The Painful Rejections of Lakewood Schools

southernbubby

Tue, Jan 14 2020, 9:11 am

amother [ Babyblue ] wrote:

They just want an opportunity to blast the Va’ad. Take a look at their Facebook page. Openly calling “the hasidics “ cockroaches and that’s the best of it.

I will take your word for it because I view Facebook as treif.

keym

Tue, Jan 14 2020, 9:25 am

Here's the thing that you cant get around.
Space is a huge issue.
Schools are growing as fast as they feel capable of.
New schools are popping up as quick as possible.
But the community is growing so fast that no one can keep up.
My daughter is in 8th grade in Bais Faiga.
There are 9 parallel classes with 27-30 per class. Primary has 13. There are currently 17 schools with 8th grades. There are 32 schools with primaries for next year.
That is insane growth.
It's very easy to armchair analyze- open new schools, open parallel classes, add more students.
Has anyone actually talked to principals and administrators about the process?
I have. The schools that grow too big too fast struggle with space issues, staff issues, money issues.
My boys are in such a school. I'm not naming it. But I sent them to a "small, starter, gamble school" that didn't even have a 3rd grade- 20 boys in the class.
My 7th grader has 32 now, and there are 4 or 5 parallel primaries with 28 in each class.
But they struggle with keeping up hiring good teachers, good principals, competent secretaries.
Growing too big too fast comes with its own set of struggles.

And I'm really happy to add more students to my kids classes so kids aren't hurt. But there reaches a point where it becomes too much.

Chayalle

Tue, Jan 14 2020, 9:32 am

keym wrote:

My daughter is in 8th grade in Bais Faiga.
There are 9 parallel classes with 27-30 per class. Primary has 13.

I believe there are 10 primary classes, with 30 girls per class. Mrs. Epstein told me this herself, and she told me that she has a teacher in 3rd grade who says she is quitting before the primary gets to 3rd grade, because she does not want to have to handle that class size.

That's what happens when a school keeps being pushed to take one more student, one more student, etc...even the established schools can't deal with the growth being pushed on them.

I remember when my girls were in Primary, no class was larger than 25 students. It was Bais Faiga's pride. What are they going to do now, push them over 30?

southernbubby

Tue, Jan 14 2020, 9:41 am

Someone put an op-ed on the Lakewood Scoop yesterday about stopping the growth of Lakewood. The writer said that although it is possible to turn single family homes into duplexes and multi family homes, the infrastructure can't handle more people and they should be actively discouraged from moving to Lakewood.

amother

Brown

Tue, Jan 14 2020, 10:13 am

Zehava wrote:

Chassidish school tuition is a joke. Most of their funding comes from the government and from the many wealthy donors they have due to the men actually working and making money.
Satmar even had enough money to raise millions for israeli institutions.

Chasidish tuition is much less than other places.
My husband helps run a chasidish school system in Brooklyn, boys (up to17), girls up to 18.
Tuition for elementary is $500 and high school $900. Yes, some parents pay less.
Government funding is a small percent of what keeps them afloat.

Parents and grandparents donating on a yartzeit, a birthday,day of simcha, for hatzlocha on a business deal etc. is a big percentage of funding.

Chasidim (of all income brackets)tend to donate to their kehillas mosdos in huge numbers compared to donating to something like MIKVA USA or a kiruv school in Russia (this in no way is a put down for those who donate to these great causes). (or a put down for the dynamics of non-chasidic Jewish communities.)

amother

Brown

Tue, Jan 14 2020, 10:16 am

southernbubby wrote:

Moving to a specific area may not necessarily have to do with factors claimed by people.
Real estate is all about location, location, location.
In people's mind Lakewood is lthe ocation.

barbara1

Sat, Aug 22 2020, 11:48 pm

zaftigmom wrote:

Just because something terrible and painful is happening to you it doesn't mean that it's someone's fault. These schools legitimately have no space. Not all the schools handle it with tact but it doesn't change the reality that there is no space. This is a serious problem that has nothing to do with the schools rejecting who you are.

I know a school principal who gets actually sick every year from this. Sometimes caring isn't good enough. Caring about your child doesn't magically create more space in the building.

Your pain is real and you deserve empathy but the anger is misplaced.

The whole lakewood school system is messed up and there are not enough schools to accommodate the tremendous growth either we stop the growth or find a solution to this horrible and painful problem.

barbara1

Sat, Aug 22 2020, 11:50 pm

amother [ Tan ] wrote:

Me too. I know someone - wonderful frum ppl who made large donations to the school they wanted from the time their daughter was born. They didn’t get in.

My sons school grabs learning yeshivish ppl. Because most are working. Money doesn’t help.

Btw contrary to what ppl are saying out of town schools don’t accept everyone.
I know someone from Lakewood that moved to a small town in Florida assuming her kids would just get in. They didn’t accept everyone. There were no other choices. She was shocked. She had always assumed schools not accepting everyone was a problem in Lakewood alone.

I guess lakewood is not the only messed up space that rejects jewish children. And then we are surprised when we see soany of the derech children.

amother

Papaya

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 12:00 am

barbara1 wrote:

I guess lakewood is not the only messed up space that rejects jewish children. And then we are surprised when we see soany of the derech children.

Same problem in boro Park and Monsey.

amother

Khaki

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 6:54 am

Chayalle wrote:

I remember when my girls were in Primary, no class was larger than 25 students. It was Bais Faiga's pride. What are they going to do now, push them over 30?

My primary daughter had 29 kids in her class this year. And it sounds like there were still hundreds of kids rejected.
What I don’t understand is why people move to Lakewood if they don’t have a school for their kids. That ought to be a huge factor in deciding whether to move here. Instead people just move, and expect the existing infrastructure to somehow accommodate them.

amother

Khaki

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 6:56 am

amother [ Pink ] wrote:

Developers should be made to donate $$$$ for school development. They are the problem.

They need to build the buildings and donate them. Pay the principals. Bail out the school as many times as necessary.
How many schools have closed their doors over the last few years. And then people blame the surviving schools for not taking them in. When that’s just unfair to everyone involved.

amother

Bisque

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 7:14 am

amother [ Khaki ] wrote:

My daughter got into school not too long ago (in the summer) and the person who was helping us said that there were only a handful of primary schools still without a school (less than 5).

amother

Goldenrod

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 7:21 am

How are there huge class sizes going to be managed with social distancing /6 feet between children?

Our schools made smaller classes and added classrooms in the lunchroom/gym/art room/library. We don't have the overcrowding issues you speak of. (We also dreamed of the tuition mentioned - everything is balance)

Mommyg8

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 7:42 am

amother [ Pink ] wrote:

Developers should be made to donate $$$$ for school development. They are the problem.

👍

I hate to point fingers, but the buck has gotta stop somewhere and developers are the obvious people to blame.

The other option is to learn from Chassidim and put pressure on everyone in the community to contribute towards schools and yeshivos. Right now there are a few individuals who are carrying many of Lakewood schools, maybe our attitude had to change that this should become EVERYONE's problem.

amother

Pearl

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 8:03 am

amother [ Khaki ] wrote:

This. I told a friend of mine that Lakewood is not a consideration for this reason. She said to me, "You need to have emunah. Hashem is in charge of whether your kids get into school."

????

Ein somchin al haneis!!!

amother

Khaki

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 8:06 am

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

My daughter got into school not too long ago (in the summer) and the person who was helping us said that there were only a handful of primary schools still without a school (less than 5).

I am so happy to hear that. But other years schools have shut down at this point and then they’re desperately trying to place those kids. We’re not out of the woods until every kid has literally started school.

amother

Khaki

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 8:08 am

amother [ Pearl ] wrote:

Thats true. But it’s also unfair to the principals, teachers, and kids who have to deal with overcrowded classrooms. I’m lucky that my daughter has “only” 29 kids, other schools have classes of over 30. And these are little kids.

watergirl

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 8:13 am

For those who want an easier time getting their kids into school, smaller classes, less heartache, there is an entire country in the States with more options. Its a choice to make. You may have to resettle, find a new job, and move farther from family. But its a choice. Choosing this school situation is also a choice. No one is forced to live in Lakewood.

amother

Pearl

Sun, Aug 23 2020, 8:18 am

amother [ Khaki ] wrote:

I agree with that, as well. I just don't understand this attitude.

We hope to move to a place that can comfortably hold our family.