Critics are pushing Mayor de Blasio to force ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools across the city to provide state-mandated secular lessons with a new petition that has gathered 1,500 signatures, the Daily News has learned.
The progressive Jewish group Yaffed launched an online petition last month that calls on city schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña to enforce a state law requiring Yeshivas to provide students with traditional academic lessons in subjects such as science, math and history.
The petition, which can be inked by anyone, drew the signatures of influential rabbis and Jewish educators, the petition’s authors said.
In a letter delivered to City Hall in July of last year, Yaffed identified 39 New York City yeshivas it says do not provide academic instruction required by state law. The letter prompted a city investigation.
Yaffed executive director Naftuli Moster said Mayor de Blasio has had more than enough time to produce some results.
“The city is stalling and stonewalling rather than seriously attempting to fix the problem,” Moster said. “They’re playing politics at the expense of the students.”
An estimated 25,000 students at the male-only schools are impacted by a lack of secular instruction, Moster said.
City officials refused to provide many details on the probe, which is still ongoing.
But de Blasio spokesman Austin Finan said the inquiry is making progress.
“The schools and their representatives have committed to begin altering their curricula to include better and more secular education as early as next year,” Finan said.
Skeptics said the drawn-out investigation is just the latest in a series of special favors gifted from de Blasio to the city’s influential Orthodox community.
“The extended delay in releasing public findings from the supposed investigation raises serious questions of political interference,” said Brooklyn College and City University of New York education Professor David Bloomfield.
Avi Schick, a lawyer who represents the 39 yeshivas named by Yaffed, said the Jewish schools in the probe are cooperating with investigators.
“Yeshiva leaders and the city continue to work together to provide a positive educational experience for children whose parents have chosen these schools,” Schick said.
“Critics who complain about the few benefits religious students receive reveal an animus toward hasidic schools rather than a desire to protect hasidic schoolchildren.”