Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Rockland residents engage in heated debate over non-public school educational standards
Tuesday night's meeting of the Rockland County Legislature began on a dramatic note when the first resident to speak during scheduled public participation was forcibly removed from the building by police officers. The man was quickly escorted out of the council chambers after spewing a series of derogatory remarks at Legislator Laurie Santulli, who recently proposed a memorializing resolution that would encourage the New York State Legislature to pass a bill that would require non-public schools to meet certain educational standards.
"I think it affects all of the state, New York City, Rockland, I think it is a big problem everywhere and all schools should be kept to the same level of rigor as public schools are, as home-schooled children are; why are private schools ignored. Why are children going to those schools being neglected."
Santulli said the measure would allow the state to have a little bit more power to go into private schools and check to see if they are providing secular education for their students."
Her proposed resolution failed in committee last week.
During a heated public forum many members of the Hasidic community expressed strong disapproval of the resolution. Some advocates of the yeshiva schools provided personal testimony in favor of their schools stating that they and their families had become successful members of the community thanks to their private education. Other supporters decried the crime and violence that occurs in public schools and argued that it is a parent's right to have their child educated in a private seminary. One passionate defender of the yeshivas said that the state is "shoving down their throats something they don't want," referring to the New York Government as a "nanny state" and claiming that the proposed bill would strip away religious freedoms from the community.
Supporters of the resolution maintained that the bill was by no means an attack on any specific community and that upholding education standards is of paramount importance.
Jackie Drexler, a local music teacher, told the legislature that she once worked with an orthodox child "who did not know a word of English" while other citizens echoed concerns that some private schools, including yeshivas, might not be meeting state education standards.
Santulli said that those who believe the bill to be an attack on the community are "reading it the wrong way and interrupting it wrong, that it's about parent choice; it's not. It has nothing to do with what schools there going to." She and other proponents of the bill argue that is a necessary measure which will help ensure that all of New York's children receive a quality education.
Legislator Aron Wieder denounced the resolution claiming the measure "has nothing to do with education" and is instead "a continuous, sinister campaign to besmirch and delegitimize Hasidic Jews in Rockland County."
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