Brooklyn Yeshiva Investigation Progressing Too Slowly, Critics Say

Pictured: Miriam and Naftuli Moster. Photo by John V. Santore

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — The city has finally started to investigate the educational standards at a group of allegedly problematic Orthodox Jewish yeshivas, according to a leading activist — but not quickly enough.

Naftuli Moster, the founder of educational advocacy organization Yaffed, has been pushing the city for years to look into what is taught at about 40 yeshivas located mostly in Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Borough Park and Flatbush.

Moster alleges that the schools fail to provide a basic secular education to their students, leaving graduates unable to function as adults. The activist says the assertion is backed up by the testimony of more than 50 individuals who have direct knowledge of what is, and isn't, taught in the schools.

Yaffed has yet to identify the schools publicly, with Moster saying that he still wants to work with them to reform their curricula.

His group, however, has threatened to sue the city and Mayor Bill de Blasio for failing to ensure the schools are providing an education that is "substantially equivalent" to that of public institutions, as required under state education guidelines.

On April 20, Moster spoke out at a meeting of the city's Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), the Department of Education's top advisory group, accusing chancellor Carmen Fariña of failing to act.

At that meeting, Fariña responded to Moster's assertion, saying, "I have personally visited several of the yeshivas, and I do believe there will be some decisions coming shortly."

Moster said Wednesday that he was contacted by city officials the day after that exchange, and has had two meeting with them since.

The DOE and representatives from the mayor's office have also interviewed 14 individuals working with Yaffed, Moster said — including former teachers and students — about their educational experiences at the schools Yaffed highlighted.

"The DOE was very good," Moster said of the meetings, adding that the department has "shown a genuine interest in understanding the problem."

At the same time, however, Moster said he thinks the interviews are the only real work on the issue the city has undertaken. He said officials haven't shown him any proof that they've delved into the schools' educational standards, even though the DOE has claimed since the middle of 2015 that an investigation is underway.

What's more, he says the city recently suggested that it wants to look at every yeshiva Yaffed has focused on before taking further action. But Moster said that will require significant time, meaning nothing will change before the coming school year.

Instead, he wants education officials to crack down now on what he alleges are the worst offenders, in the hope that approach will prompt other schools to change on their own.

At the most recent PEP meeting on June 22, Moster again accused Fariña of inaction. This time, the chancellor didn't say anything.

However, at one point during the meeting's public comment period, Fariña stepped away from the panel to speak directly with a former teacher who had come seeking help, claiming that a retaliatory school official was preventing her from obtaining financial assistance despite debilitating medical problems.

As Fariña walked back to rejoin the panel, Moster returned to the microphone and said that while he was glad the teacher was being helped, it was "telling" that the chancellor had taken an interest in her, instead of an interest in yeshiva students.

Fariña did respond to that comment, and while she was off-microphone and difficult to hear, she appeared to say that what was actually telling was that she was trying to assist a teacher with medical problems.

Toya Holness, a spokeswoman for the DEP, did not immediately respond to a request for comment concerning Moster's account of what the DOE has done on the yeshiva issue since April.

However, she had previously responded to a request for an update on the yeshiva investigation.

“There is an ongoing investigation into whether a group of Yeshivas is providing a substantially equivalent education in secular subjects," Holness said. "We take this matter very seriously and are having productive dialogue with those involved in the investigation.”