Calling Mayor Bill de Blasio “corrupt,” education advocates said Monday that they have no confidence Hizzoner can reform yeshivas and called on city and state officials to intervene.
About 20 advocates held a rally on the steps of City Hall in light of a city Department of Investigation probe that found de Blasio delayed a report šon the quality of education at yeshivas for his political benefit.
“We call on [Schools] Chancellor [Richard] Carranza to not let this notoriously corrupt mayor bring him down,” said Naftuli Moster, founder of Young Advocates for Fair Education.
“Carranza started this position with a reputation for always putting education before politics. Sadly in recent months, he’s been severely tainted by a system that rots from the head,” Moster said.
Brooklyn College Prof. David Bloomfield added, “The ball must be handed to the state education department. We have no faith in the mayor.”
Carranza finally issued the report last week — over four years after alumni and parents of yeshiva students demanded an inquiry.
“Four and a half years to do a report? Absurd! Unacceptable!” state Sen. Robert Jackson said.
Jackson said the yeshivas shouldn’t receive government funding if they’re not providing legally required education.
The report found that only two of 28 yeshivas inspected by city officials provided adequate secular education to their students. Yet it insisted that most of the schools were trying to improve — so the city did not take any punitive action.
Beatrice Weber, a Brooklyn mother of 10 whose children all attended local yeshivas, said that was unacceptable. She said the yeshiva instructors are religious teachers who aren’t trained in secular schooling. About 22 yeshivas, including the one in Williamsburg attended by her 7-year-old, were not included in the study.
“When will every single child in New York City receive an adequate education?” Weber asked.
Mš²oster also called for unannounced city inspections of yeshivas, state enforcement of regulations, and closure of schools šthat are not providing adequate secular education.