Israel is growing at a fast pace - but some of its growing pains are very strong. In Beit Shemesh, for instance, seven classes found themselves the day before school started without a school building. The parents blame the city authorities - and will probably have to go to court.
The first ten days of school have seen the hundreds of students of the "Ahavat Yisrael" (Love of Israel) elementary school studying in nearby synagogues, school corridors, impromptu protest lessons outside City Hall - and finally, as of this past Friday, on strike and not coming to school at all.
Ahavat Yisrael, the largest public-religious school in Beit Shemesh and said to be the fastest-growing one, has some 22 classrooms in its building. Its students, however, are using only 15 of them, as the remainder was given over to a religious girls' high school - with the understanding that seven Ahavat Yisrael classes would be learning in a nearby public school.
The night before school was to start, however, Ahavat Yisrael was informed that the public school parents did not agree to share their building - and that they would forcefully prevent the Ahavat Yisrael pupils from entering.
"We have no argument with either Beit Yaakov [the girls' high school] or with the public school," emphasizes Avigail Rothner, head of what could be called Ahavat Yisrael's Board of Directors. "Our gripe is solely with the municipality, which is responsible for providing school buildings for all its pupils. With a little good will, it could easily do so. The Ahavat Yisrael school building is ours, and if we agreed to share it with Beit Yaakov, why should we have to suffer?"
Yehuda Gur-Aryeh, spokesman for Beit Shemesh Mayor Danny Vaknin, said that two new adjacent buildings with 15 classrooms each would be ready for Ahavat Yisrael at the end of October. Until then, he said, the seven classes will have to study several kilometers away from their parent school.
"This is totally unacceptable," Rothner says. "One school cannot be run in two places. School started on September 1, and the buildings that they promise are far from ready." In the meanwhile, the school's 500-plus students are not studying - and Rothner says that the only alternative appears to be to request in court that their school building be returned to them.
In an official response to this proposal, Rothner and Parents Association Chairperson Irit Duvdevani wrote, "We tried to make progress towards an understanding and compromise, but it is clear that we were not authorized to accept any proposal without the backing of the parents we represent. We are sorry that our willingness to try to reach a compromise was perceived... as our acceptance of the idea and then a backtracking thereof. We similarly hope that there is no truth to that which was publicized in Haaretz that the Education Ministry Regional director claimed that the parents signed on the proposal and then reneged on this agreement... We [therefore] have no choice but to insist even more strongly on our position..."
The letter states that the idea of splitting the school and having some of the pupils learn in a different building 20 minutes away is "not only terrible discrimination against one official school in comparison with other official schools... but is also not realistic, not educational, not safe and impossible to implement. The position of the parents in demanding that the Beit Yaakov classes be removed from our school so that our students be enabled to study properly in the school that has been designated for them until now, is self-evident."
Ahavat Yisrael has 100 more students this year than last year, including 10-15 immigrants from Ethiopia and the children of 40 new-immigrant families from the United States. "We clearly serve an important need in this city," Rothner said.
The first ten days of school have seen the hundreds of students of the "Ahavat Yisrael" (Love of Israel) elementary school studying in nearby synagogues, school corridors, impromptu protest lessons outside City Hall - and finally, as of this past Friday, on strike and not coming to school at all.
Ahavat Yisrael, the largest public-religious school in Beit Shemesh and said to be the fastest-growing one, has some 22 classrooms in its building. Its students, however, are using only 15 of them, as the remainder was given over to a religious girls' high school - with the understanding that seven Ahavat Yisrael classes would be learning in a nearby public school.
The night before school was to start, however, Ahavat Yisrael was informed that the public school parents did not agree to share their building - and that they would forcefully prevent the Ahavat Yisrael pupils from entering.
"We have no argument with either Beit Yaakov [the girls' high school] or with the public school," emphasizes Avigail Rothner, head of what could be called Ahavat Yisrael's Board of Directors. "Our gripe is solely with the municipality, which is responsible for providing school buildings for all its pupils. With a little good will, it could easily do so. The Ahavat Yisrael school building is ours, and if we agreed to share it with Beit Yaakov, why should we have to suffer?"
Yehuda Gur-Aryeh, spokesman for Beit Shemesh Mayor Danny Vaknin, said that two new adjacent buildings with 15 classrooms each would be ready for Ahavat Yisrael at the end of October. Until then, he said, the seven classes will have to study several kilometers away from their parent school.
"This is totally unacceptable," Rothner says. "One school cannot be run in two places. School started on September 1, and the buildings that they promise are far from ready." In the meanwhile, the school's 500-plus students are not studying - and Rothner says that the only alternative appears to be to request in court that their school building be returned to them.
In an official response to this proposal, Rothner and Parents Association Chairperson Irit Duvdevani wrote, "We tried to make progress towards an understanding and compromise, but it is clear that we were not authorized to accept any proposal without the backing of the parents we represent. We are sorry that our willingness to try to reach a compromise was perceived... as our acceptance of the idea and then a backtracking thereof. We similarly hope that there is no truth to that which was publicized in Haaretz that the Education Ministry Regional director claimed that the parents signed on the proposal and then reneged on this agreement... We [therefore] have no choice but to insist even more strongly on our position..."
The letter states that the idea of splitting the school and having some of the pupils learn in a different building 20 minutes away is "not only terrible discrimination against one official school in comparison with other official schools... but is also not realistic, not educational, not safe and impossible to implement. The position of the parents in demanding that the Beit Yaakov classes be removed from our school so that our students be enabled to study properly in the school that has been designated for them until now, is self-evident."
Ahavat Yisrael has 100 more students this year than last year, including 10-15 immigrants from Ethiopia and the children of 40 new-immigrant families from the United States. "We clearly serve an important need in this city," Rothner said.