shev143 – We wouldn’t have control. The School Board has control. All subjects would follow NYC curriculum. Remember “Heather has 2 Mommies”? How about the free distribution of condoms and birth control presciptions? You want that? You want “Holiday parties”? And if you think these schools would be comprised of only “unzerer mentchen”, you’re wrong. Forget about separate sex schools. In fact, little Moishie would be in school with Shaniqua, Achmed, Xian, and Mallory.
Wolf – I do believe that in theory, it could work. The NYC school system can’t handle the extra load. There are already over 1 million students in the public school system. Classrooms are already overcrowded. And poor-performing schools are being shut down. The Board of Ed doesn’t want us there as much as we don’t want to be there.
I heard a story a number of years back (don’t know if this is urban legend) about an Orthodox woman whose child needed services for some learning disability. I believe the family lived in a NYC suburb. The child clearly needed the services and the Board was trying to wiggle its way out of providing them. She turned to the group and said, “The child needs the services, and you don’t want to comply. I am the head of my child’s PTA. Tomorrow, I can have the parents of 600 students lined outside these offices, demanding placement of their children in your local schools, and you would have to provide it.” Knowing that she meant business and knowing that they didn’t have the resources for the extra 600 students, they gave her the services that her child needed.
Trying to add 20,000 (and more) Yeshiva students to the NYC school system could bring some relief to yeshivas. The only reason it wouldn’t work is because we as a people are so badly splintered, that we couldn’t get together to force the City’s hand.