“For too long, teachers and principals in this school have ignored
children being abused physically and sexually. There is evidence to
suggest that in most of these cases the school knew about these crimes
and chose not to act,” reads a statement on the Facebook page for the protest, which is being organized by Chaim Levin, whose story of abuse at Oholei Torah was chronicled in the Newsweek article.“Furthermore, three of the people mentioned in the Newsweek article, people who either abused children themselves or oversaw it, are still employed by the school,” the statement said.
Protesters say they are marching to demand an end to child abuse, the
replacement of abusive staff and apologies to victims of childhood
sexual abuse. Organizers of the protest also want victims to be paid
compensation “for the damage caused by abuse,” they said in a press
release.
For years now, ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools in New York have been receiving tens of millions of dollars in funding from the federal government as part of a program called E-rate, which The Jewish Weekexplained “subsidizes telecommunications services and infrastructure for schools and libraries.”
There’s
a story to be written about why private religious schools should be
receiving taxpayer funding at all, but the bigger story right now is
that ultra-Orthodox Jews essentially forbid their community from using
the Internet. (After all, knowledge might pop their bubble.) Which means
they’re getting a lot of money to increase their technological
capabilities… even though the students aren’t allowed to use it.
…
[FBI agents and investigators were] demanding that vendors and yeshivas
provide records and account for equipment allegedly bought by religious
schools with millions in federal education technology dollars.
… The
FBI-led raids, which involved 22 separate search warrants in Ramapo,
are part of an investigation into whether local yeshivas properly spent
money obtained through the federal government’s E-Rate program…
…
In
a statement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said: “Today, the FBI, working
with our office, conducted searches in connection with an ongoing fraud
investigation. If and when charges are filed, they will eventually
become public. This remains an ongoing matter, and we are unable to
provide any additional information at this time.”
Needless
to say, this doesn’t appear to surprise people familiar with the
districts involved. I’m legally obligated to link to the excellent
episode of This American Life discussing one of the public school districts in East Ramapo that was taken over
by ultra-Orthodox Jews who were frustrated that they had to pay
property taxes for the schools when their children didn’t even attend.
By winning a majority of board seats, they were able to decimate the
system for everyone else.
This raid, if the suspicions are
confirmed, would show that they were willing to screw over American
taxpayers, not just the people in their communities.
WHADDYA EXPECT FROM JEW-HATING ANTI-SEMITIC ATHEISTS?
FBI Raids Rockland Firms As Part Of Yeshiva Fraud Probe
Feds demanding for proof that ultra-Orthodox schools used federal technology funds for intended purpose.
In a potentially related development, The Journal News reported Wednesday
that the FBI had used an Orthodox Jewish radio program and a haredi
Orthodox informant in a sting operation that led to the conviction of
several Rockland County officials in a corruption scandal.
The 2013 Jewish Week report
found that haredi Orthodox schools that publicly eschew the Internet
were awarded millions of dollars for tech equipment and Internet wiring.
In 2011, for example, Jewish schools — the vast majority of them
haredi Orthodox — were awarded 22 percent of the E-rate funds in New
York State, even though they enroll only 4 percent of the state’s
students.
That year, of the $30 million approved for E-rate purchases at almost
300 New York Jewish schools participating in the program, nearly $9
million went to 10 schools — all but one Hasidic. Those schools, among
them United Talmudical Academy in Williamsburg, which was reportedly
raided Wednesday, were collectively awarded nearly $9 million in
E-rate-funded services.
