In a massive win for New York yeshivos, a state judge ruled that a school district must provide busing for non-public school students on days that public schools are closed.
The case was filed by the Orthodox Jewish community in Blooming Grove in July, saying that the guidance affected some 170,000 frum students in New York, and around 400,000 students in total.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Peter Lynch ruled that the Washingtonville School District was in violation of state education law by refusing to provide said transportation, and that state education department guidance allowing districts not to provide busing on days that public schools are not in session was “null and void.”
The ruling will already have an effect this week, as yeshivos continue providing instruction on Thanksgiving, when public schools are closed, and will have much wider implications if the ruling is upheld on appeal.
Rabbi Yeruchem Silber of Agudath Israel called the ruling “a victory not just for non-public school in Washingtonville School District, but for all non-public schools and their students throughout the entire state.”
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4 Responses
Can we get that judge here in NJ? Passaic specifically.
Hoooraaay!
No more carpool madness!
There’s “Rights” and then there’s doing what’s “Right”
Drivers are not robots. How do you think the drivers will feel about “The Jews” when they have to shlep out on Thanksgiving, Easter and Xmas?
Do we suspend other laws on goiyeshe yom tovim (aside from parking restrictions?). If the students are “entitled” to a publicly funded service, then it should be provided whenever their schools are open. Does anyone recall how much effort schools made to provide legally mandated “free lunches” to kids below the poverty lines for more than a year when schools were physically “closed” for Covid. and even during the summer when no instruction was provided.