Home › Forums › Yeshiva / School / College / Education Issues › Lakewood school board State monitor (and Five Towns) › Reply To: Lakewood school board State monitor (and Five Towns)
1) If there are children there who CAN be integrated, it is against the law to keep them self contained. If the program does not accomodate it, then they are out of compliance with the law.
2)The school I mentioned was nothing of the sort you describe.
3) severely handicapped children who remain in public school special ed programs are losing the benefit of a jewish education but you are being dramatic in saying their “souls are lost forever” That is ridiculous. We are talking about children who are so pure that they are not mechuyav in mitzvos. Unless you have decided to change your mind about who we are discussing, you are talking about children who are so disabled that nobody really knows what language they understand. And now you are going to tell me they will be lost forever? Please. They are pure and will remain so. The public school accomodate special diets all the time so kashrus does not HAVE TO BE an issue. are their friends inviting them out to movies? PLEASE, stop changing the stories around every time you want to make a different point.
I am guessing by your posting that English is not your native tongue. Not being able to communicate fluently in English is fine if your community will provide for you in all ways forever (I have no issue with that), but if these kids who are disabled (not learning disabled, but less severely impaired) never leave your system out there and never learn to be fluent in any other language, does your community promise to provide all THEIR needs for them forever as well?
Here in Chicago they will need to be in jobs in the secular community (grocery stores etc) so a Jewish education is THE top priority but so is reading and writing in English. If you cannot provide life skill training and occupations for ALL these disabled children, ALL of their lives, then keeping them away from english language skills is actually very harmful for them.
You are either for the CHILD, or you aren’t. You need to sort out which of your “causes” are really for the child.