The school is situated in a religious neighborhood of RBS A. One might justifiably say RBS A is Haredi, but it is at least mixed religious, with a majority of Haredi residents. the immediate area around the school is mostly Haredi, though I am not sure that is a real factor, as a number of the other school buildings in that immediate area are also non-haredi. And there are many Haredi institutions located in buildings on the older part of Bet Shemesh in non-Haredi areas, and the students are bused in. It is not a great argument, that the building must be given priority for local needs, but in this situation there happens to be a severe shortage for local institutions.
The Haredi community has long been upset about this, saying there are Haredi schools bursting at their seams, overflowing with children, using caravans and temporary structures, while this school, with kids largely being bussed in from other parts of the city, cannot even fill the building they have are under-using a valuable resource in the middle of an area where the local kids dont have school buildings.
The non-Haredi say it is a regional school, the former Minister of Education Gideon Saar authorized it to be kept in use by this school, they have had it and it cant just be taken away, etc.
I happen to agree that the authorities should find a way to allocate the school buildings more efficiently and give the buildings to the schools that need them. If this school is not using the building entirely, it should perhaps be shared with another school in a similar situation. Or with a new school that does not have so many kids yet. Or the school can be relocated to another, smaller, building, and this building be re-allocated based on need.
Unfortunately, our city leadership is not blessed with vision or skills for planning long term. Instead of working on this, the problem has been festering for years already, they just try to use force to get things the way they want, or think should be.
They could call a meeting in the Iryah about it, put it up to a vote (which will have an automatic majority), pressure the government, meet and negotiate arrangements with the school board and the relevant parents associations...
Today, some Haredi city councilmen went down to the school with city workers and acted like they are forcefully taking over the school. Police were called in, another non-haredi city councilman got involved opposing them, Words got heated. Police kept everyone apart. Nobody was arrested.
As I said, I think the right thing to do is find a solution to free up the building and allocate it to a local school that needs it.
My complaint here is that they show up the day before school starts and claim the building forcefully. Where were they the past two or three months during summer vacation? Couldn't this have been dealt with over the long vacation? Why the day before Opening Day? And why not already be dealing with this even longer than over the 2.5 months vacation? For the past year, or 3 years, have they been working on a solution? or do they just plan to show up every few years right before opening day and try to take the school?
(images from Yaakov Lederman's Facebook page)
(some video available as well)
The Regional Director of the Ministry of Education later sent a letter to Mayor of Bet Shemesh Moshe Abutbol saying that they oppose such a unilateral decision, and express bewilderment that such a decision to initiate such a sensitive action would be made just days before the opening of the new school year.
source: shopping
The Iryah response claims it is their job to be concerned for the education fo children from all sectors, and this building is underused. Being that they are owners of the property, they have the right to go in and do what is necessary and they did not break in or act forcefully. They add that they invited the principal of the school to meetings a number of times, but she never came.
The principal responded to that by saying she was only invited to a meeting about it once, on August 25th (less than a week ago. She says she arrived 10 minutes early to the meeting, and waited an hour. The secretary contacted the Director of City Hall, who said he has another meeting. At that point she left. She was called later and told that they decided in the meeting that the Mishkenos Yaakov school would use the building. She contacted the Board of Parents and it then went to the Regional Director of Education, the Board of Parents and the Minister's office, for further action.
source: shopping
This is how they shoot themselves in the foot. This is what happened a few years ago. They turned it into a big fight at the last minute, and the Minister of Education had to support the school instead of the thugs, and no solution was found. Now too - instead ow working toward a solution, they shoot themselves in the foot by acting like thugs, and then it will come back to hurt them. Is this regional director going to help them now? Is this going to delay a solution by another few years?
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