In response to the hafganah the other day against the closing of the school, and against the "haredization" of Bet Shemesh, Mayor Abutbol has said, "It disturbs me that politicians have taken advantage of children and their parents, a cynical exploitation for political needs, and have tried to fan the flames and incite the parents.
the building that houses Bet Sefer L'Safot V'Tarbuyot, has 12 classrooms and a number fo other rooms. The building is designed for up to 480 students, yet only 170 students learn in this school, so most of the building is not being used.
the Ministry of Education has requested from the City of Bet Shemesh to combine Nationalist schools in the city, as other nationalist schools are also suffering from low capacity. 75% of the students in this school do not live in the neighborhood, which has a character of Dati-Haredi, an come to the school from other parts of Bet Shemesh, by buses funded by the City.
As mayor of the city I have a responsibility to all the children in the city, from all the sectors. While this building is not being used to capacity, and is in danger of being closed with other schools, haredi students are forced to learn in caravans, and there is no reason this should be so. We will not be deterred from taking the necessary steps to improve efficiency and to strengthen the educational system in Bet Shemesh.
(source: mynet)
They tried to move it last year, there were demonstrations, and the court halted it, so why the whole thing again?
ReplyDeletethe mayor is right. this is sinat chinam against our charadi brothers plain and simple. we cant kid ourselves.
ReplyDeleteif it would be only this one issue of the school bulding which is not being utilized, then i might even agree to move them to a smaller place, etc., but this is just one example of many where a big portion of the non-chareidi population (and even many non-kanoim chareidis) feel that the mayor's agenda since being elected is to appease the more radical fringes of the chareidi population on the backs of teh non-chareidis.
ReplyDeleteWhat, for example, is the story with the orot girls school, which was supposed to be built next to the orot campus (across from rechov gad) which had all teh ishurim etc. but now suddenly the land was taken away from them with the explanation that they can't put a girls school soo close to achareidi neigbourhood?!
y -
ReplyDeleteI think the mayor is just trying to make things fair among all the various sectors of the city.
For a while, under the leadership of Danny Vaknin, the chareidim were not given even footing and thats the reason why the schools in the chareidi areas were given to the chilonim and DL crowds.
The chareidi population is growing, schools are filled to capacity and then some.
What do YOU think should be done?
Stam, a question, where is that OROT school now?