Mother Crusader is angry again.
Despite the success of parents in keeping a Hebrew charter school from opening in Highland Park, one opened in East Brunswick called the Hatikvah International Academy Charter School. Since there was not enough demand in East Brunswick for the school, it draws students from 17 other districts, including Highland Park, which previously rejected a charter.
What is striking here is that the new charter is enrolling students who never attended public schools, but the public schools lose money by paying for them from their budget.
So, for example, there are students transferring out of Jewish day schools to the new charter, but the public school in their home district must pay their tuition. A
And there are students starting kindergarten who never attended public school, but their tuition comes out of the public school budget.
As she explains:
Only 110 of their 194 students are from East Brunswick, which seriously undermines the idea that this school was “needed” or “wanted” in the community it was approved to serve. If they need to cast such a wide net to fill their seats, what does that mean about the NJDOE’s decision to approve this charter, and it’s decision to keep it open despite the VERY limited interest in East Brunswick?
According to the official enrollment numbers, Hatikvah serves 13 students from Highland Park, costing our district just shy of $165,000. Highland Park had absolutely NO SAY in the approval process when Hatikvah was being considered by the NJDOE, yet proportionately the school is having almost the same impact it has in East Brunswick (Hatikvah serves .08% of Highland Park’s public school students, and 1.3% of East Brunswick’s).
Highland Park administrators have found that the majority of children attending Hatikvah have never been served in our public schools – either parents place their children into Hatikvah in Kindergarten, or they transfer from private, religious schools. Nonetheless, our district is billed $12,692 (13 students at a cost of $165,000 = $12,692) per student, so the Hatikvah bill is just a loss of revenue from our district with no cost savings at all.
In addition, the sending districts must pay transportation of the charter students, another $900 per student.
Who are the losers in this deal?
First, the traditional Jewish day schools lose enrollment and are harmed, just as Catholic schools are harmed when charters open.
Second, the competition has cost the East Brunswick school. It added full-day kindergarten to compete, which is good, but made up for the lost revenue by cutting:
The elementary foreign language programThe summer Academy for at-risk students21 extra-curricular clubs3 sports programs
So, to open a charter for several dozen students, the children in the entire district lose.
And 20 more such charters are in the works.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
In the Stamford Advocate today…editorial with similar message..closing and full link.
In this budget climate, if legislators do appropriate an extra $21.4 million for education, they must do it in a way that would benefit all students, or at least many more than charter schools would serve.
For example, one of the proposed charters would be a new elementary school in Stamford with increased social worker involvement. It’s a good idea — greater attention paid to student mental health is a proven method for improving education, particularly in at-risk populations. But how many more kids could be helped by investing the $21.4 million in new social workers at existing public schools across the state? Or $10 million for new social workers, $10 million for new teachers to reduce class sizes and the rest to pay for additional pre-school seats? Or $15 million for new teachers and the rest for social workers and pre-school? Or $7 million for each?
However it’s divided, if we are going to invest more public funds into education, it should be done in a way that helps public education. Building more charter schools would not only soak up the millions it would cost at the outset, but Commissioner Pryor wants to fund charter schools’ operating costs in the future from the pool reserved for public schools, diminishing their resources even further.
You don’t need an advanced degree in math to see that paying so much to serve so few, while taking more from the many, is a bad equation for public education.
Read more: http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Charter-school-push-fails-math-test-4193067.php#ixzz2I03hORTx
“. . . while taking more from the many. . .” for the benefit of the few.
Modus operandi of the vulture capitalists.
Looting the public trough.
What is to stop parochial schools to reopen as charter schools? Separation of church and state has gone out the window.
I would not be opposed to parochial schools being converted into charter schools as long as the religious education that takes place there occurs outside of the regular school day, is optional, and is run by a separate entity. I like that approach much more than what was previously proposed in NJ, which would have simply created a quasi-voucher system to support parochial and private education. That would have been an unmitigated disaster.
It is funny you mention that. Deblasio’s “universal prek” is provided in part in religious schools! I think that deserves more attention (as well as the substandard conditions at some of these schools).
Schools may lose funding but they also lose expense of teaching someone. Children need to attend the best school their parents can find. While it may be PC to try to protect teacher unions and all that that means, parents have got to have alternatives!
Parents have always had alternatives! It’s called private schooling in which YOU pay the required tuition. That is part of a free market. I paid for my children to attend Catholic school to get the Catholic education I wanted them to have. I also paid my taxes that supported my local public schools. The taxpayers should not be required to pay for your children to attend a private school which is what charter schools have become. It’s wrong. This has nothing to do with protecting the teacher’s union. The right to collectively bargain is another discussion. It’s about our moral responsibility to make sure good public schools are available for any student that walks in their
doors.
Certainly parents with enough money have alternatives. Perhaps they ae the only ones who deserve them.
How have charter schools become private schools? What have they done to inhibit anyone’s “moral responsibility to make sure good public schools are available for any student that walks in their doors”?
How can public $ be used to fund a “Hebrew” charter school? In practice, virtually all of the students and virtually all of the teachers will be Jewish, notwithstanding that Jewish students probably constitute a relatively small percentage of the students in the school system. This is public $ being used to set up a school for Jews. Looks like a First Amendment violation.
Before you make such ridiculous assertions, LL, you may want to contact the school and ask to schedule a visit so that you can see how diverse Hatikvah’s faculty and student body truly are? Where did you study constitutional law? University of Phoenix?
I am sorry if I missed it, but can you tell us about your association with this school and the community. Thank you.
This is not the case in NYC. In fact one should toast the success of a charter school attracting students who would otherwise attended private school.
I thought that charter schools were supposed to SAVE money for the tax payer. Over $12,000 for a bare bones education with non-union teachers must bring a nice reward for this charter school.
Charter schools are supposed to innoculate new educational practices. The difference in expense per child does not seem significant.
“The difference in expense per child does not seem significant…” except when the school does NOT serve the entire public, yet the public pays for the choice few to go. That sounds pretty significant to me.
Thanks for informing us of this financial trick. We need to know all the variations. This is the most outrageous I have seen yet. This is a total loss-loss.
The Ben Gamla Hebrew/English Charter School was founded in 2007 in Hollywood, Florida by Israeli enterpreneurs (not educators) as a way to use the public treasury to pay for what is basically a parochial education. There are now several Ben Gamlas in South Florida and apparently another in the Tampa area. These areas have a large Jewish population and they are ripe for the fleecing. Hollywood has a history over the last 15 years as a testing ground for public risk/private profit schemes that have not increased the tax base and have actually left the city in worse shape.
on the other hand, we pay MEGA property taxes that mostly go to the school district that we have never used due to sending our kids to parochial school. What’s the difference?
The difference is your tax money is paid to the community for the education of its citizens among other things. It isn’t for your individual use only. The money from the tax base should not go to any part of private enterprise as long as there is a public counterpart.
But my tax revenue often goes to private enterprise. National defense spending, for example, often buys products from private firms. Textbook purchases in education. Should the government seek to produce every good or service that it might purchase? That would seem to be the argument you are making when you say the “money from the tax base should not go to ANY part of private enterprise as long as there is a public counterpart”. Clearly we should be seeking to establish public production of many goods.
I believe you and I have had this debate before, so I’ll say it again: Public schools are not into textbook manufacturing. They are, however, in “the business of” providing instruction. Big difference. Therefore if there is public institution in place, tax money should not go to fund a private counterpart to said system.
I still see a distinction without a difference.
Institutions of post secondary education are also ” in the business of” providing instruction, yet you seem perfectly happy with Pell grants. If your criteria is really no private institution in the business of providing instruction should receive tax money, you should be in favor of eliminating Pell Grants for all Ivy League or top tier liberal arts college students.
“I still see a distinction without a difference.
Institutions of post secondary education are also ‘in the business of’ providing instruction, yet you seem perfectly happy with Pell grants. If your criteria is really no private institution in the business of providing instruction should receive tax money, you should be in favor of eliminating Pell Grants for all Ivy League or top tier liberal arts college students.”
Again, we had this conversation last summer AND you had this conversation with someone else here very recently. Outside of the point that post-secondary education is primarily for those citizens and non-citizens over the age of 18, I am not going to debate it again.
I am pressing you because I have not seen an argument that explains why it is perfectly ok to give tax money to private organizations in order to 1) feed children, 2) cloth children, 3) provide shelter for children, 4) provide medical care for children, 5) educate children before kindergarten, and 6) educate children after 12th grade, but it is uniquely not ok to give tax money to private organizations in order educate children between k and 12.
I’m still wondering why it’s perfectly ok for civilians to legally purchase assault weapons, but that is the current law in several states. Perhaps you should talk to your legislators about your concerns.
Talk to Ronald Reagan and the jokers who allowed this assault on humans with those unnecessary guns and large capacity clips. Another one for the “Gipper.”
I am a public school teacher who is a big fan of yours; I also happen to be a product of East Brunswick schools. East Brunswick is an upper-middle class suburb of New York City whose school system is generally considered to be among New Jersey’s best. People move to East Brunswick specifically for those schools. I highly doubt parents are clamoring for charter schools.
Let’s call this what it is: subsidizing religious education, all on the taxpayer’s dime.
“subsidizing religious education”
Kind of like our country’s subsidizing a religious apartheid state, eh?
I knew that it was only a matter of time before the bashing of Hatikvah would lead to anti-Israel slurs. Next, we will be seeing quotes from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Bring it on.
You may be interested in the full post by Jersey Jazzman since you bring this up. Here is an excerpt:
I must say that I find it more than a little hypocritical for the school’s supporters to charge its critics with anti-Semitism, then turn around in the same breath and claim Hativkah is merely a “language immersion” school that doesn’t teach religious values and serves a diverse student body (having non-Jewish kids on the “waiting list” is hardly evidence of diversity). You can’t have it both ways, folks: either a “Hebrew-immersion” charter is a Jewish school under another name, or it isn’t. And you can’t be anti-Semetic toward a school that isn’t Jewish, can you?
http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/01/charter-schools-best-way-to-destroy.html?m=1
P.S….it’s a snow day just in case Slummy/JK is recording the times teachers are posting…from a former CT post just in case you are confused.
Where is that…. Vatican City-State? No mosques or synagogues allowed!!
“I highly doubt parents are clamoring for charter schools.”
Yeah, I moved out of East Brunswick because I couldn’t afford to live there on a measly teacher’s salary. It’s a fine district with great schools and a high-level program of offerings for its community. The “need” for charter schools in EB does not compute.
Okay, cue charterite/privatizer edubullies with shoe-shaped mouths: you’re on!
Please, please, please explain how literally robbing Peter [public schools] to pay Paul [charter schools] is ethical, moral and fair? I do not mean repeat advertising slogans, eduproduct hype, slick marketing one-liners. Use your own lines for once.
I implore any of you come on this blog and to “Talk Like Mike” [as in Mike Petrilli and Mike Doherty]. Say what you really think, don’t pull punches, be “realistic” and “practical” and explain it to us as if you’re telling it to someone for the first time.
Silence means consenting to the critical remarks that accompany this posting.
It’s probably too late for the EBers as they’re off the clock now.
Because the opponents of charter schools, particularly those who refuse to recognize the difference between those that are organic and those that are incubated by for-profit companies have never been guilty of bullying their adversaries.
Last night the East Brunswick town council voted unanimously (with one recusal to avoid any possible appearance of a conflict – more on that in a minute) to overturn the use variance granted to the charter school to locate in a warehouse in an industrial zone. Two residents fought the well funded, loud, often obnoxious charter machine and WON! No doubt the school will appeal to the courts, because they already had their sugar daddy buy the building for them.
But first they are going to have to face a lawsuit filed by the realtor that was squeezed out of the sale in order to avoid paying broker fees – the well respected local East Brunswick family realtor group is suing both the Friends of Hatikvah and the seller, Plumrose, for circumventing the firm in the transaction. (the council member who recused has a family member who works for the realtor so in an abundance of caution, recused himself) One more example of how charter backers think money allows them to do anything they want….
Always the strongarm technique as that is all they have. It certainly is not that they are performers and you must ask “Have you ever seen these people except to promote a charter school? Have you ever seen them there for all students in the district or to bring the district into accountability?”
I can’t believe how the terms “religious education” and “Hebrew charter school” are used with such derision by this supposedly progressive group.
I’m SURE that no religious education takes place in this school. If we want to stick to the facts, how could a school be opened with so few students – period! Hello? Can anyone say business model? Bad business practices abound.
Why do I have the feeling that if the same small, special curriculum school would be opened in the Midwest it would be hailed as a a victory for all involved.
I can not fault a school that may have an increased emphasis on “moral education” or reflection or quiet time. Certainly this is better than a new school that pays teachers based on student’s scores on arithmetic tests.
Look, there is room for Hebrew language schools, STEM schools, leadership academy, etc. (aren’t all schools leadership academy ???)
Lets get to what’s important here: value and respect teachers but don’t let the unions get in the way of education, regulate the education industry (I hate you Apollo Group), and give students clean, safe, 21st century schools.
No?
How does it cost East Brunswick anything if my daughter (we live in Dunellen) attends Hatikvah? The only money that comes out of EB’s coffers are for EB’s residents who send their children to Hatikvah. The fact that Hatikvah attracts students from outside of the town in which they are located is good for both Hatikvah and East Brunswick. In fact, the rules that require certain local enrollment percentages are counterproductive for everyone. Charter schools should be able to serve entire counties so that their cost can be spread out amongst many schools districts rather than one or a few.
I am sick and tired of Hatikvah and other organic charter schools like it being lumped in as the boogeymen that they aren’t when the larger problem is a dreadfully-flawed and poorly-implemented charter school law that forces charter public schools to compete rather than cooperate with traditional public schools and for-profit charter school incubators that make the innovative work done by charter schools like Hatikvah look so bad.
We need a new charter school law that reduces if not eliminates the amount of local property tax dollars that charter schools take directly from local school districts and creates a separate revenue stream from federal and state income tax dollars. We also need a new charter school law that is going to put for-profit charter school incubators out of business once and for all.
However, this is never going to happen as long as some public education advocates refuse to differentiate between organic charter schools and incubated charter schools and continue to view all charter schools as the enemy. Public eduation advocacy can and must include advocacy for progressive charter school legislation that enables charter schools to be the laboratories for innovation that they were envisioned to be instead of the money sucks that far too many of them are.
I agree that a more nuanced view of the variety of charter schools would do much to advance the discussion and appropriate public policy towards charter schools.
I will leave the same comment for you here that I left of Facebook Mr. Lefkovic:
I would like to address some of your points and criticisms and ask you a question or two.
You and I agree on many points. NJ certainly needs a new charter law, and a major consideration should be how charters are funded. If districts were not required to pay charters directly out of their budget a lot of the competition between charters and public schools would subside.
Sadly, this will never happen, and is not even being considered as part of a charter law rewrite. The only solution I see is for charters to be what they were truly intended. Created by the parents and teachers of the public schools, to meet an unmet need.
Based on this premise, the other change that could be made which would entirely do away with the conflict is for communities to decide if they want a charter school in their district. Allowing the state to decide but making the district pay is a recipe for disaster. If the community agrees that there is a need, there would be far less friction between charters and public schools as well. When the state mandates a charter and sticks the district with the bill, how can there not be conflict?
You make a distinction between “organic” and “incubated” charters which I find fascinating. I fail to see how Hatikvah was not “incubated” by the Hebrew Charter School Center as one of the 20 schools they would like to see around the country. I also fail to see how Hebrew Language instruction is an “innovation” that will benefit the public school community at large.
You are correct, that money spent to send your child to Hatikvah from Dunellen does not come from East Brunswick, but rather from Dunellen itself. But I disagree that charters should serve entire counties, unless of course if that charter is somehow approved by the “entire county.”
The current system where the state gets to decide where a charter will locate, and then allows the charter to pull kids from the entire state, makes it impossible for districts to budget effectively or efficiently. Highland Park loses over 160,000 to a charter that we had no say in, and serves mostly children that would otherwise attend private schools. We were told by the state to expect less than half of that, and then once enrollment was counted on October 15th got the revised bill. Does this seem reasonable to you?
When the state allows a charter such as Hatikvah to pull children from all over the state to fill enrollment, (all the while claiming they have a waiting list to make it appear there is incredible demand in East Brunswick) instead of closing it for under enrollment, it does create an undue tax burden on the people of that community who have to support 57% of the children that attend that charter.
And while you state that you believe that charters should be able to pull from an entire county, Hatikvah actually pulls from 5 counties, not just one. Does it seem reasonable to you that a charter’s appeal is so limited that it must pull students from 5 counties to fill it’s seats? Hardly demonstrates an unmet need in East Brunswick public schools.
I have met with the Commissioner of Education, and this is the litmus test he says charters must pass. Do they fill an unmet need. I am afraid that the idea of charters as hotbeds of innovation has come and gone. And again, I fail to see how Hebrew immersion is an innovation that will benefit the broad base of public school students state wide.
I look forward to your response.
Respectfully,
Darcie Cimarusti
AKA Mother Crusader
This is merely an interfund transfer from the district into private religeous hands in this situation. This is the plan from the beginning. Remember the phrase “We will drown it in the bathtub.”
I think your comment ended up in the wrong place, but I thought I would ask a question. What if the parents and the teachers in a district disagree about what needs are unmet? I would assume that the parents, as citizens of the district, would have the last word, but I am not sure about your answer.
Bertin, you are the same guy who admitted sending your kids to this school, because of the high percentage of Jewish students.
I’ll quote you: “As a secular Jew, the last thing that I would want to do is send my children to a religious school, but the one thing that I do know is that at Hatikvah, my children are not going to grow up feeling like South Park’s Kyle Broflovski, The Lonely Jew on Christmas, the way that I did and so many other Jewish children who live in predominantly Christian towns do.” (Source: http://www.bluejersey.com/diary/20291/hebrewimmersion-charter-schools-are-not-religious-schools)
Using a charter school to purposefully segregate student populations is horrifying to me.
My primary reason for sending my daughter to Hatikvah was to enable her to start kindergarten when she was ready rather than comply with the narrow parameters, enforced to ridiculous extremes, by our local public school district. The fact that Hatikvah offers a far more comfortable learning environment for both its Jewish and non-Jewish students than our local public school district, which might as well be a parochial school due to the homogenous nature of the community, is a wonderful by-product of its Hebrew immersion curriculum. There is nothing horrific about it.
Bertin – I believe you said you enrolled your daughter in hatikvah because she missed the cut off date in Dunnellen and therefore you had to pay for her to go to school whereas Hatikvah would accept her and you would not have to pay.
Charter schools should respect the cut off dates of the sending districts or they will be used, was the case here, to circumvent them in one’s own town.
No one ever says that Latin-language programs (they exist) are a stealth religious education for Roman Catholics. No one ever says that funding for Black History Month events/publicity is a single-ethnicity benefitor. There is ZERO Judaic-religion being taught in the curriculum at Hatikvah.
I am not quite sure how much of a debate we can have when Darlene write things like “this will never happen” or “the idea of charters as hotbeds of innovation has come and gone”, which is ironic in and of itself considering the fact that the current charter school law made it impossible from day one for them to ever serve this role.
I can appreciate why someone might approach an issue like this in such an absolutist manner when we live in a machine politics state devoid of any legitimate democratic processes, but the fact of the matter is that the problems facing public education in our state are so much greater than whether or not charter schools exist or not, the only way that the changes that need to be made will ever be made is if progressive people like ourselves work together, not against one another.
It is also hard to have a debate when so much of your argument is built around a localized, narrow, and parochial view about how public education should be managed and organized as well as a standard for a charter school existence as incredibly and purposefully limiting as unmet need. If charter schools are supposed to be laboratories for innovation and the pursuit of innovation was limited solely to meeting unmet needs, then there would most likely never be charter schools created. The same is true if the decision to create charter schools was left solely to local school boards. But my guess is that you have no desire to see any more charter schools created and if the ones that were in existence suddenly disappeared, you would not shed a tear.
One of the greatest problems facing public education in our state is the fact that we have over 600 local school districts, each with their own all-powerful, barely-democratically-elected school board with virtually no educational professionals serving on them. Aside from being incredibly hypercostly and inefficient, this system of home rule concentrates power amongst an incredibly small percentage of a community that in its entirety and through its representatives possess a fraction of the understanding of pedadgogy necessary to make the all-important decisions that it makes on a regular basis. Add to this the hyperreliance on regressive property taxes to fund this endeavor and you have the imperfect storm that our state faces.
You can continue your crusade against charter schools if you want, Darlene, quibbling over $160,000 (I get that this represents three teacher salaries, but this is nothing compared to the number of teachers who could be teaching in our schools if each of our over 600 school districts didn’t have their own overpaid superintendent – and in some cases overpaid assistant superintendents as well – as well as their own overpaid business manager – and in some cases overpaid assistant business managers – and didn’t feel the need to negotiate their own personnel and purchasing contracts, wasting millions, if not billions of dollars that could otherwise be spent on our schools if they were consolidated on a countywide and statewide basis) in what is otherwise a multi-million dollar local school budget, but I believe that all of our time and energy would be better spent on working together towards ending home rule, ending the funding of any public services with property taxes, and bringing about a new paradigm for public education that is truly thorough and efficient and that enables charter schools and traditional schools to coexist in a cooperative rather than competitive manner, but my guess is that you are quite satisfied with the parameters of your current crusade and whatever fame or infamy it brings you.
As far as the Hebrew Charter School Center is concerned, it is a not-for-profit organization that provides best practices and support for the people who try to start Hebrew immersion charter schools in their communities. They are not a for-profit charter school incubator. To the best of my knowledge, nobody is profiting off of Hatikvah’s existence. That and the fact that it was started by people in East Brunswick who wanted something different for their children is what makes it organic rather than incubated. If the HCSC was an incubator, FP, NFP, or otherwise, it would not have chosen East Brunswick as its first location in NJ. It would have chosen Englewood, Fair Lawn, Maplewood, Millburn, Livingston, South Orange, or West Orange as these communities are far more fertile for this kind of endeavor than East Brunswick, which is probably why Hatikvah’s reach has extended so far outside East Brunswick.
I do not know if Hebrew immersion in and of itself satisfies an unmet need, but I do think that there is value in having a secular public school environment where Jewish children, Asian children, and other children who are different from the dominant cultural norm of a community are not regularly bullied or at the very least treated like outcasts. I think a similar unmet need could be satisfied by the creation of charter schools for LGBT children, children of LGBT parents, and progressive families in general who are horrified by the values being passed along from parents to children in an effort to promote dominant cultural norms. All-female or all-male charter schools could also be beneficial for similar reasons. Only by creating charter schools like these and allowing them to be the laboratories for innovation that charter schools were supposed to be will we ever learn how to address some of the most toxic social dynamics that plague even our best traditional public schools and that no anti-bullying legislation will ever fix sufficiently. Nobody is using a charter school to purposefully segregate student populations, but if one by-product of a Hebrew immersion charter school is a more comfortable learning environment for children whose families are not represented by the dominant cultural norm in a community or area, then I think that this is proof positive of what can happen when a school is allowed to experiment and innovate.
There are ways that the fiscal problems that the current charter school law creates for both traditional and charter schools can be addressed without doing away with charter schools altogether, but it requires progressively-minded people to work together rather than against one another to fight the real problems inherent within public education particularly in our state of New Jersey, which are primarily home rule, property taxes, and privatization profiteers.
So according to your reasoning, it would be great if every religious/ethnic group had their own school, so kids could go to school ONLY with other kids who are just like they are. Wow. Maybe you should consider changing your name to Jim Crow.
And for the record, I was never bullied or treated like an outcast for being Jewish in East Brunswick.
Hardly, Stephanie. My argument is that if charter schools are allowed to be the laboratories for innovation that they were originally intended to be, we can learn things, often unexpected things, as a result of their experimentation.
What I have learned from my experiences with Hatikvah is that there are plenty of non-Jewish families who have found value in their children learning Hebrew along with everything else that is taught at Hatikvah.
Who knows what we could learn from single-gender charter schools and charter schools for LGBT children, children of LGBT parents, and children of progressive families?
I am glad that you were never bullied or treated like an outcast for being Jewish in East Brunswick. Growing up in Cranford, I was often subjected to bullying that was related to being Jewish and during the time that my daughter went to pre-school in Dunellen, she was inundated with a lifetime’s worth of “Christmas cheer”. This is not an issue at Hatikvah.
First, my name is Darcie…
Second, there are things upon which we agree, including the need to exclude “privatization privateers” in public education.
I also agree that if our property taxes were not so directly linked to school funding, many school funding arguments would be greatly diminished.
You take me to task for saying that the way charters are funded will not change Mr. Lefkovic, but I have participated in these discussions at the state level. I sat at a table with a group of other concerned citizens from around the state and we directly asked the Commissioner of Education to consider that if the state decides which charters to open, the state should fund those charters, not the district. We told him that this would greatly diminish the opposition to charters in communities across the state. The Commissioner all but laughed at us and told us the state doesn’t have the money, to which we replied, almost in unison, “Neither do we!”
You describe New Jersey as a “machine politics state devoid of any legitimate democratic processes.” I am trying to work within that system to ensure ALL children in this state receive the education they deserve, and it can indeed be quite frustrating. Your assessment of me as someone who would be happy if there were “no more charter schools created and if the ones that were in existence suddenly disappeared” and “quite satisfied with the parameters of (my) current crusade and whatever fame or infamy it brings (me)” is wildly outrageous.
You know nothing about me, and I refrained from creating any caricatures of you in my comments. I have NEVER advocated the closure of ANY child’s school, public or charter, and in fact think it is abhorrent to close ANY child’s school. I would greatly appreciate an apology from you for this assumption about my position on such a crucial issue when you had nothing to base such a claim on.
You are correct however that I would like to see a moratorium on new charters until this state can get a handle on the charter and public schools that already exist, and make sure they are working in the interest of ALL children.
I will put right on the table what I see as the fundamental difference between “progressive” people such as myself and you, Mr. Lefkovic. You seem to be perfectly happy to support one set of rules for you, and another set of rules for everyone else. I on the other hand, feel passionately that my children are not entitled to any special treatment from the state, and if I want something and expect it for my kid, then I should want it and fight like hell for it for ALL kids. Otherwise, I should pay for it myself.
Allow me to explain.
You bring up a point that I have heard bandied about by many charter supporters, which is “home rule” and the cost savings districts would attain through consolidation. You go so far as to suggest countywide or statewide consolidation. So for the majority of children in this state, if I understand you correctly, you are advocating for massive, bureaucratic, consolidated districts which will essentially serve as fortresses, next to impossible for parents to infiltrate to make their voices heard to advocate for their children.
But Mr. Lefkovic, you have chosen to send your child to a charter school. Do you not understand sir that a charter school is it’s own district??? You have chosen to send your child to a school district of 194 students, but for the rest of us you want county or state wide districts.
Well, that seems fair…
You complain about overpaid, redundant school administrators, even school business administrators, yet the 194 children attending your district could easily be reabsorbed by their HOME districts, negating the need for the additional administrative cost Hatikvah (which has it’s own SBA by the way…) therefore represents. In addition, a link to the Highland Park budget can be found on our website, which details all administrative salaries. I see no such link on Hatikvah’s website.
You casually mock the “barely-democratically-elected school boards” of traditional public schools, yet the Board of Trustees of your child’s school is hand picked, and completely unaccountable to the public for the tax dollars they spend.
In fact, if Hatikvah’s Board of Trustees indeed functioned as a democratically elected School Board must, and were as accountable to the public, the current kerfuffle over the East Brunswick Zoning Board’s decision to allow Hatikvah to relocate into a warehouse in a light industrial zone would likely never have happened.
That warehouse was purchased by a private foundation, using 2.7 million private dollars. Therefore, there was little to no public input BEFORE the purchase. A true public school would have been required the get the agreement of the taxpayers for such an expense, thus creating far more transparency and accountability to the public at large before the purchase was ever made. And while you state you have no knowledge of anyone making a profit off of Hatikvah, do you have intimate knowledge of the leases and subleases that have been drawn up for the new property, and are you quite sure that no one is making money off of this proposed new facility? The facilities are often where many charters investors make their money.
You mock the loss of $160,000 from my district’s budget, but our School Board IS accountable to the public for the money it spends and how it spends it. Loss of revenue to charter schools represents the SINGLE HIGHEST increase in spending in the Highland Park budget over the last ten years, (a 626% increase) and we have no control over that expense whatsoever.
I could continue to address your post point for point, but it would get tiresome to write and to read as well. Suffice it to say Mr. Lefkovic, you seem to be fine with one set of rules for your child’s school, and another set of rules for my child’s school.
I am not.
First, let me apologize for screwing up your name, Darcie. I am someone who is often quite nitpicky about such things, so I feel terrible that I was so careless in this way. I would also like to apologize for the comment that I made with respect to any fame or infamy that your crusade might bring you.
In my defense, I can only say that I was misled by your alter ego/nom de plume, Mother Crusader, and finding it and the tag line on your blog to be somewhat hyperbolic and overwrought, jumped to the wrong conclusion. Having had the opportunity to have a broader and deeper exchange with you, I realize now how wrong my initial assumption about you was and apologize for it from the bottom of my heart.
I would not be opposed to a moratorium on new charter schools, especially those being created by for-profit charter school incubators and other privatization profiteers, who I believe represent the bulk of the charter school problem in our state, but I do wish that the opponents of organic charter schools like Hatikvah that have caused some fiscal problems to their local school districts could put an end to their ongoing conflicts with these schools and work together with their proponents to find solutions to these fiscal problems.
I do not know enough about the Inter-district School Choice program to be sure, but I would think that if the students from Highland Park and East Brunswick who currently attend Hatikvah could be absorbed into the schools in the district where they live, their places could just as easily be filled by students from New Brunswick whose parents would like their children to benefit from the vastly superior educational opportunities that these districts offer with their funding following in kind.
Obviously, taking money from one school district to make another whole isn’t an ideal solution to this problem, but there can be no doubt that in terms of economies of scale, the money that East Brunswick and Highland Park loses to Hatikvah represents a much larger percentage of their respective budgets than similar losses represent for a district as large as New Brunswick.
I also think that you have somewhat mischaracterized my position vis-a-vis consolidated school districts, but that is more due to the limited nature of our conversation and not on any intention of yours to frame my position in a negative light. I would like to further explain how I think that countywide consolidation could work that would still enable the voters, who you champion and who I fear, because of their proclivity to vote for or against whatever they think will lower their tax bill with little regard for larger consequences, to have some degree of influence, albeit a very limited degree of influence, over how education is funded, managed, and organized.
When it comes to education, I do not believe that schools need to be or should be accountable to the community-at-large, but only to the children they teach and their parents. This is why I am not a big fan of elected school boards or what you refer to as accountability, because I believe that places undue pressure on the education professionals who are responsible for educating our children and I trust them far more than the public who, once again, is often more concerned about their tax bills than how well the children in their schools are being educated. However, I recognize that for anything to happen, there has to be some degree of public buy-in, so this is what I have proposed in the past and what I propose to you.
As I have written before, I believe that local school districts should be replaced with county school districts and they should be funded with federal and state income taxes, not local property taxes. Rather than impose a system like this, I propose that a vote be held every November, giving voters the choice for their community to be part of this system or to be completely independent from it. This choice would be limited to non-Abbott districts since Abbott districts already receive most of their funding from the state and as such should be required to be part of it.
If the voters in a local school district vote to join the countywide system, their local school board would continue to exist, but solely in and advisory and advocacy capacity and have no power over the schools in their district. Local school district administration would be folded into the county school district administration as needed with most superintendents and business managers and a significant percentage of support staffers being laid off. Schools would be funded solely with state income tax dollars based on the number of students that they serve.
Elementary schools will continue to serve their neighborhoods as they have, but at the middle and high school levels, students and their families will have varying degrees of opportunity to choose schools outside of their communities based on performance with higher performing students having more opportunities and lower performing students having less opportunities. Families would also be able to choose to send their children to any charter school in the county and participate in these schools’ lotteries. Schools that lose children to charter schools can choose to fill vacancies with children from other parts of the county.
If the voters in a local school district vote to be independent from this system, their schools would be funded solely with local property taxes and be ineligible for any assistance from the state whatsoever. Independent districts are free to spend as much or as little on education as they choose without any interference from state mandates except with regards to core curriculum standards.
Charter schools that are located within independent school districts may not serve the families in that district without the approval of the district in question. However, they may serve families in participating parts of the county in which they are located as well as other independent districts inside and outside of the county in which they are located if that district allows them to serve its families. Thus, if East Brunwick voted to be independent from a Middlesex County School District and did not approve Hatikvah’s request to serve the families in the district, Hatikvah would only be allowed to serve the communities in Middlesex County that voted to participate in the county school district and any other independent districts inside or outside of the county that chose to allow Hatikvah to serve its families.
All schools, charter and traditional, must hire certified (traditional and alternate route) teachers and all certified teachers must be members of a recognized teachers’ union. Union compensation scales will be negotiated at the county level. Independent districts will be free to negotiate their own.
I believe that this system enables voters to have some say over how public education operates in their community and enables them to experience the real costs of home rule and decide if they want to pay them or not.
The fact of the matter is that superintendents and business managers are overpaid at least compared to what most principals, department heads, and teachers make and it is these education professionals who work in our schools day-in and day-out who are the ones who truly make a difference in our children’s lives. But the fact that these local school district administrators are overpaid compared to their colleagues in the schools is less of an issue to me than the fact that we have over 600 of them in our state and that is probably 600 too many.
Twenty-one county superintendents, business managers, and support staffs are all that our state should require to provide the administration and management needed to make sure that our schools have what they need to function. Authority over anything else that goes on within the classrooms should be ceded to principals, department heads, and teachers, empowering them to run their schools as they see fit and if the children that they teach and their parents require any accountability, Parent-Teacher Associations/Organizations should be made as robust as necessary to provide that accountability.
I look forward to continuing to discuss and debate these issues with you, because it is clear that there is more on which we agree than that we disagree and you have been without a doubt the most open-minded charter school opponent with whom I have had the opportunity to engage on these issues. Hopefully, we will have the opportunity to work together at some point in the future to truly find solutions to the problems facing public education in our state.
@Darcie – Why do you say that if the Hatikvah board was elected the issue with the town would not have happened?
@Darcie – and also – you say that it is abhorrent to close any childs school and that you dont seek school closures. But, the actions taken by Ms. Conavaca and Ms. Rampolla would seem to be focused on the closure of the Hatikvah school as their goal. How do you square your view with your apparent support of them?
Thanks for your questions Karl.
I do not see the appeal the same way you do. It was not an appeal to close the school, but rather an appeal questioning the validity of the Zoning Board’s decision and process. No one has called for the closure of the school. Hatikvah already has a facility, has already stated it will file a lawsuit against the Council’s decision, and is also free to chose another location.
I said I “believe” it wouldn’t have happened because there would have been more public input from the begininning of the process. The choice of the location would have been a matter of public discourse, and would have required public funding. An elected school board for a public school district can not allow a private foundation to buy a building for a district. This whole scenario is highly improbable in a public school district.
However, because a public charter school is not a public school district and does not have access to the same sources of funding as a public school district, it must pursue the sources of funding that it can pursue. Trying to make comparisons like these are like comparing apples and oranges and are irrelevant to the debate in question.
The fact of the matter is that everything that the opponents of Hatikvah do, including but not limited to this zoning variance appeal, are harassing tactics that are part and parcel of a larger strategy to force the Hatikvah community to give up and close their doors. It is truly pathetic.
@Darcie – I only see the appeal from the statements of the ladies who were pressing it. They specifically say they want to close the school.
In the statment that Ms Cornavaca has published as being read into the record at the hearing, she was pretty specific in arguing for the closure of the Hatikvah school. She stated that the school was “a want and not a need” , that the community could meet the need fo educating these chidren at other facilities (“We do not need this school to educate our children.”) and therefore the vairance should not be provided with the variance for the building.
On one level their fight could be seen as a push against a land use that they disagreed with, but if you look at what they say, it sure seems that they are against the school since the argument is that the school doesnt need to exist and the kids can be educated elsewhere.
Karl – Please provide me with the evidence that I have said we want to close the school. Talk about assertions…..
You took my comments out of context which is not a surprise. You drew from my argument that there are legal exceptions to the inherently beneficial standard as they apply to institutions such as schools. In the instance that there is a need for the facility, there is justification to give it the inherently beneficial standard. In the instance that such services already exist in the place in questions, courts have ruled that it is a need, not a want, and therefore the inherently beneficial standard does not apply. I also started my testimony by sharing that I was educated at a Jewish Day School in Chicago and have respect and admiration for the goals of the school. But you left that out…..
I am sorry, Diane, that this local fight is now on your comments. At least people are engaged. For that I am very grateful for the attention you have given this issue.
I dont think that I took the statements out of context: the introduction that you went to a jewish school in chicago and that you admire the goals of the school is not inconsistent with a later stated desire to call for its closure.
But if I misunderstand, is what you are saying Ms. Cornavaca is that you agree with Darcie’s comments that closing ANY childs school is abhorrent?
Karl, you absolutely took her words out of context. She was speaking to the whether the school is a ‘need or want’ only in the context of whether it satisfied the criteria of inherently beneficial land use.
Either way, its possible to believe that this school is not needed, and not necessarily wish it closed.
If you are trying to make a point, make it and quit the childish games.
Hatikvah parents are so brainwashed by this school’s leadership that they can’t comprehend that there are free-thinking adults who have valid points to make, unless it fits in with the propaganda this school pushes.
Linda – When Duane wrote “Kind of like our country’s subsidizing a religious apartheid state, eh?”, he was making an anti-Israel slur and my was response was directly related to that. There is no hypocrisy in that.
Until I am given reason to believe otherwise, I operate under the assumption that the hostility that Hatikvah’s opponents direct towards it are grounded in the fiscal problems that its existence creates for the East Brunswick School District and not any latent anti-semitism directed towards the Jewish population within the Hatikvah community. I hope that I am never given reason to believe anything other than this.
Deborah – Charter schools use the cutoff dates of the school district in which they are located. I don’t know if this is standard practice or state law. Why are you so beholden to cutoff dates? Do you believe that birth dates and chronological age are accurate determinants of a child’s readiness to begin school? If so, then you are really not qualified to be involved in any meaningful debate about education.
Bertin, then, perhaps you would like to attend a Hatikvah school board meeting and suggest that the school, and specifically its staff, denounce anyone using accusations of anti-antisemitism against townspeople supporting the appeal – especially in light of it not being a religious school and all.
After all, these are people you entrust with your children. Surely, they are capable of making a respectful, adult statement like, no?
I do not live in East Brunswick and as a result, I am not on the front lines of this battle. I do not know what the Jewish and non-Jewish Hatikvah families and staff members experience on a day-to-day basis as a result of this conflict. I also do not spend nearly as much time on the various blogs where this issue is debated as I have spent on this one, but the Hatikvah parents and staff who I have met are all very reasonable people and if they claim that they have experienced anti-Semitism as a result of this conflict, I will take their word for it.
That said, I was involved in the creation of a charter school in Morristown in the 90s. The focus of that school was sustainability and while there was a tremendous amount of resistance to the school from a significant percentage of the community due to the loss of funding that resulted from the school’s creation, the rhetoric employed by the school’s opponents never contained the kind of vitriol that I have heard and read from far too many of Hatikvah’s opponents. I also find the assumptions made about the religious nature of Hatikvah’s curriculum to be troubling.
I want to believe that these assumptions and the vitriol are all simply due to accumulated anger and intellectual laziness rather than latent anti-semitism, but I recognize the possibility that I could be wrong about this. Just because the school is not a “Jewish” school in the way that you and others have characterized it doesn’t mean that anti-semitism cannot be part of what drives the opposition to it.
Anyone who has been following the debate over Chuck Hagel’s nomination to become our country’s next Secretary of Defense knows that one of the things that he has been criticized for is his characterization of AIPAC as “the Jewish lobby” and the anti-Semitic nature of such a characterization. It is unclear if Senator Hagel’s use of this phrase was a result of latent anti-semitism or intellectual laziness, but in the same way that its usage raises reasonable questions to this regard, the same reasonable questions are warranted with regards to anyone who would characterize Hatikvah as a Jewish school.
I am willing to give these people the benefit of the doubt, but I can understand how the Hatikvah parents and staff who live in East Brunswick and have had much more up close and personal contact with this conflict and the people who continue to wage war against Hatikvah might not be as willing to do the same and I can appreciate their perspective as well. Do you really believe that it is outside the realm of possibility that anti-semitism could play some role in this conflict, and if not in the conflict itself, then in the language employed by some of Hatikvah’s opponents?
For what it is worth, I am Jewish and I strongly object to a Hebrew-language charter school. For Jews who want a religious education or education in a secular Jewish setting, there are a multitude of Jewish day schools. What is not needed is a Jewish school funded with public dollars. When the first Hebrew charter school was proposed in New York City a few years ago, I wrote an opinion piece in the New York Daily News opposing the idea. Separation of church and state is a venerable tradition in the United States. Everyone is free to practice the religion of his or her choice, but not to have their church or school subsidized by the state. If there are enough students who wish to study Hebrew, it is a simple matter to have Hebrew taught as a modern language in the local public schools, along with French and Spanish and other world languages. To disparage critics of this Hebrew charter school as anti-Semitic is really an underhanded tactic; it is meant to silence and intimidate critics. Well, as a Jew, I oppose Hebrew charter schools, and I will not be silenced or intimidated by phony charges of anti-Semitism.
Ms Ravich
On the issue of language instruction: The reality of life here in central New Jersey is that the local public schools have not been willing to offer Hebrew as a choice despite some towns having a sufficient demand for it.
Iin fact many school systems do not offer languages other than French and Spanish. (As a practical matter we should be teaching Arabic and Chinese much more than we do as our country needs more people who have such skills). The ONLY reason that highland park, where Darcie resides, was willing to offer Hebrew was when the possibility of a They had to have considered that this might happen (or maybe they were completely sidelined). Either way, they should disseminate some info (even if it’s a feel good PR stmt that they have a contingent plan for next year — which I’m hoping that they do).”
charter school forced the issue to the fore. Now the highland park achool system offers Hebrew language instruction and while tibia anecdotal I understand there is a demand for the class.
As to the possible anti Semitic statements, I sadly agree that there has been more than a twinge of anti Semitic language out there by a very angry minority. I think it is a mask for hatred of charter schools invite of the unfortunate funding mechanism here in New Jersey. But I think if you lived in this area you might not dismiss concerns as readily.
I regret that you are unable to persuade public schools to teach Hebrew. I feel sure there is no shortage of Hebrew language schools where students may learn the language. I strongly oppose the use of public funds to create a separate school to teach Hebrew, because such schools will inevitably be perceived as religious schools. And in most if not all cases will be religious schools. That is unconstitutional.
Good evening Mr. Herman,
Highland Park is in it’s second year of offering Hebrew, and if my memory serves me right, in grades 9-12 a whopping 16 students are enrolled. Not exactly an overwhelming demand…. I will check the number again on Tuesday to confirm and will get back to you with the current enrollment.
And as you know, Hebrew was added to the offerings at the Highland Park High School when a deal was reached between the founders of Tikun Olam and members of the school board (with the help of members of the community, yourself included I believe). The deal was made with the understanding that the lead founder would not continue to apply for the charter, but despite the agreement, she reapplied anyway… twice…
Your remarks regarding the idea that anti-Semitism may be behind some of the opposition to Hatikvah is vague and hard to follow, but I will offer my thoughts on the matter.
When we were opposing Tikun Olam similar accusations were hurled against us, even though we never addressed anything other than issues related to the charter and the effect it would have on our public schools. Merely because we dared to oppose a Hebrew Language charter, we were accused of anti-Semitism. In fact, just hours after we had our Town Hall meeting to discuss the application, I’m sure you’ll remember, there was an unfortunate incident in Highland Park where windows were smashed in Jewish stores. The event was dubbed “Kristallnacht.”
Before it was revealed that the perpetrator was a mentally unstable Jewish man, we received messages asking if we would come out and make a statement against anti-Semitism. Why in the world would a community group opposing a charter school speak out about anti-Semitism? Was the implication that the Town Hall had something to do with happened later that same evening? Was the implication that because we opposed a Hebrew language charter school it was incumbent upon us to make a public statement that we were not anti-Semitic?
We refused to make a statement because the two events were entirely unrelated, and to do so would have implied that we had some reason to defend ourselves against such claims. Our opposition to the charter had NOTHING to do with the language that was to be taught, much less to do with the religion of the majority of the people who speak that language, and everything to do with the impact a third charter school would have had on our small, successful public schools.
We were entirely clear as to why we opposed to the charter, yet constantly had to defend ourselves against similar accusations. This same phenomenon seems to now be playing out with the opposition to Hatikvah. I agree with Ms. Ravtich; for you and Mr. Lefkovic to continue to conflate these issues is nothing more than an attempt to silence and intimidate those who dare to speak out about the effect charter schools, Hebrew immersion or not, have on our public schools and communities.
Bertin, specifically what anti-semitism has this school claimed to have encountered? What I see here is aggressive fear-mongering and right now you are personally participating in their smear campaign.
Of the people I know in town, I would estimate 99.999% of them oppose this school but are scared to speak out for fear of being labeled anti-semetic.
Ms Ravich
Languages should be taught in our public schools. If New Jersey was more organized as opposed to balkanized as it is perhaps they would be and we would not see the Hebrew charter school program that is the topic at hand even being presented.
Spanish is no doubt useful and important but our national security is affected by our failure to offer Arabic and Chinese as I have argued before. Hebrew, Latin, Greek and Arabic while all languages of religion can be taught without violation of church state separation rules and would be best offered in traditional public school setting which is not the case here in central New Jersey.
(Highland park used to have Chinese language as an option but when making decisions opted to retain French and cut Chinese. I was not part of the dialogue but don’t understand the logic in light of the way or political and economic future is developing).
Darcie
I have not sought to shut anyone down in this process though we may disagree. But the reality is that there are angry voices out there that have an anti Semitic aspect. I do not think that your critique is based in religion but you should acknowledge that it’s there.
On the history of the tikun Olam program I was part of the dialogue and thought the deal that was brokered with my help was beneficial to all. But you are right that the application was submitted again when it should not have been. But so too highland park did not participate in the school choice program. The last part was a material term of the agreement that in brokered and the failure of highland park to innovate being the small district that it is has dire implications to the future of its independence.
(I would be happy to talk to you in person about these concerns as this is not really the time or place for more. )
apparently you don’t know how charter schools work. The district from where the child comes from pays 90% of what was supposed to be allotted from that district. Therefore, your math is 100% incorrect. For those 13 Highland Park children, East Brunswick pays nada. Highland Park pays 90% of what should have been spent in their own public schools. Also, most children in the state of NJ do not go to public preschool. So, get your facts straight prior to making blanket statements. Lastly, there must be some sort of need since most of the children are from East Brunswick. This suggests that the regular public schools are not living up to everyone’s standarts otherwise there would not be any sort of wait list.
Samara,
Please show me where I said that East Brunswick pays for Highland Park kids. I laid out very plainly how much Highland Park pays for the kids that come from Highland Park. But in fact, according to the NJDOE’s own figures, it is more than 90%. Here is the link to the NJDOE estimate for each district by grade level from my original post:
Click to access PerPupil.pdf
And here is the relevant paragraph:
“And while most charters complain that they get less than the 90% per pupil funding required by law, according to per pupil dollar amounts on the NJDOE website, Highland Park K-5 students come with a $13,239 per pupil price tag. 90% of that figure is $11,915 per student. But Highland Park Schools are billed $12,692 for Hatikvah students; almost 96% of our per pupil funding amount.”
On top of the $12,692 we must also provide aid in lieu of transportation, which is another $900 or so per kid. In the end, we pay more per kid to send them to Hatikvah.
You say something about most kids in NJ not attending public preschool, and then admonish me to “get my facts straight,” but I didn’t write anything about whether kids come from a private or public preschool. I said some kids start Hatikvah in Kindergarten, and some kids transfer from private, religious schools. I meant that the kids who transfer to Hatikvah do so in 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th grade. Sorry if something about the wording was confusing. My point was that in either case, the kids never attended our public schools, so Hatikvah does not provide a cost savings to our district, only a loss, as we are paying for children that never attended our schools.
Not sure I agree that “most” of the kids are from East Brunswick. You call 57% most? By law they need 90% enrollment to stay open, and they obviously can not get that from East Brunswick, which has almost 8,500 students in the public schools, and who knows how many in private schools.
To say there is a waiting list and then use this as evidence that the public schools are not “living up to everyone’s standards” is preposterous. (Have you seen Hatikvah’s waiting list by the way? Do you know how many kids are on it? I have never seen it, but perhaps I will OPRA the information to see exactly how many kids are on the supposed waiting list…)
Hatikvah has to pull kids from 18 towns in 5 counties to fill only 194 seats. I think THAT shows that the public schools in East Brunswick are doing just fine.
“For what it is worth, I am Jewish and I strongly object to a Hebrew-language charter school. For Jews who want a religious education or education in a secular Jewish setting, there are a multitude of Jewish day schools. What is not needed is a Jewish school funded with public dollars. When the first Hebrew charter school was proposed in New York City a few years ago, I wrote an opinion piece in the New York Daily News opposing the idea. Separation of church and state is a venerable tradition in the United States. Everyone is free to practice the religion of his or her choice, but not to have their church or school subsidized by the state. If there are enough students who wish to study Hebrew, it is a simple matter to have Hebrew taught as a modern language in the local public schools, along with French and Spanish and other world languages. To disparage critics of this Hebrew charter school as anti-Semitic is really an underhanded tactic; it is meant to silence and intimidate critics. Well, as a Jew, I oppose Hebrew charter schools, and I will not be silenced or intimidated by phony charges of anti-Semitism.”
The fact that you are Jewish, Diane, only means that your opposition to a Hebrew-immersion charter school on the grounds that it provides education of a religious nature using public funds is grounded in an intellectual laziness that is inconsistent with your decades of high quality scholarly work, regardless of its ideological origin, which we all know has been both as conservative and as progressive as anyone, short of Arianna Huffington. If I wanted to be equally lazy, I could throw around phrases like Jewish self-hatred, but I think that we both know how ridiculous I would come across doing that.
You and I both know that there is a huge difference between having a language taught in a school and immersing children in a foreign language at an early age. I am not aware of a single traditional elementary school that is structured in such a way to incorporate the immersion of its students into a foreign language to the degree that it takes place as Hebrew immersion charter schools and other language immersion charter schools (Mandarin being another that comes to mind at this moment). Innovations like this can only be experimented with in charter school settings and if the day ever comes when charter school legislation is written that funds charter schools and traditional schools properly so that they can cooperate rather than compete, maybe the lessons learned at schools like Hatikvah can be shared with traditional schools and incorporated into their curriculums in some meaningful way. Until then, I think that it is essential that the best minds in the field of public education advocacy like yours be as open as possible and not jump to conclusions.
As I wrote earlier, Diane, I am willing to give most people who make this wrong assumption about Hatikvah’s religious nature the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to a similar lack of intellectual curiosity rather than assume that they are anti-semites or even Jewish self-haters. That said, the fact that other Jewish and non-Jewish Hatikvah parents and staff members, particularly those who live in East Brunwick and are living this conflict in a much more up close and personal way, have chosen to come to other conclusions is more likely due to having experienced actual expressions of anti-semitism in their daily lives as a result of this conflict and being somewhat of an outsider, while also being somewhat of an insider, I have to give them the benefit of the doubt as well.
Bertin, it seems that “intellectual laziness” you speak of has caught the best of you.
You say, “I am not aware of a single traditional elementary school that is structured in such a way to incorporate the immersion of its students into a foreign language to the degree that it takes place as Hebrew immersion charter schools and other language immersion charter schools.” Just off the top of my head, in NJ, Jersey City offers a dual language program at PS 3. Englewood public schools offer dual language immersion (http://www.redorbit.com/news/education/803577/englewood_program_creates_bilingual_kids__students_are_immersed_in/)
I believe Lafayette Elementary school in Elizabeth also offers full-time immersion.
There is nothing you can try there at Hatikvah that isn’t already being done in public schools in NJ. In fact, Hatikvah only offers partial immersion, and there are public schools that offer it full day.
Not being aware of what every public school in the state is doing is not the same thing as being intellectually lazy. I do not have the time nor the inclination to do that kind of research, because I am not spending every moment of my life fighting this battle. I can only guess that you are aware of these programs, EBer, because you are on the front lines of this battle and have taken the time to arm yourself with this information. Well done.
I am accusing people who make the assumption that because Hatikvah is a Hebrew immersion charter school that the education taking place there is of a religious nature of being intellectually lazy, because this is a huge leap to make without having any evidence to support it. Has anyone ever contacted the school and asked to be allowed to observe what goes on there on a given day to determine firsthand if religious education is taking place or is it better to operate on these assumptions, because it makes a more compelling argument, regardless of its lack of intellectual rigor.
As far as charges of anti-semitism are concerned, I will repeat what I have written elsewhere here. I am willing to give the opponents of Hatikvah the benefit of the doubt that their opposition to Hatikvah is grounded solely in the fiscal issues that its existence creates for the local school districts that lose children to it and even when the assumption is made by some that the education taking places there is of a religious rather than a secular nature, I am willing to to give them the benefit of the doubt that this is a function of intellectual laziness rather than anti-semitism.
That said, my willingness to do this is based on the limited nature of my involvement in this battle and in the same way that I am willing to give Hatikvah’s opponents the benefit of the doubt with regards to the nature of their opposition, I have to also give Hatikvah’s supporters, particularly those who live in East Brunswick and are on the front lines of this battle, the same benefit of the doubt with regards to their experiences. I do not believe that I am conflating anything or participating in any fear mongering.
My only reference to anyone involved in this conversation being remotely anti-semitic was when Duane made his anti-Israel slur and I called it what it was. I did not even accuse him of being anti-semitic. I only asked the question, “What’s next? Quotes from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion?” It is a shame that nobody who is opposed to Hatikvah and sensitive to charges of anti-semitism didn’t think that they should criticize Duane’s decision to slur Israel in the way that he did.
I think that it is telling that the same people who want me to criticize supporters of Hatikvah, who have argued that there is an anti-semitic element to the opposition to the school, when I have no evidence that proves their argument to be wrong, are not willing to challenge people on their side like Duane for slurring Israel in the way that he did here.
How dare I arm myself with information before forming an opinion! It took a two second google search, Bertin. Seriously, how can you argue so aggressively an idea that you acknowledge yourself to be so ignorant of. And, you have the nerve to call others intellectually lazy. I don’t think, in my life, I’ve ever read anything that speaks more to intellectual laziness, than I have reading your post.
And, thank you for not bothering to answer my question above, but deciding to respond to me anyway with another uninformed rant. You asserted “Hatikvah parents and staff who I have met are all very reasonable people and if they claim that they have experienced anti-Semitism as a result of this conflict, I will take their word for it.” So, if you can not back this up with an example, you are indeed fear-mongering.
I just stumbled upon this post – belatedly – and could not resist the opportunity to comment.
First and foremost there appears to be hostility to charter schools because they are “Jewish”. There are several ways to respond to that point. May I point out the obvious – that non charter public schools in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods will defacto be overwhelmingly Jewish? Is that a problem?
Secondly at least in NYC the mix of students attending hebrew charter schools is amazingly diverse. Yes, even non Jews can learn Hebrew. Certainly our founding fathers knew it (some of them). When I was in college a good number of students in my Hebrew class were not Jewish.
Cost. I am not proficient in this but specialized programs for children with disabilities undoubtedly cost much much more per student than the numbers you mentioned. Should we ban those as well?
Utility. Guess what. Israel is a,leading biotech innovator. Learning Hebrew so you can discuss patent licenses in the mother tongue of the company you are doing business with is not a bad idea.
The population the schools serve. I cannot speak to NJ but frankly my zoned school in Manhattan is horrible. I pay a substantial sum in NYS and NYC taxes. The fact is not everyone wants to send their kids to the local schools. The difference between the kids at the local Hebrew charter school and the local public school is just that… The kids (and I do not mean ethnicity or religion). I am talking about behavior of kids and quality of teachers. Involvement of parents. I seriously cannot believe taxpayer dollars go the local zoned school when it is disgusting – that is the true crime! The Hebrew charter school is not a religious school – my daughter will not learn to read rabbinical commentary or the rudiments of prayer. For some reason Diane associates Hebrew instruction with religion when in fact it is an open secret that the real Jewish day schools really do not teach modern Hebrew. As someone who actually attended JDS her ENTIRE life prior to college I can assure everyone reading this post that it is completely dissimilar to charter school and frequently involves single gender classrooms, learning the rules of who can claim ownership of lost wheat in the market and other scintillating topics.
Thing is…East Brunswick public schools are among the best in NJ and are available to serve EB’s large Jewish population. Essentially, it appears you are suggesting that the public should pay for select students to attend a completely separate private facility because they should learn the language of biotechnology instead of lobbying the district to include this language in its curriculum.
Lakewood, NJ has a huge Jewish population with a voting public and a school board entirely run by this majority. However the majority of children attend private Hebrew schools while the public schools are run into the ground by a school board that just does not care. When one culturally homogenous population runs a community, the outliers be damned. The state had to send in a manager to help the public schools get back on their feet and correct the financial misdeeds of the corrupt school board. Granted, Lakewood isn’t East Brunswick as East Brunswick isn’t Manhattan, but public schools and public funding are meant to serve the public, not a special interest group.
As someone completely comfortable with my Jewish identity, I will not justify comments of anti-semitism hurled at those of us who dare to have an opinion contrary to school supporters. My decision to object to locating a public charter school in a warehouse, which is a topic that has received precious little attention in the 100’s of comments here and on other blogs/news sources, was allowed under the law, both at the zoning board and town council level. Participating in the democratic processes set out in law or ordinance is not a money or time waster.
What I will say is that the unwillingness of Hatikvah supporters to have discussions absent impugning the character of critics (Diane intellectually lazy – really over the top!) demonstrates an underlying problem with our charter system in our state (and elsewhere probably). It is understood and accepted that public school districts hear from, and respond to, community members whether or not these community members have children in the schools. And yet charter schools thwart public participation and characterize it as an attack on their right to exist. Enough. Charter schools are public. Public debate, scrutiny and yes, even criticism come with the territory.
Deborah,
You’re correct that your legal right to appeal the unanimous decision of the EB zoning board to grant Hatikvah a variance has not received a lot of attention in this blog. How about we discuss that in your desperation to close a charter school you decided to have illegal conversations with the judges in your appeal. Let’s scrutinize all of your emails with EB officials in trying to sway them to see your zealous point of view. Let’s have a public debate on not allowing due process. Yes you have a legal right to have a contrary opinion and appeal a decision – Criticism of your illegal tactics should come as no surprise, as you say “it comes with the territory”
http://eastbrunswick.patch.com/articles/hatikvah-property-owners-sue-township-council#comments_list
“I regret that you are unable to persuade public schools to teach Hebrew. I feel sure there is no shortage of Hebrew language schools where students may learn the language. I strongly oppose the use of public funds to create a separate school to teach Hebrew, because such schools will inevitably be perceived as religious schools. And in most if not all cases will be religious schools. That is unconstitutional.”
When I studied education theory and policy application at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education, in addition to studying your work at great lengths, Diane, I learned a great deal about Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory and I believe that in the same way that a child’s stronger intelligences can be used to strengthen their weaker intelligences, language immersion can unlock a child’s capacity to learn. The fact that Hatikvah chooses to immerse its students in Hebrew rather than Mandarin Chinese (Why are these charter schools not unfairly labeled Buddhist schools?) should not be used to justify accusations that they are religious schools.
I find it hard to reconcile how such a highly-regarded academic such as yourself could oppose a school like Hatikvah, simply because of an inevitable perception of it as being a religious school and then go even further to support such a perception by assuming that most if not all of them will be religious schools without any evidence to support such an assumption or perception.
I cannot imagine that a great mind like yours has ever approached another subject at any other time in your distinguished academic career with such a lack of intellectual rigor. As someone who spent a significant amount of his time in graduate school disagreeing with your conclusions, while at the same time having a tremendous amount of respect for the intellect that conceived them, I have to say that this experience to interact with you on this subject has been incredibly disappointing and disilluisioning.
Ms Ravich may be right that there are those whose baseless perception is that Hebrew language taught in school is a religious program much the same way as is the case with Arabic. But we have a number of Hebrew language charter schools operating now I different parts of the country and not all in coordination with one another. I challenge the claim that ANY one of them teach religion. There is a high level of scrutiny so that this is not the case.
I am consistent. I oppose Arabic language charter schools and Hebrew language charter schools.
Consistently wrong, just as you and Chester Finn were consistently wrong in your arguments about what every 17 year-old should know. There is no more reason to presume that an Arabic immersion charter school is going to teach Islam than there is reason to presume that a Hebrew immersion charter school is going to teach Judaism or that a Mandarin Chinese immersion charter school is going to teach Buddhism or that a Hindi immersion charter school is going to teach Hinduism and so on and so forth.
Is it possible, if not likely, that a majority of the students that these schools are going to attract are going to come from families that practice the religion associated with the language in question with widely varying degrees of observance? Of course. However, if the ethnic makeup of Hatikvah can be used as a model for what these other language immersion charter schools might look like, they are likely to be as diverse with an eclectic mix of Asians, African-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans.
Obviously, there are not going to be as many Jewish children as there are at a Hebrew immersion charter school, but I would not be surprised if the majority of white children attending schools like these would be Jewish. People can throw around words like segregation as much as they want to in order to defend the status quo, but it doesn’t change the fact that the cultural dominance of white Christians, particularly in our suburbs can make learning environments quite difficult for children who aren’t white and Christian and no amount of anti-bullying legislation or sensitivity training is going to change the way that far too many white Christian children are raised and the degree to which their parents’ prejudices manifest themselves in how these children treat children who are different than them.
We can also break our arms patting ourselves on the back for how much more open-minded our children are with regards to difference that our generation might have been when we went to school, but it is still nowhere near good enough. This might be the best argument for experimenting with language immersion charter schools, single gender charter schools, and charter schools for LGBT children, children of LGBT parents, and progressive families who would otherwise homeschool their children than subject them to the regressive values that are far too prevalent in far too many of our traditional public schools. The experiments that take place at schools like these could provide us with valuable insight that would enable our traditional schools to take huge leaps forward in these areas rather than the baby steps that we have had no choice but to tolerate for far too long.
“change the way that far too many white Christian children are raised”
Can you elaborate on this extreme generalization? How ARE too many WHITE (define white) Christian children raised?
Whenever anyone disagrees they are a defender of the status quo. What is the status quo?
In response to Linda and LG, the primary driver of bullying in our schools, which has reached epidemic proportions, is an inability to embrace or at the very least tolerate deviations from the dominant cultural norm and this problem is fueled by prejudices being passed down from parents to children. Obviously, the dominant cultural norm in our suburban communities is different than the dominant cultural norm in our urban communities, but for the moment, this discussion has been focused on suburban schools and in suburban schools, the dominant cultural norms are white and Christian and if I had data at my disposal, I would be willing to bet that the lion’s share of bullying is done by children who are white and Christian.
I am not necessarily arguing that the only victims of bullying are either nonwhite or non-Christian, but that bullying is driven by an inability to embrace or at the very least tolerate difference of any kind and while this is something that challenges all cultures, in any social setting, it is the dominant cultural group that has historically been most aggressive in asserting its dominance over minority cultural groups. I am not an anthropologist by trade, but these principles are the basics that anyone who has ever taken an introductory anthropology class knows and I think that they are quite applicable to the problems of bullying in our schools.
This is not an indictment of Highland Park or East Brunswick specifically or an argument that Hatikvah was created specifically to protect Jewish, Asian, Indian, black, and Hispanic children from white Christian bullies in these schools. It is very possible that these towns are more diverse than most suburban towns and address the challenges of difference better than most. I am making a hypergeneral statement to argue that creating charter schools that produce student populations that bring together minority cultural groups have the potential to create more comfortable learning environments than traditional schools and teach us more about these complicated social dynamics than what we have been able to learn to date in our traditional schools.
Similiarly, I believe that single-gender charter schools and charter schools for LGBT children, children of LGBT parents, and children of progressive families who are looking for an alternative to the regressive values that are far too prevalent in far too many of our traditional schools could produce learning environments that serve these children better and provide examples for our traditional schools. I believe that this kind of experimentation and innovation have the potential to produce benefits that far outstrip their costs.
Well, Bertin, as an PhD in anthropology, I have to tell you that your generalizations are so beyond any meaningful context, extrapolated not from ethnographic observation or data, and stereotypical in their characterization of groups. You take perhaps the most clichéd view of oppression (and translate it into bullying) and conflate two very different phenomenon. While prejudice can lead to bullying, your characterization of white-anglo-christian bullies of religious minorities betrays your own prejudice and is counter productive to any substantive conversation.
It should be noted that assimilation is long believed to promote tolerance more than segregation. If we grant that there is no religious education at all at any of the language immersion schools (and that we are willing to dismiss quotes such as Steinhardt’s that the Hebrew language schools are intended to educate Jews who otherwise would not get any cultural/religious education), we still have to face the fact that these schools – even if there is some diversity in them – promotes segregation as a class of schools. There may be specific schools which are more or less diverse but overall there is a shift to self-selected segregation. That is a philosophical shift that should be addressed at a systemic level rather than a piecemeal program of charters across the landscape by specific groups that want to create their own customized education on the public dime.
Is it assimilation or integration that has historically promoted tolerance more than segregation or do you believe that these terms are synonymous with one another? If you do, then I can only imagine that your Ph.D. came from the Alexander the Great University of Hellenization and as such will choose to ignore your haughty evaluation of what I already admitted to be a somewhat amateurish and cursory attempt to apply my introductory level understanding of anthropology to these issues.
What you call self-selected segregation could just as easily be characterized as resistance to assimilation. Regardless of what we call this dynamic, I disagree that it can only be addressed at a systemic level or at the very least, I would argue that what I characterize as experimentation and innovation and you what you characterize as piecemeal may be the first steps towards a systemic level rethink on these issues, which is exactly the purpose that charter schools were supposed to serve when they were originally conceived before the privatization profiteers (kudos to Darcie for coming up with the perfect label) screwed everything up for everybody.
Your so called ‘resistance to assimilation’ is really self segregation, which I and many others find to be un-American. That Bertin, is why charter schools such as your should not get public funding.
Thank you, Senator McCarthy. I look forward to coming before your committee and testifying.
You my friend have not learned the learned the the horrific consequences of resisting the assimilation of all into a society and promoting self segregation. You sir should be ashamed of what you preach considering your heritage
Let me take a moment to let what you have written sink in a bit. Are you saying that the Holocaust and the Inquisition before that was a consequence of Jews resisting assimilation? Does any of Hatikvah’s other opponents here want to endorse this kind of rhetoric?
Just the opposite, those who believed in extreme segregation and opposed any form of assimilation caused those atrocities of history.
That’s exactly what you’ve been arguing for. Segregate your group so heaven forbid they are not exposed to the horrors of public schools and the diversity is provides.
Yeah. That is exactly what I have argued for, Torquemada. I have never argued that language immersion charter schools can or should be culturally homogenous nor is that the outcome at Hatikvah as the diversity that is present within its student body testifies.
My argument has always been that language immersion charter schools can be havens of diversity, which can provide a wide variety of ethnic minorities a learning environment that is more comfortable than traditional schools where the dominant cultural norm can be somewhat oppressive.
That’s nonsense and makes no sense, educationally, historically, politically, and morally. Do what you want, it’s a free country, just don’t use taxpayer monies to fund your warped ideological misguided theories based on some self- serving phobia about white Christians
I agree with the responder. No one has the truth. How could that be. Are there 5 million answers? Therefore treat all the same. Have comparative religeon in schools so students can learn what all think.
I have no doubt that what I have written doesn’t make sense to you. Let me try to explain it in a way that you might understand. Since everybody seems to be getting caught up on my description of the dominant cultural norm in our suburban public schools being white and Christian, let me call them something else. I’ll use a pop culture reference from a popular 80s movie, The Karate Kid. Do you remember Johnny, the Cobra Kai, and his buddies? Well the Cobra Kais are in every suburban public school in America and any child who isn’t like them is most likely going to be bullied by them at some point in their lives.
Now, I am not saying that charter schools should be created so that children who are not like the Cobra Kais can have a place of their own, but it is possible that by watching how children who are mostly not like the Cobra Kais interact with each other, we might be able to learn how to teach the Cobra Kais a better way of interacting with children who are not like them, since they seem to have the greatest difficulty embracing and tolerating differences and diversions from the dominant cultural norms, primarily because their parents were raised to reject difference and diversity and they are raised similarly.
I believe that similar lessons can be learned by creating single-gender charter schools and charter schools for LGBT children, children of LGBT parents, and progressive families, and yes, I believe that public money should be used for these schools, because the innovations that will result from these educational experiments will hopefully bring about an end to the toxic learning environments that have made bullying so prevalent as to reach epidemic proportions.
How about going to the core of the problem and stop the bullying. It can be done. It has to be done. Many of these school shootings are because someone was being bullied. Considering this fact we must confront the problem instead of making it so that only some are exposed and others are not. This does not solve the problem. It is a mind set that we are giving students that says look at the adults and it is OK.
I don’t disagree with you at all, George, but everything that you wrote is easier written than done. Most bullying is driven by an intolerance of that which is different that has been passed along from generation to generation and this problem is particularly acute within communities that are experiencing rapid change and dominant cultural norms are being challenged on a variety of fronts.
Bullying is an incredibly complex problem with no easy solutions. Many of our traditional schools are making great strides in this area, while others do things that make the problem even worse. Despite characterizations that others here have made to the contrary, I have never argued that charter schools, language immersion or otherwise, should be used to create culturally homogeneous learning environments as that would definitely not be a solution to this problem.
What I have argued is that a diverse cultural mix like what exists at Hatikvah without the omnipresence of a traditionally dominant cultural norm might enable us to learn things about how children interact, which could be applied to traditional schools where traditionally dominant cultural norms are omnipresent.
Never tell me that it cannot be done when it has been done in the worse situation that has existed. My friend, Richard Arthur, took over what was at the time the most criminal and violent school in the U.S. Castlemont High School in 1970. There were constant gunfights and the principal was killed in their office. Does anyone know of a school like that now I ask? From the day Richard took over there were no more gunfights, fistfights and bullying. It was not allowed. He proved to them that the adults were there for the students. He had the first parent centers. Every classroom had a button for the teacher. If the teacher pushed their button 2-3 staff members would be in that classroom within 2 minutes. Richard had a button and if he pressed his button the police would be there in 4-5 minutes with 3 squad cars. When the students told him they had nothing to eat he got them free meals. Dropout went from over 50% to almost zero. To college went in 4 years from 5-65%. Adults are the problem. We show them that it is OK to do these things as we have been the hypocritical ones in this mess. Every school that has made a dramatic change based on the leadership has crashed when they remove the successful people and do not train more to follow their leadership. It is as though they want the schools to fail as LAUSD has proven at Crenshaw High School. I just ran a 10 year spreadsheet on that school and know people there. To do as bad a job as LAUSD has done there you would have to try real hard to make that big of a mess.
By the way Richard Arthur is still alive and bright and has just finished a book on his life telling of how he came to the decisions which are successful. As Eisenhower’s commanding officer told him in Panama in the 20’s “Ike over the last 2,000 years the tools of war have dramatically changed, however, human nature has not changed.” What creates motivated education will not change as we have not changed. We need to go back to the basics of human motivation and what is needed for the future.
After the SLA assinated Marcus Foster, the superintendent, and tried twice to do the same to Richard he had to move back to the L.A. area out of fear for his family. Here he helped to found Whitney High School in Cerritos which for the last 25 years has been one of the highest performing public high schools in the U.S. How many can say that? Why isn’t the public and educators only listening to those who have a real success record and not the smoke blower consultants?
Too many people are making too much money and too much long term mind control is at work here and none of that has anything to do with education. Education is the one place you can do major robbery and such by just saying “For the Children.”
Bertin,
Your poor analogy is not helping your argument. perhaps if you spent less time watching mediocre 80’s movies you would understand.
Our country is a beacon of light due to it’s diversity. We’re the great melting pot where all of our strengths and weaknesses jell together and creates the fabric of our great society.
You sir, with your white Christian phobia and self segregating wishes, are the scum that floats to the top and needs to be skimmed out of the broth. For that is what destroys the binding ingredients needed for a robust flavorful result that is the envy of all.
I am sure that you believe that, Ratso Rizzo, but all of the jingoistic slogans in the world isn’t going to change the fact that bullying is an epidemic in our public schools. In fact, maybe once we stop trying to gloss over the problems that face our society with pithy, focus group-tested phrases and sloganeering, we can start doing the hard work of breaking generational cycles of cultural and national exceptionalism and the prejudices that are associated with them.
I am not saying that language immersion charter schools are the panacea for this problem, just as I would never claim that charter schools are a panacea for any of the major problems facing public education, but they can be a tool for experimentation and innovation that our traditional schools can learn from if we can get past the fiscal problems inherent in our charter school laws that force charter schools and traditional schools to compete rather than cooperate with one another.
There should be no competition for public funds earmarked for public education. 100% of it belongs in public schools. Last thing we need is for it to fall into the hands of individuals that have phobias of white Christians, or any other group and those who promote segregation of any kind.
Practice and teach your own form of prejudice on your dime, not the public’s.
Your hyperbole aside, whether it is in the form of charter schools or the inter-district school choice program, there are powerful forces that believe competition will produce better education. I disagree with this belief. I believe that a more progressive charter school law could enable charter schools and traditional schools to cooperate rather than compete with one another.
I say that if you know how to educate do it for all of them not just for some. There are and have been successful turnaround artists. I say artists because it is an art. Not all have it in them to be successful leaders just as in warfare. This is warfare against ignorance after all and that is why the public school system was created. I see the problem as one in which those who are real successful are wiped out for the just get along or worse ones. You cannot be this bad by accident. Look at what we do in the real knowledge fields like the aerospace and biological and medical fields along with electronics. They are driven by facts and art which drives creativity. You have to experiment but you have to do it in an orderly fact based environment. Charters, vouchers and mayoral control have lost that battle. They have had more than enough time and there is no real change in spite of all the rhetoric. Smoke is still smoke, and mirrors spinning wildly are still just that also.
As we say “If you do not have a good outcome so what.” No outcome, no relevance.
I hope Diane has been monitoring these posts..
Bertin’s comments are quite disturbing, I’ve tried to reason with him, educate him, scold him, and discourage him to no avail.
Reading his past posts I have discovered Bertin has made the accusation that most children who bully in schools are most likely white and Christian. Comments like that have no place in a forum like this and do not deserve to be given a platform like this to spread his vitriol.
No. What you have done is blow out of proportion, conflate, and misconstrue, purposefully or otherwise, everything that I have written. If anyone’s rhetoric has been vitriolic, it has been yours. From the beginning of this thread, I have been trying to build bridges and find common ground since the one thing that Hatikvah’s opponents and proponents have in common is a desire for our children to have a high quality education.
The only difference is in how best to achieve that and this is an area where reasonable people can and often will disagree. With regards to bullying, the primary point that I have been trying to make is that it is most often driven by someone’s inability to embrace or at the very least tolerate difference and while this is undoubtedly something that challenges all cultures, it is a problem that is most prevalent within cultures that are traditionally dominant and the traditionally dominant culture in suburban America is white Christian. I am not writing this to disturb you. I am writing this, because it is true.
Obviously, white Christian children aren’t the only bullies in our schools, but they are more often than not at the top of the cultural dominance food chain and they are more often than not the ones that drive the cultural competitions, which construct cliques and other cultural hierarchies in our schools that drive so much of the bullying that takes place there. That said, it is not anything specific within caucasian biology or Christian religious dogma that makes this so. It is simply a function of the plain fact that white Christians are the dominant culture in our society.
So enough of the histrionics, please. I am not libeling your race or your religion as much as I am describing a problem for which we are all desperately in search of a solution.
Your warped sense of what you think you know makes me shudder to think that you are associated with anything that has to do with educating children. Your assumptions of ‘white christian children’ are disturbing.
I give up. You are clearly just looking to have a fight rather than participate in a constructive conversation about solving problems facing our schools. If I can put your mind at ease and hopefully shut you up once and for all, you will be happy to know that I am just a parent of a child who goes to Hatikvah. I am not involved with education in any other way. Good night and good luck.
Best news all night.This white Christian child is relieved you’re not working with kids.
People cannot handle the truth is the problem. When you have true believers there is no talking to them as they will not listen. Christians happen to be the most bullies as they are the dominent religeon in this country. All these problems with man are equally divided among the different sectors. Therefore, if equally divided per person the most dominent sector will have the most of whatever it is and in this case bullying. Is anyone paying attention to this problem in our military? If not, you should wake up and deal with facts not ideology.
The problem is that the game in the U.S. is based in Christian Fundamentalism. Is that correct in a society that is not supposed to be controlled by religeon. Look at the problems in the military academies all the way to the generals pushing this. Considering that is it any wonder that we are having trouble in Islamic countries, which we invaded, with this attitude coming down from the top. If you do not know about this problem then you are not really paying attention. Fundamentalist groups want to dominate everything.
That has nothing to do with taking funding from public schools and giving it to private charters. Stick to the topic please
For once, I do not disagree. Christian fundamentalism is a problem in this country, but it is not relevant to this issue.
The logic does not follow. Christian fundamentalism is happening but it is not relevant to education? How could that be I might ask? What do you think is driving the insanity of Texas and other fundamentalist states such as them, including in the north? When you bring religeon into schools you are automatically including it as a part of the equation. The most that religeon should have to do with public schools is comparative religeon classes so that students will have a better understanding of other peoples beliefs.
Generally conservatives, especially religeous conservatives, want their children to be segragated so that they are not spoiled by the exposure to other thinking.
Bertin, As with my Jewish identity, I am quite comfortable with my academic qualifications and training. Your derision is unfortunate, tiresome and petty. Haughty? If you dish it out, you ought to be able to take it.
If indeed these Hebrew Charter schools were designed to be bastions of innovation to bring back to the Public Schools, perhaps you might be onto something. That was not their agenda at their inception, nor do I see that now.
My derision was based on your willingness to equate assimilation with integration. It is hard to take any academic evaluation, anthropological or otherwise, of what I wrote, which I did not profess to be authoritative under any circumstances, seriously from that point forward.
I respect the consistency. But you didn’t address the issue that I responded to namely what evidence is there that ANY religious teaching is going on in the several Hebrew language charter schools or the Arabic language school in New York.
I assert that given the microscope of scrutiny that there is no cognacs of that being the case and If there is even a perception tht the school in question would change. In fact I recall that this is what occurred in the Gamla schools in Florida.
” People can throw around words like segregation as much as they want to in order to defend the status quo, but it doesn’t change the fact that the cultural dominance of white Christians, particularly in our suburbs can make learning environments quite difficult for children who aren’t white and Christian…”
Examples, please. In my suburban school, we take days off for Rosh Hoshana and Yom Kippur. We discuss Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa in a secular sense, and when it falls within the same month, we also talk about Ramadan. We study Africa, Asia, and South America through songs, poetry, and stories. How are these learning environments difficult? My ex-husband went to Yeshiva in the Bronx and was bullied every day by his Jewish brethren. I don’t see how you can make the generalizations you do without being in danger of practicing the same bigotry you claim exists among the “white Christians.”
“…and no amount of anti-bullying legislation or sensitivity training is going to change the way that far too many white Christian children are raised and the degree to which their parents’ prejudices manifest themselves in how these children treat children who are different than them.” Hurtful generalizations, all of these. If you lack the ability to see the irony in your comments, then this is far from a public debate–you appear to be making this personal.
Shame on you, Bertin. The lengths you will go to justify segregation is down right despicable.
You’ve admitted you don’t understand the impact on East Brunswick, because you don’t live near East Brunswick, so perhaps you should listen to your own advice and realize that you are outside of it and just don’t get it.
East Brunswick is very diverse, and what allows our schools to flourish as an inclusive, welcoming town is partially due to our district’s aggressive pursuit of preventing bullying incidents and our strong, national-reputation of preserving the separation of church state.
It is clear that your personal experiences are clouding your judgement. And, I think you should consider what kind of trouble you will cause this school that you support by defending its self-segregating nature.
I have admitted no such thing, EBer. If anything, I have conceded that because of the flawed nature of the charter school law, charter schools like Hatikvah have a negative fiscal impact on school districts like East Brunswick. I have also written on numerous occasions that I am willing to give Hatikvah’s opponents the benefit of the doubt with regards to this negative fiscal impact being what drives their opposition rather than any latent anti-semitism or Jewish self-hatred, while at the same time, being willing to give Hatikvah’s proponents, particularly those who live in East Brunswick and are on the front lines of this battle, who argue that they have experienced anti-semitism as a result of this conflict, the same benefit of doubt. Just because I am not willing to prejudge either side doesn’t mean that I don’t get what is going on.
I don’t doubt that East Brunswick is diverse or that it is an inclusive, welcoming town or that the school district aggressively pursues policies that seek to prevent bullying incidents. As far as its strong national reputation of preserving the separation of church and state is concerned, I think that you are being hyperbolic and overwrought, particularly if you think that the district’s battle with Hatikvah is tantamount to being the last line of defense against those who would otherwise tear the United States Constitution to shreds, starting with the First Amendment. That argument has about as much credibility as those coming from colonelbatguanocrazy teabagging wingnuts who would have us believe that Barack Obama is an anti-colonial Kenyan whose first step towards the mongrelization of the races is taking away our guns.
If anybody’s judgment is clouded, it is yours by the anger and vitriol that you feel towards Hatikvah and anyone associated with it. If you and your fellow opponents dedicated a fraction of the time, money, energy, and other resources that you have committed towards destroying Hatikvah to something more productive like filling the vacancies created by those families who have chosen to send their children there with children from New Brunswick, Sayreville, South River, and other nearby communities whose schools are not nearly as good as East Brunswick’s, everyone on both sides of this debate could move on with their lives and focus on what is most important, which is educating our children.
Bertin, again you are making ignorant assumptions. My reference to East Brunswick’s national reputation of maintaining church and state was a reference to a very high profile court case, half a decade ago, in which the district fired a coach for participating in a team prayer.
It is useless having discussions with you, as you admittedly arrive at conclusions without doing any research, you are ignorant of the community which you have no problem prescribing actions to, and you use fear-mongering as a direct action to silence people.
You have once again referred to “those who live in East Brunswick and are on the front lines of this battle, who argue that they have experienced anti-semitism as a result of this conflict.” If you know of no such action, you are absolutely fear-mongering by repeating such an accusation.
Moreover, by the same token that I would denounce anyone who opposed the school based on any reasons that sounded anti-Semetic, I do not see why you could not just as easily denounce any Hatikvah supporters who toss around the word anti-Semetic so careless where it isn’t warranted.
There can be no doubt that the people who live in East Brunswick, both opponents and proponents of Hatikvah, are on the front lines of this battle, because they are the ones who live near one another and interact on a regular basis. If you take the time to read what I have written, I have never cited anyone who has accused anyone of being anti-semitic or using anti-semitic rhetoric.
However, when Duane made an anti-Israel slur, I called him on it and asked what was next, quotes from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which led others here to respond that I was accusing Duane and other opponents of Hatikvah of being anti-Semites and claiming that this is a common strategy amongst Hatikvah’s proponents in East Brunswick.
My response to this, which I have reiterated numerous times since is that I am not aware of anyone associated with Hatikvah who has made such a charge and that until I personally experience opposition to Hatikvah that I believe is anti-Semitic in nature, I will continue to give the opponents of Hatikvah the benefit of the doubt that their opposition is fiscal in nature and not anti-Semitic.
With regards to the claim that others here have made about Hatikvah’s proponents accusing Hatikvah’s opponents of being anti-Semitic or using anti-Semitic rhetoric, having experienced neither, but knowing the Hatikvah parents and staff who I have met to be reasonable people, the position that I continue to take is one where I am willing to give them the same benefit of the doubt that I give to Hatikvah’s opponents, arguing that they would not make such an accusation if it did not have some merit.
“With regards to bullying, the primary point that I have been trying to make is that it is most often driven by someone’s inability to embrace or at the very least tolerate difference…”
Pot? Kettle? Black?
I’d like to give the last word on the bullying debate to Jonathan Seltzer, a 12 year old student who happens to be from East Brunswick. He was interviewed in this Star Ledger piece about the bullying statistics generated in the 2011-2012 school year, the first year the new anti-bullying legislation was implemented.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/bullying_in_nj_schools_spikes.html
I was looking to see if there was any evidence to support Bertin’s claims about who does the majority of bullying, but this data does not seem to be reported.
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The new law, he said, “did help me a lot.”
“It gave me the control and ability to start speaking out. It gave me a right to let my voice be heard,” said Jonathan, who is 12 and a seventh grader at Hammarskjold Middle School.
This year, Jonathan is running for student council president, “because I want to try to make sure my school is a safe place, he said. “And I want the bullies to know they can’t stop me.”
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Just because a child is bullied does not mean they need to be relocated to another school; charter or otherwise. To me, our friend Jonathan is going to learn far more from his experience by reporting it, overcoming it, and running for office at Hammarskjold than if he were pulled out and put into Hatikvah (well, it’s only K-4 now, but will supposedly be K-8 eventually…).
This kid has the depth of character that comes from overcoming adversity. By staying in his school he can lead by example and teach other kids how to be tolerant and strong. As parents and educators THIS is what we should strive for for our children.
With all due respect, Darcie, I think that you have misunderstood the argument that I have been making. I don’t believe that charter schools can or should be places that children escape to when they have been bullied. All children are capable of inappropriate behavior and bullying is a challenge that all schools, charter and traditional, are going to be facing now and continue to face in the future.
What I have argued is that language immersion charter schools like Hatikvah as well as some of the other variations that I have proposed throughout this conversation have the potential to create a different cultural mix than what is currently omnipresent in most of our suburban traditional schools and provide us with new insights into how children in different cultural settings interact differently, particularly with regards to the degree to which they are able to embrace or at the very least tolerate difference, which could provide us with answers to so many of the questions related to bullying that we have been struggling to find for so long.
I think that it is wonderful that there are children with Jonathan’s depth of character in the East Brunswick public schools. All public schools, charter and traditional could benefit from having more children like him, leading by example and teaching other children how to be tolerant and strong, and because he and children like him would help all public schools, they are neither an argument for or against charter schools. They are simply a testament to what is best about our children and what is possible for so many.
“How dare I arm myself with information before forming an opinion! It took a two second google search, Bertin. Seriously, how can you argue so aggressively an idea that you acknowledge yourself to be so ignorant of. And, you have the nerve to call others intellectually lazy. I don’t think, in my life, I’ve ever read anything that speaks more to intellectual laziness, than I have reading your post.
And, thank you for not bothering to answer my question above, but deciding to respond to me anyway with another uninformed rant. You asserted “Hatikvah parents and staff who I have met are all very reasonable people and if they claim that they have experienced anti-Semitism as a result of this conflict, I will take their word for it.” So, if you can not back this up with an example, you are indeed fear-mongering.”
First and foremost, EBer, I do not think that I am arguing anything particularly aggressively. I am trying my best to reserve judgment with regards to both the opponents and the proponents of Hatikvah, primarily because I am someone who is simultaneously on the inside and the outside due to the fact that I am a Hatikvah parent, but do not live in East Brunswick and cannot speak to the experiences that those parents and staff who do live there have had that might have led them to accuse some of Hatikvah’s opponents of being anti-semitic or making anti-semitic arguments in their opposition to Hatikvah.
With regards to your question, “Bertin, specifically what anti-semitism has this school claimed to have encountered?”, I am in no position to provide you with an answer, because I have not personally been privvy to any Hatikvah parents or staff making such claims. The only claims with regards to this that I am aware of are those made here, which state that some Hatikvah parents and staff members made accusations of this sort towards some of Hatikvah’s opponents. Just as it seemed reasonable to me to believe that these claims were accurate and that Hatikvah parents and staff had made such arguments, it also seemed reasonable to me to believe that if Hatikvah parents and staff had made these arguments, they were based on real experiences that they have had and not their imaginations.
As far as you arming yourself with information goes, when you cited the examples that you did, you wrote, “Just off the top of my head…”, which I thought at the time was pretty impressive, which is why I wrote, “I can only guess that you are aware of these programs, EBer, because you are on the front lines of this battle and have taken the time to arm yourself with this information. Well done.” By your response, I can only imagine that you assumed that I was being sarcastic when I wrote this, which is a product of an unfortunate limitation of the internet in that there is no ability to discern one’s intent due to our writing lacking a tone of voice that would make such intent instantly apparent.
That said, now you admit to doing a two-second Google search, so I am not nearly as impressed as I was earlier in this conversation. You can call me ignorant if you want, because I do not generally employ Google searches when debating issues on blogs, but I do not believe that my lack of an encyclopaedic knowledge of what every school is doing makes my belief that the experimental work being done by Hatikvah is valuable enough to justify its existence as a charter school unfounded. If that belief is intellectually lazy, which I do not believe that it is, my intellectual laziness pales in comparison to those who would assume that langauge immersion charter schools teach the religions with which their language of choice is associated.
For the record, there is no religious education going on at Hatikvah. My kids come home singing songs about the body (think: head, shoulders, knees and toes) foods, verbs and general conversational language.
I don’t send them there for the Hebrew language aspect, but for the immersive language aspect. Numerous studies determine that learning a new language is extremely beneficial to the developing brain. Having nearly two hours of a foreign language daily is more effective than any language program offered in the traditional schools.
Further, my kids learn in a challenging environment where kids are expected to reach higher than they were in the traditional schools. Their classrooms are diverse, both in terms of cultural background and learning styles. Embracing differences in other people is a central pillar of the curriculum, rather than a tacked on anti-bullying/diversity component wedged in somewhere in the busy school week.
The teachers are invested fully in the curricular program, having been participants in its development. Freed from the top-down direction of administration determined lessons, they are free to follow their teaching instincts. Guided by high quality, student-centered inquiry-based curricula in all subjects, the school buzzes with energy.
This is truly a school model that is significantly different that what is currently existing in the traditional schools, and we are grateful that it is here in our town.
Your children can learn a foreign language in a public school. It is not necessary to turn public dollars over to private management to get access to foreign language instruction. New Jersey has some of the finest public schools in the U.S.