This past Friday, YW reported (HERE) about An April 19 hearing convened by the city’s Board of Health – which provided an opportunity for representatives of local religious communities to voice their concerns over proposed amendments to the city Health Code that would, for the first time, subject their pre-school programs to a broad assortment of regulations. Below is the statement from the Agudath Israel & NYC Council Member David Yassky:
Agudath Israel Statement:
New York City’s religious pre-schools, which do not require official permits to operate, have traditionally been exempted, at least in practice, from regulations concerning things like staff educational qualifications, numbers of children per school, caretaker/child ratios and square-footage requirements rules, in addition to a welter of bureaucratic rules.
With the Board of Health’s proposed amendments to Article 47 of the Health Code, which regulates child care services in the city, that de facto exemption will end and a rain of new rules will descend on pre-schools and child care facilities in New York’s religious communities, including the large number in the city’s particularly “child-friendly” Jewish neighborhoods.
Among advocates for the Jewish community who testified at the hearing were attorney Rabbi Mordechai Avigdor, executive director of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg Rabbi David Neiderman, and Agudath Israel executive vice president for government and public affairs Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel. Representing the Catholic Archdiocese was its secretary for education, Catherine Hickey. Also testifying was City Councilman David Yassky
Rabbi Zwiebel expressed a number of concerns, among them that new space for groups who might not satisfy the regulation’s requirements is simply not available in many of the neighborhoods that would be affected; that the economic impact of fulfilling the space, staff and administrative requirements would effectively render such programs too expensive for many parents who truly need them; that certain rules could clash with the free exercise of religion rights of some schools; and that the bureaucratic load alone would be excessively burdensome, especially for short-staffed and smaller groups.
Rabbi Zwiebel contended that the implementation of the proposed amendment and its requirements for religious pre-schools would create not a subtle shift but a sea change, and one with devastating results for many such groups.
In a letter on the eve of the hearing, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene notified child care providers that, as “some facilities may not have had time to analyze the proposals,” the comment period will be extended until July 30. In the meanwhile, the Department plans “to undertake on-site consultations to increase our understanding of the current status, potential gaps in regulatory compliance, and implications of the proposed amendments.”
NYC Council Member David Yassky’s Statement:
At a public hearing today at the Department of Health, Council Member David Yassky (D-Brooklyn) spoke against proposed Article 47, which would subject religious schools to overly burdensome regulations.
Religious schools are a cornerstone of faith communities, and the government must take extraordinary care in seeking to regulate them, Yassky said. These proposed regulations violate the autonomy of religious schools.
The regulations, which were proposed by the health department in 2007 would establish new requirements for the qualifications of teacher, and for acceptable student/teacher ratios. The regulations also propose rigid requirements for the facilities in which these schools are housed. None of these areas are currently regulated by the Department of Health, and meeting many of them could impose a great financial burden that the schools are unable to meet. Imposing Article 47 would rescind the historic exemption of religious schools from the regiment of permitting by the Department of Health.
The first amendment protects religious institutions against over-regulation by the government, Yassky added. The department of health simply should not be regulating religious education.
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6 Responses
The government already regulates ‘religious education’.
In NYS every HS student is required to take Regents course and exams. And there are plthra of over programs from grades K-12 thatmust conform to Government standards.
Why is it such an affronto to religious institutions, both Jewish and Christiian, that the Dept of Health wanst to be sure that these pre-schools are safe?
If there are concerns taht some schools don’t meet certain standards, then we shoudl evaluate if they can be ‘grandfathered’ in, of if this school truethfully isn’t safe for our children.
We have allowed the Fed, State and City gov’ts to be part of our education system for decades, as long as it involved them sending $$$ our way. Now that all they want to do is inspect, we are offended. Please explain why.
Chaim Yankel – They are concerned with the possibility of limiting how many children can be in a class or classroom, for example.
Some Yeshivos simply don’t have the space they are proposing to require.
perhaps im missing something here…about this supposed “threat”(?!)
“pre-schools…have traditionally been exempted…from staff educational qualifications, numbers of children per school, caretaker/child ratios and square-footage requirements rules” –
Can someone explain to me WHY this is a such a negative thing? What is WRONG with the NY DOH caring about “educational qualifications” etc?? Do we WANT morahs for our children who are so uneducated that they cant speak english upon an encounter with a police officer or (ch”v) cant perform CPR?? (Yes it happens. And until you spend a year as an intern in the Maimonides ER and see it for yourself like I did, please dont tell me that doesnt happen in the frum world. Because it does.) 21 Preschoolers in classrooms the size of a medium sized bathroom is not only psychologically problematic for our young kids, but health wise, can be dangerous more accidents are likely to occur due to lack of space
Keep in mind, these are board of HEALTH regulations. not Board of EDUCATION. no one is forcing us to teach evolution in our science classes or educate our kinderlach about the stds prevalent in the goyishe world. They only mean for our best. These regulations will help us ,not harm us…why is there such anuproar????
I dont get it. Maybe I am just too naive, too stupid, or just not heimish enough, but I seem to agree with the previous posts on this page also…Why is it bad if the DOH regulates the SAFETY standard in our Yeshiva preschools?? What comes next, should our shuls be exempt from fire codes too because that violates the seperation of church and state?
I dont know about everyone else, but if I hear my son’s preschool is afraid to let government inspectors in, then I think as a responsible parent, I would think twice before sending him back to the same yeshiva the next day.
MAybe having the DoH involved in setting teacher/student ratios and other matters will help prevent abuse and the concealing of such matters. So its a good thing.
one more Thing that occured to me last night. I hope this does get passed, and I hope the DOH inspectors, as independent outsiders, do a better job than we have protecting frum kids. If it means one less frum child being harmed, I am all for it.
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