New York City Targets Crown Heights Yeshivas, Determines That Some Do Not Meet Requirements For “Substantial Equivalency”

by CrownHeights.info

A war fought against Yeshivas has taken another step this past week as a letter dated June 30th was sent by the New York City DOE to multiple Crown Heights schools notifying them that they had not met state requirements for “Substantial Equivalency”.

According to the letter, the investigation against Yeshivas began in 2015 with a complaint to the state claiming that “39 yeshivas located in Brooklyn, New York, were not providing substantially equivalent instruction, as required by the New York State Education Law.” Some of the listed Yeshivas included Oholei Torah, Lubavitcher Yeshiva, and Ohr Menachem, all schools in Crown Heights.

The exhaustive letters outline the years of back and forth that ensued as the rules were changed and review of the Yeshivas enacted. Following multiple visits to the schools, the Schools Chancellor David C. Banks finally made his decision, and in the case of Oholei Torah, he wrote that “Yeshiva Oholei Torah has not demonstrated that it is providing instruction that is substantially equivalent to the public schools in the New York City school district, as required by Education Law § 3204 and Commissioner’s Regulation Part 130.”

Citing the lack of direct instruction on the English language and failure of the school to provide proof that it had taught the necessary subjects written in the law, Banks gave the school 60 days to provide a framework towards becoming compliant.

“During the next sixty days, you have the opportunity to collaboratively work with us to create a timeline and plan for your school to attain substantial equivalency within a reasonable amount of time, provided that timelines does not exceed the end of the next school year,” Banks wrote.

Another Crown Heights Yeshiva targeted was Yeshivas Ohr Menachem located on President Street, which received a nearly identical letter to that of Oholei Torah. Chovevei Torah and Lubavitcher Yeshiva Ocean Parkway, which provide a secular course of study to its students, received a substantially equivalent determination.

The release of the state’s findings were roundly rejected by Jewish organizations. Parents for Educational and Religious Liberty in Schools, PEARLS, wrote that “PEARLS reject the attempt to measure the efficacy of yeshiva education by applying a skewed set of technical requirements. Parents choose yeshiva education for their children because of the religious, moral and educational philosophy and approach of those who lead yeshivas. They will continue to do so, regardless of how many government lawyers try to insist that yeshiva education is best measured by checklists they devise rather than the lives yeshiva graduates lead.”

These sentiments were echoed in the correspondence between Oholei Torah and the state, which was provided to CrownHeights.info.

“Oholei Torah’s school day consists of instruction exclusively using Jewish texts such as the Bible, Prophets, Talmud, and Mishna,” Oholei Torah wrote to the state. “Moreover, the study of these Jewish texts calls upon and develops a range of other, transferable skills.”

Quoting Harvard classicist Harry Austry Wolfson’s explanation in Crescas’ Critique of Aristotle (Harvard University Press, 1929) on the study of Talmud, where he explains the Talmud as “the application of the scientific method to the study of texts,” Oholei Torah expounded that although Oholei Torah does not incorporate particular workbooks or offer separate periods of instruction for them, their students still learn language arts, math, science, and social studies through their Jewish studies.

“In math, the education literature has moved beyond the simple memorization of math facts to focus on mathematical reasoning and thinking,” Oholei Torah explained quoting Professor Moshe Krakowski, a respected Professor of Education at YU University. “Where students are able to understand how proofs work and to generate mathematical argumentation on their own. All of these skills are not only present in yeshiva education, they occupy a more central role in yeshiva education than in other school systems.”

In response to many of the stated claims, Oholei Torah said that “The workbooks previously given to you, were developed to show you the breadth and scope of Jewish studies and how such instruction can—and does—lead to learning that the Department of Education and others looks for in a curriculum.”

“Indeed,” they claimed, “we believe that the Department of Education has already received a curriculum map that demonstrates how Jewish studies instruction maps to skills the Department looks for in a curriculum. As a result of Oholei Torah’s robust and rigorous Judaic studies program, students speak and read multiple languages—English, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Yiddish—and they acquire the skills and knowledge needed to lead healthy and productive lives. Nearly 70 years of graduating students who are leading meaningful and productive lives, with thousands of graduating students becoming leaders in a wide spectrum of industries from social entrepreneurs leading communities world wide, to business entrepreneurs leading successful companies and creating jobs, and so many more gainfully employed throughout the full gamut of business sectors and prestigious professions, speak volumes and are testament of the efficacy of the time tested traditional authentic Jewish education.”

Truthfully, this fight for freedom of education is still in its early stages, with a court order severely blunting the impact of this decision and denying the state and city the ability to penalize any school based on its findings.