1. The question is what does it mean that a child has no place? Do they really have no place or do they not want to go to the place the Vaad gave them?

2. Absolutely! No question! And we should not be required to pay tuition for those days that they’re closed. But the schools feel the heat.

3. more schools need to be opened… we can’t force the current schools to pack 40 kids in a classroom where no one gets a good education to learn well…

   also,parents need to stop worrying about shidcuim when their kid is 5 years old… hashem runs the world… a school that you might think its not up to your standards might end up being the best school for your kids!

4. They definitely should but at the same time they definitely should open on the day they are supposed to. In other words whatever they are going to end up doing to ensure everyone has a place should be done now (I understand everyone is working tirelessly to make sure everyone is in a good school, the point is at the end of the day everyone will be placed so why make people suffer longer for no reason. Whatever will end up being done should get done TODAY). We may need nite schools but that will prob not happen anymore for this year so we know what is in front of us and let’s make it work! Today! Let’s avoid a shutdown! This is not a government that can just be shut down- we are looking at heilige nishamos! Avoid the shutdown and let’s make happen today what would otherwise happen in two weeks, the results will be the same other than the people feeling a lot better!
   Ah Gut Yohr!

5. @ Eli – there is room in plenty of elementary schools; it’s just possible people are choosing not to go to those schools. But there is room. Girls High Schools however… we need more

6. I voted yes, they should stay closed. But I caveat that if therer are parents in a school and they want a so called “better” school, then no! Every child must have a place in a school. But they don’t have a right to be in the school of their choosing.

   I have a close friend whose child is not yet in school. Now I am trying to help him but to be perfectly honest, he already got into a school. He just doesn’t want to go there (notwithstanding that he fits in there).

   • Then don’t say “whose child is not yet in school”!! That is false, misleading and lashon hara on the schools. There is no reason that the vaad or the schools should go out of their ways for someone whose child IS accepted, but insists he should get what he wants. Not getting your way is not the same as “not accepted”. I suspect that most of the people who claim ‘my child is not accepted’ really do have a place, but are holding out for what they want.

7. If every parent was willing to go to a school that was,willing to accept them ,then we wouldn’t have this problem . Yes there are always gping to he a smsll number of kids that are nit accepted anywhere ,but if tge problem was limited to those that really had no school., then most likely they wpuld he placed in some sort of a gorol or Chanukah. But since every year ,the list is do much larger due to patents who won’t accept ehat is available ,so thst is the real problem .

8. Absolutely! And I am a working mom and it would be very difficult to have my kids home for that long. But I would never want to be in a situation where every other kid is able to start school and mine can’t go because he/she was not yet accepted.

9. Why should schools be closed ? The schools are doing their best and are full beyond capacity .

   What really should be closed , is all businesses that are luxury such as restaurants ,take out places , pizza shops ,sushi places ,Pesach programs, summer camps , summer vacation spots , all tzedokos for outside Lakewood . Supermarkets and groceries should not be allowed to sell anything beyond necessities, or put a heavy tax on the fancy meats and other luxury delicacies.

   We should then use the many many millions of dollars saved from closing these places and use them to open new schools .

10. It can stay closed as long as the children don’t have a place to go, but if they have a place and the parents don’t want to and to that specific school, then the whole Lakewood does not have to loose out because the parents of a child is being stubborn

11. 1000%

12. Space, standards, i was thinking about these issues and reasons for children not accepted into schools. Space can always be made, a little construction, add another class room. As for standards? Whose to say that a child from a house where the father wears a colored shirt, or the mother has a long shaitel, or whatever your standard is will be more open and exposed than a child from the most “choshuv” family where there is a teenager who is nebech off the derech and involved in issues no parent should have to experience. If you ask me, the first child is growing up in a healthy household and would probably be a better friend for your child than the second child who is growing up in a household of fear, stress and knowledge of everything that goes along with a family suffering from things we should never have to learn about. ALL THESE CHILDREN NEED TO BE TREATED THE SAME, AS CHILDREN OF HASHEM. THERE IS NO ONE BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. IF EVERYONE MOVES OVER JUST A BIT THERE WOULD BE ROOM FOR EVERYONE. The solution, all children’s names are pulled from a lottery along with a school and that is the school they go to. Hanahala has no say on who they take and parents have no say on where to send their children. This leaves all up to Hashem. I know from experience Hashem has the ability to do what is best for all of us.

    • This is a GREAT idea… except the cruelty of children to children fostered by the prejudice of the parents will not bring consensus and will show-stop this excellent solution. Tragic.

13. It would be a very bad message and a terrible thing to start school while any child does not have a school. I can’t believe that there is even such a consideration. I work a full day and it would not be easy for me and my children all have schools but can you imagine being in the position of NOT having a school for your child? Where are the powers to be that used to DEMAND this. Why did it change? Do you know what people outside of lakewood will think of us if we let this happen? I am begging of the daas torah that have the power to demand this to please step up and do so.

14. Every parent should be required to sign a paper stating that he is,willing to send his child to any Lakewood school that the Vaad can place him in . Most parents will not be willing to sign such a paper.

15. To Yochi Miller.

    Just curious what you have done financially or otherwise ,to open up a new school. There is no organization that funds or makes schools . It is left to private people such as yourself . Why are you demanding of others to do what you are not willing to do yourself .

    In the past ,many years ago it was not a space issue . Today, there are many schools that don’t even have room for the teacher to sit at a desk . So it’s up to you and other parents to get involved and make more schools

    • Ben,
      Honestly I must say you are correct that I have not done much. would actually think it is a good idea to put together a fund to raise money for this purpose and I will happily donate to it. iyh I agree that I am part to blame that I have not been involved. At the same time though I am not blaming anyone only stating that if we don’t hold out starting school there won’t be pressure on anyone and then sweet wonderful kids will be scarred from it. I think this is true. If schools refuse to open until the matter is resolved there will be a collective pressure on all of use to find answers as we will all be impacted negatively – not merely some poor souls that we chose to ignore. Would you agree? Do you have suggestions how we can raise money for a new mosad?

16. Ateres Tizpora is an absolutely wonderful girls school in town that really tries to take as many girls as possible. They go by the motto “CAN WE HELP THE GIRL”. It has a pretty decent open door policy for a majority of the girls looking for a school. The school has a wonderful flavor of different mixtures of backgrounds and girls are thought to integrate and be accepting of the different backgrounds within yiddeshkeit. THEY WANT to help as many girls as possible. They really do. If they have the means of helping a girl they do their best to accept and to make it happen. Unfortunately the school experienced a hard few years between funding and negative lashan hara – possibly because they arent the mainstream cookie cutter type of school. Its an absolute shame that there are funding issues. Its a very small school that has plenty of room for our sweet neshamos to feel at home. The schiool has been around for about 11 years and has a wonderful approach to chinuch. Girls come to school smiling and leave smiling. Its really a home away from home for the girls and in many cases a refuge for girls who deal with struggles at home. Mrs. Insel (the very dedicated principle) always finds the time in her hectic day to give a hug to the girls that need the love. The care and love she has along with her unbelievable dedicated staff is truly inspiring.

    I really think families should consider sending their girls. Give your girls a flavor of ahavas yisroel the way it should be.

    Every girl deserves a place.
    Every girls should feel the care and love they deserve.
    Every girl deserves to live a life without rejection.
    Every girl!!

    Every parent should have a feeling of acceptance.

    NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO C’V FEEL THE PAIN OF REJECTION.

    Ateres Tzipora and staff: Thank you so much for the love you have showed my daughters these past few years. I truly bentch the school from the bottom of my heart as I am sure many other parents are. I wish you all the hatzlacha in continuing your holy work. I hope you dont have to shut your door due to funding issues that from what I understand is not the school who is to blame for the funding crisis.

    As a community we should recognize the avodas hakodesh ateres tzipora is doing and help them in their time of crisis.

    Ateres tzipora is there for our sweet little girls. We should now as a community be there for them.

    Thank You,
    A very grateful and trembling parent.

17. To Toby

    It is true that there is,a huge shortage of Girls high schools . But even there, there are 2 schools that had the space to add classes and were willing to accept many more students . If all affected parents would have chosen to send to those 2 schools ,then there wouldn’t be much of a problem that
    couldnt have been solved .

18. You are a bunch of big talkers. I used to think that some parents dont want certain schools due to prestige or pride for themselves. However, now that I am up to this and my daughter isn’t in school, I beg to differ. Why should I risk putting my daughter in a school that has majority of the girls living a different lifestyle than my daughter. I dont have my daughter on technology and she doesnt watch movies and many of the girls in some girls do. She is exposed but I dont need to risk it as a constant battle. Should I not have a right to try getting her into what would be a healthier, safer place for her?
    I know what some of you may answer, but I also know that some high schools are hanging tight until the last minute and yes then they plan on accepting afew more girls. So, we may need to sit it out and if the schools know that they cant open then they will be forced to do those last acceptances afew days earlier and give us parents and daughters, some peace of mind.

19. I think it is irresponsible for anybody here to make comments about this issue before they find out if most affected parents ,could have had at least one school available to them . According to those in the know , most not all ,parents were not willing to accept any school. So why are we bashing the schools for the parents bad decisions ?

20. Hershey comment was spot on . If we just closed,all summer camps and summer trips and restaurants for the next couple of years and took all the money spent on that to open new schoolsb,we would have a tremendous amount of new classroom space for our kids.

    Unfortunately that will never happen . Its much easier to.make the schools the bad guys,and close them down , than it is for us to recognize that it is our priorities that are not in order . We cant go without our summer vamps or vacations or steaks or sushi. Its,always easier to bash the schools,and make them the problem.

21. Crowdism, Cliques, Tribalism, Fractionalization, Paranoia, is destroying Achdus, our kids and preventing Mashiach. Period.

22. three comments: if you have a strong home and give your kids a solid chinuch and dont rely on the school to teach your children values then you shouldnt be so afraid of the “type” of school your kids end up in. however, second comment: people should absolutely have a right to choose which institution to send their kids! especially when you need to pay for it!
    third comment: if people would abide by school rules, i think schools wouldnt need to be as “picky”. they could fill up with the first x amnt of applicants who agree to follow their guidelines

23. Seriously, is that even a question? Every year I ask Hashem for another year of Hatzlachah while there are children who don’t have a school to attend. I feel so undeserving of what I’m asking.

24. So now we at least start getting the truer picture .

    The parent who commented that he doesn’t want to send his daughter to a school that he doesn’t feel is as good for his daughter as the school he is holding out for . I certainly agree with him that he should be mishtadel to do what he thinks is best for his child . But it is totally unreasonable to keep all schools closed so that he can force his way into a school that already has 35 or 40 or more kids in a class and has no room for him .

25. @ Anonymous 18… you are living in denial. Open your eyes the technology and exposure is going on in every school some more openly than others… do not rely on your school to raise or shelter your child. Schools are here to give our children an education. That’s it.

26. The comments here make it sound as if the schools are so selective and take only kids,who are exactly what they want .

    This is so ludicrous .

    The larger established schools that are all way over full , have a huge amount of siblings . In a few of these schools , siblings make up almost 90 per cent of their enrollment . That means that these schools are turning away great non siblings in order to take siblings who have all kinds of issues, social issues , frumkeit issues, learning impairments, troublemakers in class etc etc . So these schools are in essence taking in huge amounts of students who are problems, who they would never accept otherwise if they were not siblings . In many cases ,they would be more than happy to rather take one of the ” homeless ” kids rather than the real problem siblings that they are taking because they have no choice .

    So ,this,attitude that the schools are being exclusive is really totally untrue when 90 per cent of their student body gets in without any criteria other than the fact that an older sister once attended that school.
    If not for the sibling policy ,many of the homeless kids would have been accepted on the first round .

27. I have a few daughters that graduated elementary school. I will soon be sending another daughter to primary. However, not to the same school as their sisters. I had bad experiences with the school and lost respect for the principal and office staff. I loved the teachers. I can not send my child to a school where I do not respect the principal. She does not have the same values that I am raising my children with. There are other schools that do. I do not want people judging me and saying that I can always get into a school. It would be highly inappropriate to send there. People commenting on this blog don’t know all the reasons why people can’t send to a specific school. Instead, they throw out their two cents based on their incomplete understanding. Do not judge others until you are in their shoes. Until then, daven that Hashem should remove all the suffering from His beloved children. No matter how minimal the pain is, it’s there because we are in galus. Every day that we are in galus is the collective fault of all of us. Please don’t put the blame on anyone. There is a galus crisis that needs to be resolved. We should all be part of the solution!

28. Every single school in Lakewood has exposure to things we don’t want our kids exposed to .Every school has kids that they take for the Vaad and siblings that have issues and exposures. Even the supposedely frummest schools have this because of the kids that they are forced to take . There is no escaping it.

29. I just want to let everyone know my girls have no school yet and no they weren’t accepted too any school yet. And no I’m not being picky.

    • Try Ateres Tziporah!

      • Years ago, we had the same situation and our daughter was accepted to Ateres Tziporah. We were very happy there. Please consider it.

30. To Hindy and Tzvi, may I ask where you send your children to? I can put money on the table that you are way more “narrow minded” than me and I am sure that you sent your kids to the more “yeshivish”, or elitist schools…where as I have not and based on many experiences thru out the years…I dont want to risk the next 4 years. I give my kids the chinuch and know that every school has exposure, which I actually want. But, I dont want to risk putting my kid in a school that has majority of the kids discussing which movies, episodes they are currently watching…

31. Moderator please give CF my contact info. Comment number #29. I may be able to help.

32. CF, my daughter didn’t get in until four days before school started, and I felt blessed! Yeshuas hashem.kheref ayin. Any day now iyh you will be in a school!! Keep.your head up high! Hatzlocha

33. i feel the plight of these girls but i still voted no cuz keeping schools closed is the ends dont justify the means.

34. To C.f.

    Are you elementary or high school. For elementary there might be place if you contact the Vaad .

35. My daughter going into high school hasn’t been accepted yet I have been working day and night running after ppl. No reason has been given to me this should have been taken care of a long time ago for some odd reason they make everyone wait till 2 weeks before school. A terrible thing for these girls the FACT is Lakewood high schools accepted many girls from out of town (20+) this should not have happened until every Lakewood girl had a place

36. This should be the #1 item on the agenda of the rosh yeshiva. A solution can be found.

37. To Mr Anon.

    So you say you want your kids to get some exposure ,that you are not narrow minded. That’s fine and perfect .

    So maybe the schools that you are fighting to get into are not looking for any exposure at all? Maybe they are very narrow minded and want only narrow minded parents . How can you force yourself on them . Maybe just like you feel that school A has too much exposure for you, maybe they are entitled to feel that you have too much exposure for them ? Why is it a one way street where you can feel you dont like a certain school exposures and the school cant feel that they dont like your exposure . Either every school is acceptable, and if you dont feel that way ,then not every parent has to be acceptable to every school .

38. hi all. I have a daughter who is a paying sibling and still wasnt accepted into school. I was told that nothing will move until the rosh yeshivas force the issue by not allowing any schools to open. Does this situation make Hashem Happy? That there are some 60 plus girls with no high school? That they and their parents are made to feel like dirt? Does it make Hashem happy?

39. To Please.

    I heard from somebody that some high schools did not accept any girls from out of town and gave preference to Lakewood girls only . So don’t paint everybody with the same brush .

    To askan

    The Rosh Yeshivas can only make this their number 1 item on the agenda ,if the Baal habatim come through with the big dollars needed to make more schools and classes. Are you volunteering ?

40. Everybody talks about “them” and “they” as if there,are people whose job it is to make more high schools . Im sorry to break it to you ,but there us no them and no they . By chasidim there us a kehila that takes responsibility, but we have no such structure. So you can’t wait for sone invisible people to make more schools . You have to do it yourself . Like sonebody else said . Let’s stop all summer camps and summer vacation trips and all restaurants and fancy delicatessen and fancy fund raising parties and 10 million dollar bike a thins and instead spend the money on making new schools,and helping the existing school to expand .

41. I know of people who offered to make more high schools if the kehila,and Askanim would undertake to cover the deficit after tuitions ,but they did not get that commitment . The kehila wants people to open up and be fully personally responsible for all the money .

    • Who is “the kehilla”? The entire lakewood/toms river/jackson frum community of over 100k people? who speaks for this group?

42. How can the Rosh Yeshivas force the issue and close schools ,if the Rosh Yeshivas are not helping to fund the schools to build or expand ?

43. Firstly- please recognize that our community and it’s institutions are not immune to the ills of society, and while we strive to shelter our children and make their environment perfect that is absolutely impossible (even if you chose to homeschool and live on a desert island…)

    Secondly- highest recommendation for elementary girls and their parents to meet Mrs Insel and visit Ateres Tzipora- a most warm, caring, positive place that truly practices what it preaches: “chaveirim KOL Yisroel!” Your child will get an outstanding education and learn firsthand from a wonderful, capable staff!

    Thirdly- High school girls should meet Mrs Schwimmer and visit Yesodos BY- another michaneches PAR EXCELLENCE with a curriculum and staff that cannot be beat!

    Both of these schools are smaller and newer, give girls more of an opportunity to shine and get personalized attention- students are not just “a number”! All types of girls and families send to these schools and that’s one of the (many) reasons they are such wonderful mosdos!

44. I voted yes, but as others I agree if your child got in somewhere & you don’t want to send- I don’t need to keep my children home.
    We also wanted a specific school & with pull we were not getting anywhere- we then applied to another school got in right away & said this is what Hashem wants & this is where we are wanted & we are very happy with our decision!

45. Bittul Torah! They SHOULD open the schools and the schools should rent/provide a location for a temporary Rebbi until a more permannet solution can be formed.(such as starting a new school)

46. My primary girl still did not get into any school, however, I am being realistic and saying that I would never want to hold up an entire town by starting school late just because my child is not in school. The system is corrupt, but that’s a fact and that won’t change. I need to work on facing reality and accepting the unexpected, and accepting the things I can’t change. my kid will get into school when God wants, regardless of whether it starts on time or it starts 5 days late

    • You should really try Ateres Tzipora. I have my youngest B’EH going into primary there as well.

47. Unless she lied, I was given the names of 3 schools that someone moving from out of town was accepted into. I agree local girls must take preference!

48. Schools should open! All the other parents and students shouldn’t be punished! However, tuition should not be paid by anyone!! Let the principals figure out how to pay their teachers and if they won’t want to, then they’ll have to make sure that every child has a place!

    • Instead of looking at this as collective punishment start thinking about Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh La Zeh. Not everyone unfortunately are as lucky as you are.

49. To Sam

    So you are telling people to steal. Did you get a psak that stealing is mutar ? Would you tell somebody to keep their store open ,but the buyers shoud take merchandise without paying ? And then tell the owner to figure out how he will pay for the merchandise that you stole? Especially when the owner is giving you the merchandise below his cost ,in most cases, for those parents not paying full tuition . The same parents who send their kids to camp and go on summer vacation.

50. I voted yes.
    When the Shidler letter was first printed on Tisha Bav I floated the following idea which is parallel to the question up for vote.
    Create a petition called No Child Left Behind which will take effect once a predetermined threshold is reached (probably 500 or 750 signatures)who commit to hold back there children from school until all children are placed.
    This would be very effective.
    moderator:if you print this comment kindly leave the proper spelling and punctuation intact.

51. Attention Hershel,
    1.If everyone lives in a communist place, and don’t spend money their will be no money to pay even their own tuition.
    2. Please stop blaming the h.s. My daughter has 160 kids in the grade…?and they can not do the job they are supposed.
    3. Every new elementary should have a high school and the numbers will match

52. “Them” and “they” are the schools!!! “they” take the donations from all walks of life that love in Lakewood, “they”are charitable and tax free, “they” are not a business!! no local businesses are on the same boat (“we” pay taxes). my friends and I have donated to “them” and other fine institutions in town hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past few years. “they” are a community school if “they” take the community dollar ….
    To above Steve besides the fact many schools, not all but many, did take kids from out of town they should have taken care of girls rooted in Lakewood first. I do know for a fact that over 20 plus girls (close to 40 girls from what I heard but cannot verify) were accepted and have taken slots in Lakewood girls high schools
    Besides not allowing the schools to start on time will put pressure to insure no bas Yisroel gets destroyed inside and it will make those girls feel as though the community is standing with them as one “ke’ish echad be’Lev echad”

53. We are actually making it impossible to solve this problem . I know of several people that were considering helping others to start high schools totally Lesham shomayim. But then they spoke to people,who told them that if you are successful, you will be hounded and called all kinds of names because you are not taking 35 or more kids into your classes and you are not adding classes fast enough . Instead of being makir Tov to those who made schools and realizing that they cant grow so fast ,we have taynos to them. So no wonder very few people want to get involved in this . You have to be crazy to start a high school . All you will get in return is that people will call you nasty names and threaten to withhold their tuition so you won’t have money to pay your teachers .

54. I am on the board of a high school and help them with their finances . I wish what you were saying is true about donations . Besides for parents grandparents and others affiliated with the school or friends and relatives of the people that run the schools ,they get almost nothing in donations from the general public .maybe if the general public did donate meaningfully, there would be more funds to expand . The people that give them ,generally would like the classes to be smaller and the unaffiliated general public thst wants them to grow , doesn’t give anything. I can’t speak for all schools ,but that is my experience in this one .

55. Some people (some) have to make some tznius changes in their life, & im sure a school would gladly accept them then. You cant dress like in hollywood, but want the best yeshiva for your children. period. contradiction.

    • Number 1, everyone in Lakewood is dressed tznius. If you don’t believe me, come to the city where I work and I’ll show you. Every single lady in Lakewood is going to get sechar for how they dressed. I envy your sechar.

      Second, every last frum child deserves to get into at least one frum school no matter what their parents do. Every gadol holds like that.

56. I totally agree with Jerry . After reading the comments here ,why in the world would anybody in his right mind want to get involved in opening a girls high school. People open mesivtas because they want to say a shiur. But all you get from opening a girls high school is people cursing you out and threatening to close you down and withold tuitions if you don’t take full responsibility for the crazy growth in Lakewood .

57. Jerry- you hit the nail on the head! Opening a mosad will only get you flak from people, it’s a thankless, moneyless job!!! Only someone who is in it totally lshem shamayim could survive

58. its imperative for the schools not to open as this teaches the children a lesson of achdus and caring for others just because your all set doesnt mean everyone else is and we cant open until every last child is accepted and set up its appaling that so late in the game their are still children not accepted
    another reason isfor the schools to see that the town as a whole being supportive of the children not yet accepted this is unacceptable
    UNLESS its the parents holding out not wanting themselves to avail themselves of the school that ultimately accepted their child
    that would be a reason to open and not make the whole school system delay because a few parents were stubborn about the school their child was accepted into
    as a parent here in lkwd for over 30 years i can tell you from personal experience i also didnt get my first choice of schools for 1 of my children and it was bashert as my child wouldnt have worked out in my original proffered choice
    after making your hishtadlus leave the rest up to hashem beleive it or not hes busy with getting your child into school too

59. rejection is painfull
    but its a lesson for life, if your being rejected, its obvious that something has to change in your life…

    do it now b4 you head upstairs…

    dont expect the school system to welcome your braziness

60. To Who.

    You asked ” who is the kehila ” . That is a good question .

    The answer is as follows. The commenters here are asking somebody to keep schools closed . So whoever that somebody is that seemingly has the power on behalf of the community to take such drastic steps that affect 35,000 school children , that same somebody ,whover it may be , obviously has the responsibility to make sure there is enough funding and enough schools . It really doesn’t make sense for a person or group to have the power to tell the schools and all the parents what to do ,without equally having the responsibility to make sure that there are enough schools . Just basic common sense .

    • It is a lot easier for the vaad to tell people to not open schools yet, than it is for them to raise tens of millions of dollars and open schools.

61. Mike hit it on the head.

    We have a phenomenon in Lakewood where everybody feels they can sit back and wait for others to make schools . Yet they also feel they have the right and authority to tell others and the schools what to do . Well that doesn’t really work . You only have the authority to tell others what to do, or to close schools etc if you are the one who takes the responsibility of creating the schools,when needed .

    In Chasidishe kehilas, the Rebbe and his Askanim undertake the full responsibility for making sure that there is money for everybody to have a school. They also make sure that those that can’t afford it ,get a vastly reduced or even free tuition . So of course ,they have the right to tell the schools what to do . The reason they have the funds ,is because they train their bal habatim that all tzedoko money has to be given to their mosdos first before giving to outside causes .

    In Lakewood, there is nobody taking responsibility for any of this. We wait for private people to break their heads to make new schools . Yet somehow everybody feels that they have the right to give deyos about who to take, how big classes should be ,closing down schools etc . Well it doesnt work that way. Along with giving deyos comes the financial responsibility.

62. Satmar just opened up some schools for their new kehila in Lakewood . Thete are quite a few parents who are not required to.pay tuition because they can’t afford to .

    Every month ,the school gets a check from the kehila in NY to cover the budget . Obviously the kehila in NY can have a full say in how the school runs .

63. You wrote that every child deserves to get into at least one frum school.

    First of all ,in almost all these cases ,if you push the parents to the wall ,they will admit that there was one school that they probably could have chosen ,but they were not willing for whatever reason.

    Second of all, even for those handful that really would go to any school , if they were really the only ones needing to be placed ,then it would be manageable and they would most likely get placed to at least one frum school. But now,that the numbers to be placed are so much higher ,due to those not willing to accept just any frum school , it has become too large of a number to place .

    Thirdly , it is the responsibility of the community at large ,not the individual school administrators, to make sure there are enough schools for the rapid growth in Lakewood . We are adding 5000 kids a year into the system and only a communal effort can keep up with that .

64. Our daughter is still without a high school. We followed the rules of the Vaad and applied to several schools. The schools used it against us as to why weren’t their first choice because we applied elsewhere as well. There is no reason they have to wait to the last minute to place when the damage has already been done to both the parents and the girl. I asked my daughter if we should celebrate when she gets in and she said that now even if she gets in she doesn’t feel like celebrating because where was everyone until now.

65. Is there any high school that you are NOT willing to go to or as long as the vaad finds,any high school with plsce ,you wpuld he willing to go there ?

    • Would be willing to go to any high school but it would have to make sense. No one has been suggesting one yet that we turned done.

      • Have you applied to all the schools . There are several smaller great schools like Yesodos ,Ateres that might still have room .

66. The question just really be phrased as follows:
    Should all restaurants ,ice cream stores , vacation homes , Sukkos in Israel , Pesach programs, sleepaway camps, seminaries in Israel for 20,000, gourmet groceries , high end clothing stores , 5 piece bands and fancy weddings ,
    ,lavish bar mitzvas, lavish kidushim for simchas etc etc etc be closed until all the members of Lakewoods various kehilas donate enough money to establish new schools ,especially high schools so that there is,enough place for every girl .

67. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again the same way and expecting different results.

68. I have 2 boys who are not in school because every school has said no the schoolcthe were in we left because they were being mentally abused I wish any school would take my kids so to everyone who wants to write on here that knows best but is not in this situation should either go back to learning or go to work and not sit here and say things they don’t know

69. I don’t think that now every girl should be punished and stay home because some schools are very stubborn to take in other girls. I think we should say tha these schools who don’t take in girls we stop their funding. I vote NO schools needs to start ASAP life goes on and theses schools who refuses to take in will pay a price. DON’T PUNISH THE INNOCENT!!!

70. If i recall correctly Lakewood high schools have done this around 10 years ago. The high schools opened approx 2 wks after supposed to. Did it work?

71. When this happened about 12 years,ago there were about 400 girls gping onto 9th grade . Now thete are about 1200 girks going into 9th grade. In those 12 years we have only added 3 new schools for 800 extra girls just in 9th grade . It is obviously nowhere near enough .

72. If every school would open their own a high school this problem wouldn’t exist

73. Ahavas Chinam will solve this great problem. All principals and Rosh Yeshivas are to give their children’s and grandchildren’s seats in schools. all children who are waiting to be placed,will now have room…
    Don’t worry, before day breaks tomorrow,for all these chashuva kinder leach, a solution will be found.

74. To Buuby L

    It’s nice to comment on a blog .

    Why don’t you walk into the house of the Rosh Yeshivas you refer to and ask them to do what you are saying . After all ,the Rosh Yeshivas are the ones involved in trying to get schools to accept more students .There are several great smaller schools that have place and would gladly accept all the grandchildren of all the Rosh Yeshivas . That would definitely open up at least another 25 slots in the schools that have no room . Please try to suggest that and come back here and let us know how you made out .

    • Hi Chaim
      Just because someone posts on a blog, doesn’t mean they can walk into a Rosh Yeshiva’s office.
      But the point was made, that it’s easy to tell everyone who doesn’t have the best connection to take a school that their child doesn’t belong in while everyone who has great connections sit nice and comfortable.
      By the end of the day everyone wants their child to strive, not fall stagnant on the wayside.
      So if more “choshuva” people went to weaker schools or just pulled out temporarily then perhaps the administrators would give deeper thought to the Klal instead of their individual businesses.

75. I think people who grew up here should have priority of those who moved here.

76. Its so simple. Every elementary school in town should have a high school as well. There is simply no room in the existing high schools in town for the tremendous growth that we are seeing. Elementary schools can turn a profit. High schools are very expensive to run. If they worked collectively than they can support each other. ( the ratio for elementary schools to high schools is ridiculous )

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