Concerned Citizens against Hebrew Charter School in East Brunswick NJ
There is a petition being circulated in East Brunswick to promote the opening of a Hebrew Charter School. This school is being presented as a great and benign idea, but there are many damaging ramifications to it in our town which are not being mentioned.
· This school could not co-exist with SSDS, our Conservative Day School. There are already a large amount of Jewish schools in the area drawing from the same small applicant pool.
· East Brunswick Township would lose significant income from property taxes to the charter school that currently goes to East Brunswick public schools.
· East Brunswick Jewish Center would lose its main tenant if SSDS closes, at a time when the Temple is already struggling.
· EBJC Hebrew School would also lose kids to this school, at a considerable financial loss.
· The Charter School would drain Jewish kids from our regular public schools.
· Other local Jewish Day Schools, such as Shalom Torah, would be hurt.
· The Charter School is being portrayed as an alternative to SSDS, but as it is a public school, it could NOT provide a Jewish education. No tefilla, model Seders, Chanukah parties, Torah study etc during school hours, only Hebrew language curriculum. It would have to be open on Jewish holidays. Their idea would be to provide Jewish subjects after and before school at an extra cost, sort of a reverse Hebrew School, making it a very long school day. Many parents, of day school and public school children, are not interested in this.
· Perhaps the biggest problem is that even if the parents were willing to make such a great compromise on the Jewish curriculum, the Charter School would have limited enrollment and a lottery system to choose its students. Many SSDS kids would not get a spot, even though their school had been forced to close. SSDS has about 40-50 kids from other towns. The Charter school could take only 10% of its student body from these towns, (maybe a total of 10?) leaving many other children with no Jewish education option.
· The Charter school would be initially opened for K-2, possibly K-3 or 4 at the best case, with the intent to grow in coming years, closing our Conservative Day School and once again not offering a spot to most of the displaced kids.
· This idea would work for a limited number of families, overall causing much more harm than good for everyone else.
· Dont be fooled by the half-truths being presented. The proponents of the Charter School are telling people that SSDS is dying anyway. NOT TRUE. SSDS has ZERO debt. It is a vibrant, lively school recently named one of only 50 Blue Ribbon Finalists in the country! The school has been restructured for a smaller student body. It is very feasible to run a thriving, successful school with sub-150 kids. It is dangerous and unethical to spread rumors such as these, at a time when many people are working so hard to keep the school successful.
In order to establish this school, the proponents have to submit a petition with as many names as possible by March 31 of this year to demonstrate that there is a need for this. People have been told that signing is only an expression of interest, but that is not true, these names will be submitted to the NJ Dept. of Education to persuade them that there is a need for this school.
We the undersigned urge you to consider all the facts carefully. The Dept of Education welcomes community comments,so we will be submitting our own petition to the State of New Jersey to demonstrate that there is NOT a need for a Hebrew Language Charter School in East Brunswick at this time.
We ask for your support in protecting our public schools, day schools, Hebrew schools, Temples and township, by signing the attached petition.
There is a petition being circulated in East Brunswick to promote the opening of a Hebrew Charter School. This school is being presented as a great and benign idea, but there are many damaging ramifications to it in our town which are not being mentioned.
· This school could not co-exist with SSDS, our Conservative Day School. There are already a large amount of Jewish schools in the area drawing from the same small applicant pool.
· East Brunswick Township would lose significant income from property taxes to the charter school that currently goes to East Brunswick public schools.
· East Brunswick Jewish Center would lose its main tenant if SSDS closes, at a time when the Temple is already struggling.
· EBJC Hebrew School would also lose kids to this school, at a considerable financial loss.
· The Charter School would drain Jewish kids from our regular public schools.
· Other local Jewish Day Schools, such as Shalom Torah, would be hurt.
· The Charter School is being portrayed as an alternative to SSDS, but as it is a public school, it could NOT provide a Jewish education. No tefilla, model Seders, Chanukah parties, Torah study etc during school hours, only Hebrew language curriculum. It would have to be open on Jewish holidays. Their idea would be to provide Jewish subjects after and before school at an extra cost, sort of a reverse Hebrew School, making it a very long school day. Many parents, of day school and public school children, are not interested in this.
· Perhaps the biggest problem is that even if the parents were willing to make such a great compromise on the Jewish curriculum, the Charter School would have limited enrollment and a lottery system to choose its students. Many SSDS kids would not get a spot, even though their school had been forced to close. SSDS has about 40-50 kids from other towns. The Charter school could take only 10% of its student body from these towns, (maybe a total of 10?) leaving many other children with no Jewish education option.
· The Charter school would be initially opened for K-2, possibly K-3 or 4 at the best case, with the intent to grow in coming years, closing our Conservative Day School and once again not offering a spot to most of the displaced kids.
· This idea would work for a limited number of families, overall causing much more harm than good for everyone else.
· Dont be fooled by the half-truths being presented. The proponents of the Charter School are telling people that SSDS is dying anyway. NOT TRUE. SSDS has ZERO debt. It is a vibrant, lively school recently named one of only 50 Blue Ribbon Finalists in the country! The school has been restructured for a smaller student body. It is very feasible to run a thriving, successful school with sub-150 kids. It is dangerous and unethical to spread rumors such as these, at a time when many people are working so hard to keep the school successful.
In order to establish this school, the proponents have to submit a petition with as many names as possible by March 31 of this year to demonstrate that there is a need for this. People have been told that signing is only an expression of interest, but that is not true, these names will be submitted to the NJ Dept. of Education to persuade them that there is a need for this school.
We the undersigned urge you to consider all the facts carefully. The Dept of Education welcomes community comments,so we will be submitting our own petition to the State of New Jersey to demonstrate that there is NOT a need for a Hebrew Language Charter School in East Brunswick at this time.
We ask for your support in protecting our public schools, day schools, Hebrew schools, Temples and township, by signing the attached petition.
Dear Residents,
We the undersigned would like to inform you that there is another petition being passed around East Brunswick to open a Hebrew Language Charter School. Not all the information about this project is being presented. We feel that this would actually be very detrimental to our community for many reasons. Please take the time to review the attached information. We hope you will join us in blocking this school which would actually hurt our Public Schools, Jewish Day Schools, Synagogues and Township.
Thank you for your time,
Public funds should be used for the general good and not for programs that would enable any group of people to separate themselves from others. There are enough and many great Temples and Hebrew schools in East Brunswick.
I am a Schechter parent and I totally oppose any charter school in East Brunswick, especially one that teaches Hebrew. Any Schechter parent that supports this is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG at so many levels. Our enrollment is declining already because of this horrible recession and to support this charters school is a slap in the face to the students, teachers, parents, board and administrator at Schechter. Schechter teaches JEWISH VALUES as well as HEBREW as well as all the holidays, the Torah and the Talmud and supports many families from surrouning towns as well as those in East Brunswick. Are you kidding me that you would support such a charter school. Show me where in the Torah or the Talmud where this is valid!!!! We are all one - We are all one Israel and we must be united in our goals for our children and our grandchildren. How dare you support a charter school that could diminish our ability to teach our children to be a light unto to the nations. What can you do in your life instead of looking for a free ride to demostrates Torah and Talmud values to YOUR CHILDREN?
I don't believe that the group of parents that requested the Hebrew charter school, are honest with the community. They are looking to get a free Hebrew education with tax payers funds.
I am not opposed to opening another school, but it should be private and funded by tuition payments made by the families of the students. I am OUTRAGED to think that public money would be used to fund such a school.
I think the education funding would be better spent elsewhere.
John G Singer
In a time of limited resources, it seems unfair to take support away from the main student population and direct it toward a very small and exclusive sub group of the community.
A charter school should be open to everyone. I don't feel that EB school are as good as they claim and would love to find another avenue for my son. However, this charter school would not be it as they are creating a Hebrew school environment. And while I am not opposed to any religion, again a charter school is for anyone to go to that would prefer something different than the local district school.
My kids both went to SSDS. This is a great school. My son is now accepted to several of the top colleges in the country, and credits SSDS for his early development. Jewish law, if I am correct, prohibits opening an enterprise in the knowledge that the action will likely cause the closing of an adjacent business. It may be that the proponents of this charter school want the benefits of SSDS but want the taxpayers to pay for them. Anyone with interests along these lines should make the financial sacrifices necessary to support a vibrant existing institution. Killing SSDS by starting a charter school would be unethical and just plain wrong.
Such a Hebrew Charter School is wrong in so many ways and I endorse this petition against it.
I am a parent who moved to East Brunswick because of its excellent PUBLIC schools. I am opposed to charter schools using public funds to serve special interests. Tax revenue should only be used to support school programs that are provide universal benefits. By all means offer Hebrew (and more foreign language options like Russian) at EBHS, but a separate school is a bad idea. The apparent damage that this proposal would inflict on an existing well-regarded private Hebrew school only strengthens my opposition.
If it will be a self supporting school via tuition paid by interested parents, then the taxpayers won't feel the strain already hitting them in this poor economy. People should not waste their time just to say they have a "new" school. There's really not a significant purpose for this school. I really don't see the "need" as they claim. Put your dollars into something else that IS needed and matters more.
I am against a charter school in east brunswick. I am not opposed to (another) a private school, funded by tuition. Do not use my tax dollars to fund a charter school.
East Brunswick has amongst the best public schools in the nation. Any charter school with a religious leaning will detract from our secular society. I would rather the funds be reinvested in providing more for our public schools than cater for a select few in a charter school.
e. brunswick is a blue ribbon school.Where from this? chinese charter school,arabic charter school,mexican charter school? Where do we stop.a foreign language free school bdoes no9t belong to the public, but to the parents to solve.
I AM A BELIEVER IN MINGLING WITH DIFFERENT CULTURES & PEOPLE WHO ARE OPEN MINDED. TO HAVE A HEBREW CHARTER SCHOOL WOULD BE A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT & I SUPPORT THIS PETITION TO THWART THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH A SCHOOL IN EAST BRUNSWICK.
First of all I am against Charter schools altogether. I wholeheartedly agree with the context of the petition.
There are many schools in East Brunswick already. I don't think we need to spread our tax dollars toward yet another school. There is a great Hebrew Day School in East Brunswick which has existed for many years. It would be a tragedy if this school had to close its doors due to a competing school (which only a handful of students would get to attend due to the lottery system) and a school which will only teach language and not the religious values that go along with the religion.
It's in the best interest of the people demanding the charter school to fund it themselves. We really do not need one in a school district like East Brunswick.
There is no need for a charter school in a community with an excellent school system.
we have a great school system in place , without question. i really dont see reason to fund a school that primarily will cater to any specific group .
SSDS does an excellent job servicing the needs of the Jewish Community for residents throughout Middlesex & Somerset Counties. There is absolutely no need or reason for a Charter School concentrating on Hebrew studies - offer a hebrew language class in school. Although we do not live in E. Brunswick, our daughter receives a wonderful education at Solomon Schechter Day School in E. Brunswick. If current SSDS students living in E. Brunswick would leave to attend the charter school, it would jeapordize SSDS students living outside of E. Brunswick. I would hope that the school district would consider the impact of a Hebrew Language charter school on the surrounding communities. I can't believe that the state is even thinking about funding this when NJ is already in financial trouble when there are great opportunities available already.
east brunswick has an excellent public school system by any measure. a hebrew school, or any other school with a religious focus, should be privately funded, not supported with public tax dollars. Period.
There are already several schools in the region which serve the need of students in numerous municipalities without requiring the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. While these schools are all currently financially viable, the financial soundness of some of these schools would be significantly compromised by the students lost to this proposed charter school.
Enough is enough. no more publicly funded wish lists for private needs. Our taxes will be increasing more then ever once the toxic asset Bank is formed by the treasury and we all have to hold the municipal burden for the lost tax revenue for foreclosed homes in east Brunswick.
I think that creating an additional venue will split the Jewish community and will damage and not help improving Jewish awareness and unity.
Let those individuals who want to have Hebrew taught in a public school environment petition their school district to offer it as a course. Without Jewish content, it's just another foreign language elective.
My friends who have a Jewish heritage oppose this charter school idea. At a time when everyone is feeling the effects of the sluggish economy and taxes in New Jersey are already higher than in most other states, it does not make sense to further burden the already diverse and happy East Brunswick community with a venture such as a Hebrew Charter school. I would support adding hebrew and yiddish as foreign languages offered at the high school when latin is also offered in eighth grade and above.
One of last year’s more fascinating books was Bill Bishop’s “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart.” He argues that Americans increasingly are segregating themselves into communities, clubs and churches where they are surrounded by people who think the way they do.
