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In Exclusive Interview, PEARLS Tells Rockland Daily: Yeshivos Can’t Be Intimidated

In Exclusive Interview, PEARLS Tells Rockland Daily: Yeshivos Can’t Be Intimidated

By Idy Perl


Last week, the Court of Appeals issued its decision in the ongoing court battle between PEARLS and the State Education Department. At issue was whether SED has the authority to close down yeshivas and direct parents to take their children out of the school, and whether parents can supplement the instruction their child receives at school with instruction at home or an after-school program. 

Thankfully, the Court of Appeal ruled that SED cannot close schools or direct parents to unenroll their children and that parents to have the right to supplement their child’s school-based instruction. 

BoroPark24 spoke with PEARLS Executive Director Yossi Grunwald to further understand how this decision will impact Jewish education. 


PEARLS has been battling the SED for 10 years now to ensure that parents have the right to determine the education that their children receive. What does this court decision mean for Jewish education?

It removed SED’s threat to close yeshivas or to order the parents whose children attend those schools to unenroll them from the school. If SED would have that authority, it could use that leverage to try to force yeshivas to do things that are contrary to their mesorah. Now, the SED can’t try to intimidate yeshivas.


What will happen now to the schools that were directed by the SED to close down, and the parents who were told their children will no longer receive special education services?

Those schools can continue after the summer, and those children should be able to receive special education services there. SED’s refusal of services was based on its argument that those six yeshivas are no longer schools, and only students at schools are entitled to services. Now that the Court of Appeals has concluded that SED is not authorized to close schools, the services must be provided

The yeshivas community is looking to the Adams Administration to announce that these children will receive services at their regular yeshivas. 


Where do we go from here? What are the next steps that PEARLS will take to further secure the rights of parents to make decisions regarding their children’s education?

We need to remain vigilant, and to make sure that State Education Department and the NYC Department of Education do the right thing. If they don’t, we must continue to confront them by all means necessary to protect yeshivas, families and children.

We also need to continue davening so that we are zoche to continued siyata dishmaya.


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