if it was discrimination or not.
I must ask you why sefardim have such a hard time getting in that they cant get in through normal channels but need to go through a special rav, as you say, appointed to get them in through the back door?
I dont know why they want to send the kid to this school. But they do, and that is their right. The school is publicly funded and as long as parents fit the criteria, as per whatever rules are in place by Misrad HaChinuch and the school, the parents should be allowed to send there. Does she meet that criteria or does she simply not meet what the parents want after the fact that it already became an ugly fight?
I dont know and I dont care. If the family was not qualified to be a student, this whole thing would never have become an issue. It is only an issue because somehow they meet the criteria yet the school refuses to accept them. Maybe the school is justified, but if so they have not gotten their reasons across well. And the attitude smacks of discrimination.
principal from Beit Shemesh who threatened a student with social isolation
ReplyDeleteJust listen to the tape. A link is on my site. You don't need to understand Hebrew (although I translated the transcript there).
Listen to the teacher's tone of voice.
The teacher said that the teacher will always put the girl at a table by herself.
280 girls sat out on strike just because she was from the other neighborhood?
And the business about the 40% sefardi children in the school is always cited in these cases. But lo and behold, the sefardi children are always the ones who "happen" to be rejected.
Yes, mothers sometimes do "go crazy" when their children are treated unfairly.
I also explained why parents insist on sending to schools where they are not wanted.
Followup post: Sending a Child to a School Where She's Not Wanted
Anon, why did the principal allow the girls in her school to treat a fellow student that way? In class, as she describes, not just after school? Doesn't sound like she was following the psak.
Rafi, as for accepting some sefardim and not others--it's called a quota system.
rabbi yakov yoseff is their posek and directs their fights. About 6 months ago he called those who try to enforce a shul takana (in his motzi shabas shuir in beit vegan)that the nusach of tefilla is askanaz...natzis!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI heard the tape. Didnt sound threatening to me. Sounded like the principal was trying to explain to the lady that the parent body of the school will not put up with her, and will not let thier child befriend this ladys child. You might say that she has the child's best interest at heart, being that facts on the ground are that the parent body will not accept her as a mainstream part of the school. The mother, on the other hand, seems to care only about her fight and her made up claim of discrimination.
ReplyDeleteYou happen to be incorrect in your asumption that ONLY sefardi children are not accepted. There are plenty of ashkenazi children not accepted. They do the normal thing, like go to the Rov, have friends plead their case, and if all else fails, go to a school that will be happy to accept you - which they will fit in to. Well, now that I mention it, most sefardim do the same thing. Its just the crazies who dont. (Ant btw, 40% is not a quota system. Quotas are maxxed out at 33%. The 40% is due to the nature of the community and the parent body that the school is catering to)
The family was not qualified to be a student. If you listen to the tape of the husband, he says that clearly in the beginning. That is not the main fight now, as since its in the misrad hachinuchs hands, chances are, they do not care about frumkeit and frumkeit standards, so that would be a losing battle.
Sefardim have a harder time getting into schools. This is true. A lof of reasons come into play. I am sure you can think of a bunch of them on your own. NOT all of the reasons are discriminatory. Some of them are proper reasons. Some of them are frumkeit issues.