Finally — Rabbis Take A Stand On Regulations From The Board Of Education. Below is a copy of their letter:
While I support secular education, graduation from high school and higher education degrees, I don’t support discriminatory policies in hiring and terminating Jewish staff. I also don’t approve of religious discrimination for students of academic achievement for appropriate schools and classes. I believe in teaching the truth about Jews, Israel and Jewish History. We are living the affects of a generation brought up on a failing school system, emphasizing opinions and prejudice— anti-Semitic acts on the rise and hate for Israel.
Torah Umesorah’s staff prepared a suggested letter to Board of Regents re State Education pending regulation requirements which should be used as an example nationwide where Jews of all religious affiliations are paying taxes and unhappy with the status quo of education within a public or private setting for various reasons.
Suggested letter for Yeshiva Parents to send NYSED Board of Regents.
Re: Comment on proposed rule ID# EDU-27-19-00010-P - From {name}
Date: July 15, 2019
I am a yeshiva parent and a yeshiva graduate, and am writing to register my opposition to regulations proposed by the State Education Department.
I chose yeshiva education for my children because I want them to receive an education steeped in the tradition and values of my Jewish heritage and faith. I want my children to receive an education that focuses on Jewish texts as well as Jewish traditions, Jewish history as well as Jewish culture, and Jewish ideals as well as Jewish ideas. In other words, what I want for them is an education that they cannot receive in the public schools.
I pay dearly for this privilege. Private school tuition is not cheap, I pay it on top of the income, real estate and other taxes that we all must pay to fund the local public schools, and I do not even receive a tax deduction for it.
These proposed regulations would undermine my ability to give my child the education that I chose for him or her. It would have the government set the educational priorities for my child, instead of the administration of the private school that I chose.
These regulations would require that the private school I chose for my child mimic the local public schools by teaching a long list of required courses -- up to 11 for some grades -- and even set the length of time those courses must be offered each week. If I wanted government to dictate my child's course list and class schedule, I would have chosen the local public schools.
The school that I chose for my children has a long school day with an intensive focus on Jewish studies. Government is not qualified to evaluate our Jewish studies classes, yet these proposed regulations empower them to do just that.
The proposed regulations infringe on my right as a parent to direct the education of my children, and on the school's right to set its own educational course and mission.
That is neither legal nor necessary.
It is not legal because parents have the right to direct the education of their children, and to choose private and religious schools for them.
It is not necessary because private and religious schools have a long and proud record of achievement. Their attendance and graduation rates are high, and their students go on to lead successful lives.
I myself am a yeshiva graduate. I want my children to experience the same rich education environment that I did.
Every day, my children learn the critical thinking, problem solving, language, literacy, and computational skills that are necessary to prepare them for success. I am confident that they will graduate with the skills necessary to function as successful members of society.
Government is not qualified to evaluate our Jewish studies classes, yet these proposed regulations empower them to do just that.
These proposed new regulations will undermine my ability to provide my children with the education that I have chosen for them.
I urge you to respect my ability as a parent to choose the educational direction for my children and to reject these proposed new regulations.
Fighting Since 2005
In December 2015, I contacted two New York Assemblymen. By February, 2016, a bill passed the New York State Assembly. Here is a press release detailing the bill to have oversight on classroom materials.
"Assemblyman Brian Curran (Lynbrook – 21st A.D.) and Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) recently held a press conference with education activists highlighting legislation (A.9057) that would prohibit the use of textbooks and materials that redefine the roles of Jews, Christians, African-Americans and all groups in American History, and would create the New York State Textbook Commission to regulate instructional material used in New York State elementary school classrooms. Unfortunately, it was a Republican State Senator who blocked the vote in that chamber and stopped the bill from becoming NYS law."
Bill in full:
https://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=A9057&term=2015-2016&Memo=Y
We need to revisit, revise and recite NOW. The other 49 states need similar laws.
Success in Florida’s Holocaust Education
With the rise of antisemitism nationwide, and Florida specifically, Governor Ron DeSantis made international headlines after signing a bill making antisemitism illegal in K-12 textbooks and curriculum in Florida. Additionally, the law requires Holocaust education by law in the State of Florida and calls “Holocaust denial” illicit.
My friend, Dr. Gina Loudon, a friend Of President Trump and a 2020 Campaign Advisor, has also spoken out supporting the need for factual Holocaust classroom education. Here is a part of our interview:
As a Christian Zionist and a resident of Florida, are you surprised by a school administrator denying Holocaust education?
I am floored and disgusted. I am angry and embittered. This man has conflated facts with feelings. Just because some parents are Holocaust deniers, doesn't make it so. There is virtually zero evidence to that conclusion. It is unprofessional, anti Semitic, anti American, and anti HUMAN to say that just because someone has a feeling or belief about something, it should hold the same value as verifiable fact and be taught in our schools! As a taxpayer, I demand better.
The Holocaust is a scar on the soul of human history.
I have spent much of my life trying to understand how this could ever happen. Sadly, the older I get and the more I learn, I can see how we bend toward socialism globally. That is how the whole Nazi movement was born. I fear it, I rebuke it, and I fight every single day of my life to prevent another Holocaust. But then I think about how history will show our record on things like abortion (founded by a friend and comrade of Hitler, eugenicist, Margaret Sanger). Our tax dollars go to fund abortion every day - 1 million dollars per day. How is this not mass genocide if we are honest? Then I see that the fight is daily, and in every corner of our culture, from Hollywood to politics; in our schools and our synagogues. I commit to fight daily, and to bring others with me.
What other steps do you think should be taken to ensure factual history is taught in classrooms in Florida and across the country?
Free speech is critical, but if school administrators or teachers want to inject non-factual opinion into their job, the taxpayers through their school boards, should act to fire them.
Whether your students attend public or private school, all should strive for success. As it has been proven in places like China, it’s not the hours in class, or the number of students sitting by a desk, it’s the facts taught and the respect of the entire education community, including parents and their accountability that makes education a success.
Cindy Grosz is an advisor on the National Diversity Coalition for Trump 2020 and on Twitter and Instagram at @cindyscorners. She can be reached at [email protected]