(Follow up to THIS article) A group of parents of Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn filed a nearly 200 page brief in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday to compel the school to open its books to them. They also want to see minutes of board meetings and copies of the contracts to sell Shulamith’s Midwood, Brooklyn campus and to purchase a new Inwood campus for the school’s Long Island division –– Bnot Shulamith –– that currently rents three locations in Woodmere and Cedarhurst.
An attorney for the parents, Robert Tolchin, said what his clients want most is a detailed plan to maintain Shulamith’s long presence in Brooklyn.
“In the best of all possible worlds the parents in Brooklyn would like the school to remain just where it is,” Mr. Tolchin said, but conceded that “he suspects that it may be true” that that is financially impossible, as school officials maintain.
“If they’re convinced, on reviewing the books, that there’s no way” for that to happen, Mr. Tolchin said, “then they want to have a school in Brooklyn before there’s any talk of having any of the money leave Brooklyn to go to Long Island.”
That’s not feasible, according to Rabbi Moshe Zwick, the executive director of Shulamith. “I’m not going to rent a place now for two years from now. That’s crazy. If someone would give us an option for two years from now and not ask for rent –– or very little rent –– I would do it now. But no one’s going to do that. That’s why there’s no immediate plan.”
He said he is looking for an appropriate location to relocate the Brooklyn school. He has previously stated that any sale of the Brooklyn campus would require an agreement that the school could remain in place for two more school years.
Rabbi Zwick declined to open the books to parents; in a letter obtained by The Jewish Star he disagreed with Mr. Tolchin’s contention that the school is a “member organization” in which parents have the right to financial information. “Membership” grants the right to send children to the school, he said Tuesday, nothing more. “When Yeshiva University sold us the campus,” he noted, YU’s board made a decision and no one said anything about it.
He said he did not know if that deal –– as a transaction between two charitable institutions –– had required the oversight of the New York State Attorney General, as his proposed deal would. While he has consistently refused to identify the intended buyer of the Brooklyn campus, he said Tuesday that the school’s real estate attorney would handle the required notification to the Attorney General at the appropriate time.
Also Tuesday, Rabbi Zwick strongly disagreed with Mr. Tolchin’s decision to go to court and denied a claim that he, Rabbi Zwick, first offered to go to a Beit Din of the parents’ choosing, and then refused to accept their choice of the Beth Din of America, under the auspices of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA).
“I had my reasons why I didn’t want to go to RCA but the bottom line is I would go. I’m a Jewish man. If they call me I’m going. I’d rather not go to any beis din. I’d rather there be an agreement between both sides.”
A committee of board members is considering different options for Shulamith’s future in Brooklyn, according to Sheldon Fliegelman, the chairman of the board. Not having a Brooklyn presence is not one of those options under any circumstance, he said. “We’re running a school. We continue to run a school. We’re not running away. We’re not dumping the student body. Chas v’chalila. That’s not the way we do things…we have a commitment and we will honor that commitment,” said Mr. Fliegelman.
He confirmed that one of the options under consideration is some form of partnership with Yeshiva Derech HaTorah, a school for boys in Brooklyn, under which Derech HaTorah would operate Shulamith’s Brooklyn school. The two schools are considered to have similar Hashkafic outlooks. Jacob Abilevitz, Derech Hatorah’s president, told The Jewish Star Tuesday that as many as 50 percent of the families with sons in Yeshiva Derech HaTorah send daughters to Shulamith.
Mr. Abilevitz confirmed that he is negotiating with Rabbi Zwick about a possible partnership, but whatever the outcome of those talks, he said, one thing is not in doubt: “All the rumors have no basis. The [Shulamith] school will continue in Brooklyn indefinitely. I’m assuring everybody that the bottom line is the school will stay open.”
Mr. Fliegelman said his preference would be to not partner with another institution but for Shulamith to run its own institutions. “It would have to be a deal where we could enhance the school, where we could grow the school,” he said. “If we were to partner we would never give the Shulamith name away,” he added. “Nobody would ever give the Shulamith name away.”
It remains to be seen if the parents in Brooklyn who have started the legal action will be satisfied by the currently unfinished state of future plans.
“There’s a lot of resentment,” Mr. Tolchin said. “There’s the sensation that Rabbi Zwick has mentally given up on Brooklyn and the school in the Five Towns became the apple of his eye –– the seed of the future –– and he wasn’t interested anymore.”
There’s also the sense, Mr. Tolchin added, that control of the school’s board has shifted from Flatbush to the Five Towns.
“Anyone who says Long Island controls the board doesn’t know what they’re talking about,” responded Mr. Fliegelman. “There were three that came aboard from the Five Towns,” in the last year or so. “You can’t run a school that’s as big as, or bigger –– and certainly bringing more revenue than –– the Brooklyn school, and not have representation on the board. You have to have representation, so we brought three on. Ultimately they’ll have more.”
As the Orthodox community in Flatbush has become more yeshivish in recent years, enrollment in the Brooklyn school has dropped, even as the Five Towns school has experienced considerable growth. Still, Mr. Fliegelman said, “For a number of years, as I see it, Flatbush is certainly going to be the controlling factor.”
(By Mayer Fertig – The Jewish Star)
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15 Responses
Hard to keep the cake while eating it. Let this not become the chilul hashem of the year please, Shulamith has educated students for almost a century with a pure non-tarnished name.
Economically it makes sense to get rid of the building… but not to leave the borough, there are still many, many families in Brooklyn that are somewhere between ModOx and Yeshivish for whom Shulamis is the perfect fit. To force these families to either a) have their kids shlep out of town to go to school everyday, or b) keep their kids in the area but have to send them someplace they wont fit in hashkafically is very unfair.
Marine Park would be a great location for Shulamis to move to. There is much Jewish growth in the neighborhood, a great park to take advantage of, and real estate prices are still much lower than smack in the middle of a commercial area in Midwood. They could sell the current campus, and build up a new place with plenty left over to invest, without leaving the borough and their constituents.
Maybe somebody would be interested in buying the place & donating to the shul of Hagaon Hara Avraham Schorr shlit”a. This magnamanious structure would be so “just right” for Rav Schorr’s eloquent droshos & shiurim. Seating would be very ample, and everyone would have place to stretch out. What a kiddush hashem it would be if this tzaddik’s shul would become the new occupants of one of the most prominent Jewish institutional buildings in the Midwood area.
Anyone, please!
Here we go again,
It seems that the plot is thickening. Originally, the parents were told that the school is being sold to one of the Board members and now it becomes a “charitable institution”. Let’s get those Orange jump suits ready folks.
Marine Park would be a perfect place and since the community is moving to the right,so will Shlamis.Their charter is to educate the girls in Brooklyn,not to be religious zionists and move out of Brooklyn when the area changes.
I agree with Maimoni, there are many parents who would have no place to send to with out a Shulamith in Brooklyn. Yes, Brooklyn has changed. However I would rather my daughter attend Shulamith, march in the Israeli day parade, speak fluent Hebrew and have a love for Israel and be well learned in both Limudei Kodesh and Chol. Rather than sending her to another school where many of the mothers all may cover their hair but think nothing of wearing skin tight clothing and short skirts. But of course would never send to Shulamith! And to the parent who suggested busing kids to Long Island would you like your 3,4,5 or 6 year old girl on a bus 2x a day for up to more than and hour and a half-you know what the belt is like at 4:00??
bupsbups, you are misreading the article. The 2 charitable institutions were YU and Shulamith – not in reference to the present transaction. And its unfortunate that you are so willing to sentence and convict people with whom you disagree.
Shulamith took in a total $6,371,410 in Fiscal year ending August 31, 2006.
They claimed expenses of $6,964,439 leaving a deficeit of $593,029.
They list their assets as $6,964,675, including the building which they list as being worth $6,349,048.
They paid $4,184,084 in salaries, and $212,521 in utilities. There is an entry for rent in the amount of $239,150 (which I don’t understand, if the building is long paid for. Parsonage for somebody?) Mortages in the amount of $2,506,677, with a total liability of $4,470,498. The highest paid employees are:
P. Karp science teacher $117,309
Susan Katz principal $90,194
Rabbi Lieberman Principal $129,452
B Nekritz principal $73,252
M Zwick Exec. Director $80,162. Which is a $22,000 increase in salary over the past year.
Their IRS 990s are matter of public record. They are available on Guidestar.org
People, learn to use the internet. There’s a lot of information out there.
#6 eagleteach – i take the belt all the time, and it actually, for a while now, has been moving alot smoother, at maybe a 35 mile crawlat 4-6 oclock (yes by the inclines of teh erskine area it slows more, besides, buses cannot take the belt. they would have to go all the way around, via the BQE, and that would take forever. as for moving to marine park, there are no building there big enough for an entire school. canarsie may be a better idea, as there are plenty of empty shuls all over the place that are rentable.
As a nonprofit institution, don’t they HAVE to open their books?
A very basic nonprofit search turned up this:
Organiztion Name: SHULAMITH INSTITUTE FOR GIRLS INC
Established: 1942
Location: NY 11230
Asset Amount: $6,964,675
Income Amount: $6,371,410
Revenue Amount: $6,371,410
But I think they have to open their books…
I reread the original article from 05/21/2008. Quoting the article:
Rabbi Zwick also confirmed that Shulamith is in negotiations to sell its current Midwood, Brooklyn campus. However, he emphasized that there is no plan to shut down the 76-year-old Brooklyn school soon, or anytime in the future.
“As long as it’s realistic to have classes the school will continue in Brooklyn,” he said. After a sale, “the school will remain in this building for at least a few years. After that the school will continue elsewhere in Brooklyn because we will have to vacate.”
What am I misssing? Where does it say that the school is closing?
Outfront – the key here is really reading what he is saying: “As long as it’s realistic to have classes the school will continue in Brooklyn.” They have already decided its not realistic. This is a word game that the courts will eventually decide. A school can be made to be not realistic in several short months if thats the plan. How? Very easily: Don’t pay the teachers, don’t bother to press parents for tuition, give very large scholarships, don’t pay the rent or the electric bill. Under those circumstances any school can be made NOT realistic in Zwick talk. Does anyone remember Yeshiva Dov Revel in Queens? Flourishing school, went down the tubes very quickly and now the building belongs to Touro.
The other key point you are missing is WHERE? There is no answer other than the vague “elswwhere”. That is no answer at all.
To outfront-The only reason that R Zwick said those things is because he has no choice. He knows that he can’t legally close this community school, so he’s saying that as long as it’s viable then we will continue somewhere else in Bklyn. The problem is that he is turning down enrollment for next year.. in an effort to make the school “not viable”. Besides how many people do you know will register for a school without a definite future?
As for selling the campus…the money must remain within the Bklyn community-they can’t legally take it somewhere else.
Shulamith is a wonderful, loving and friendly school. It is like one big family!It is perfect- right in the middl-jewish girls. I wish it would never close down.
The Shulamith school has 550 students. It could potentially have more with proper recruitment. The community did move more to the right, but there are plenty of parents with children in other Brooklyn schools who would prefer to send to Shulamith if not for “rumors” that the school is closing.
Shulamith does not belong to one individual. Shulamith is a community owned school, therefore if the community wants it to remain where it is to fulfill its needs, then so it should be.
The Shulamith in Brooklyn needs to stay where it is so that it can grow and prosper.
Long Island is not an option.