Hallandale Supports Diversity…Right???

We went fishing recently. Fishing isn’t for everyone; women in particular don’t seem to like dealing with chum, bait or cleaning fish; these things seem to make them squeamish. Baiting the hook, it occurred to us that Hallandale residents are like the worm on the hook and suddenly WE started feeling squeamish. Safe one moment, on the hook for something we can’t control the next.

On the trip home yesterday, we wrote a completely different post than the one you will read today. We’ll save that one for another day because the information we found in our inbox last night meant this new post almost wrote itself.

Opposition to the Ben Gamla School stems from the knowledge that this is a special interest project meant only to promote Peter Deutsch and his agenda.  There are other factors as well but we’ll stick with this one for now because it’s enough. The BGCS proposed by Deutsch is not for the benefit of the HB community as he has tried to convince people. An article by The Jewish Daily Forward entitled “A Charter for Failure” states:

“It is telling that the Hebrew charter schools seem to have made particular efforts to engage heavily secular Jewish sub-groups….Similarly, Ben Gamla’s founder, former congressman Peter Deutsch, told The New York Times that “South Florida is one of the largest Hebrew-speaking communities in the world outside Israel, so there are lots of really good reasons to try to create a program like this here.”

To HB residents and Commissioners, Deutsch claims one thing but to the New York Times, he claims another.

The article concludes “In contrast to other languages, Hebrew cannot be completely divorced from the rest of Jewish culture, in which religion is an inextricable element. Given the fact that the founders of the charters are interested in promoting Jewish identity, there is little doubt that such schools will, sooner or later, run afoul of the strictures separating religion from state in public schools.”  Read the entire article at http://www.forward.com/articles/15099/

The idea of this school as a benefit to the children of Hallandale is a joke. That anyone would pretend this school has any purpose but to serve a small and specific group is absurd.  That it should also disrupt an entire neighborhood and drain public school funds is an outrage.

Read the excerpts below from http://www.lifetech.org/hebrew-charter-schools.aspx for further confirmation.

“Under the direction of Peter Deutsch, a former 16-year United States Congressman in Florida and founder of the Ben Gamla schools, we plan on assisting Ben Gamla to open 10 locations in southern Florida, with 1,000 students at each location.  We are well underway towards meeting our goals.

We believe that Hebrew language charter schools are the future of Jewish education for non-affiliated Jews in America. We also believe a great many people in this country are interested in learning more about Hebrew language and culture.  With the Great Recession upon us, it has become increasingly unlikely that these groups will send their children to private schools when a free education awaits them in public school.

Hebrew language charter schools are the answer.  The Ben Gamla model is a proven success.  The combination of Hebrew language and Hebrew culture being taught in the schools (tuition-free) gives Jewish families and others interested in Hebrew language and culture a connection to their identity otherwise unavailable to them.  Those interested in Judaism may also pursue that interest in inexpensive after-school programs.

Relatively small initial investments in these schools are leveraged into tremendous future sources.  Once the charter school is established, the school runs, for the most part, on government funds provided per student as well as through grants that schools receive.

Read the information in its entirety at http://www.lifetech.org/hebrew-charter-schools.aspx

We know the School Board is completely in the dark about the mission and purpose of the BGCS but we hope that HB Commissioners will do what’s right for the community and the schools in it.

Private schools do not drain public school coffers but the BGCS and its mission to serve such a narrow group will drain dollars from other schools.  If you don’t think it’s about the dollars, you have another think coming (yes, that’s actually how the expression goes).

We’ll use the $6800/student in public school funds doled out each year for our calculations:

1000 students (Hollywood, Plantation & Miami Beach) = $6.8 Million /year

750 students (estimating for Pinellas, Boynton Beach & Palm Beach) = $5.1 Million /year

With only 6 schools, Deutsch’s organization is raking in close to $12 Million / year in public schools funds which would be OK if it weren’t for the fact that he has said time and again this school was created to serve one specific group.

The school in Hollywood started with 250 kids, it’s at 600 now, and they’ve requested portables in order to accommodate even more students. The Plantation School will be expanded soon and who knows what others.  Do the math.

An article in the Morning Sun written by Charles C. Haynes of the First Amendment Center points out:

“…..Catholic schools are populated mostly by non-Catholic students. When charter schools are designed to attract students of one religion, being faith-based without the faith is a much greater challenge…public schools were founded to educate youngsters of all races and creeds. Of course, parents have the right to send their children to religious or other private schools. Public schools, however, receive public support because they serve the common good – not the interests of one group.

It’s important to ask whether Hebrew and Arabic charter schools – filled with mostly Jewish and Muslim students, respectively – undermine the purpose of public schools by creating a balkanized system of public education.” Read the article in its entirety at http://www.morningsun.net/opinions/x1498356255/Religious-charter-schools-follow-the-money-lose-the-faith.

We’re starting to think HB residents aren’t the only ones on the hook – looks like city commissioners are being swallowed whole. They haven’t approved the school but it would appear that to Deutsch’s it’s a done deal.

On October 14, 2010, we posted a piece noting that BGCS proposed for Hallandale was already listed on Google Maps. Shortly after that, the listing mysteriously came down (kind of like the video we drew attention to last week). A neighbor showed us the other day that the listing is back – under a slightly different name. Conduct a search and you can find it under Charter School Ben gamia.  Yes, that’s right, it says “gamia” with an “I” not gamla with an “L”.

Is this some kind of inside joke? If it is, it’s on HB residents.

2012 is an election year. If commissioners don’t wake up, smell the coffee and do what is right for this community, VOTE THEM OUT. Anyone with a computer and internet has access to all the information we find. If your commissioners are uninformed, it’s because they don’t want to be. Get rid of them. Tell your friends to vote for whoever is not one of them. Donate money to anyone who is not one of them. Do whatever you can to get off the hook.

A final note, we spend A LOT of time researching the information sent to us and we print it along with plenty of personal opinions and always with facts and links to the research. Some comments we get and print (expletive-filled or vulgar ones that include body parts and what the writer would like to do them are deleted) and emails are only shared by request.

We got a comment on the blog from someone identifying himself as Alex Lewy. Can’t be sure it was because anyone can fake almost anything in the digital world. If it wasn’t actually him, someone should tell him his name is being co-opted. If it WAS actually him we’d like to say (1) By all means, overlook the facts and focus on some BS item (2) Heads up buddy, the correct terminology, is “motorists” not “motor vehiculists”) and (3) You missed some punctuation.  Anyway, here is the comment:

“Great job with the coherent, well written insult. “Expect Ross?” I suppose you meant “except,” but that wouldve taken some semblance or articulation to type out properly I suppose. Good job, retard.”

As usual, share this with your friends, and neighbors, thank you for doing so and thanks for all the info.