Tomchey Tumimim of Ocean Parkway, a Hasidic yeshiva, told a woman that her son could not attend unless she persuaded the city to pay an aide to keep an eye on her son. The mother told The Times she did not believe her son needed strict supervision. , has been approved by government authorities.
The Luria Academy, which serves some Orthodox Jews, emailed parents of students with disabilities this year saying it has a budget shortfall in its special education department. The school said it hoped parents would hire school staff as private contractors and ask the city to pay a premium. It costs money to help arrange your request. “Cost is a small percentage of total expected revenue,” it said in an email.
School leader Amanda Pogany said Luria ultimately did not follow through with the plan. “But we decided it wasn’t what we were trying to do,” Pogany said.
Etty Singer, who has led Hasidic preschool programs for nine years and has worked closely with 10 schools, said she saw many schools actively encouraging their children to undergo special education evaluations. I was.
“They just wrote down, ‘I need service,’ ‘I need service,’ ‘I need service,'” she said. “They said everyone needs service.”
Ms Singer said she secretly arranged services for her son when he attended a Hasidic school in Borough Park in Yeshiva Beth Hillel, Krasna. “I figured it out later,” she said. Singer said her son had a mild disability, but the school’s services did not meet his son’s needs. She then left the community and lost custody of her son.
When De Blasio changed his policy, about 12 percent of students at Yeshiva Beth Hillel School in Krasna were classified as needing special education. That rate has since risen to her 59%, according to city records. Both the spokesperson and Mr. Connolly, the lawyer representing the school, disputed the figure. Connolly also said students at the school are not classified as having a disability without their parents knowing.
