Representatives of more than 30 New York City Jewish day schools and yeshivas convened this week at a community forum sponsored by OU Advocacy-Teach NYS to voice their frustrations over New York City’s universal pre-K (UPK) program and suggest ways the program could be improved. OU Advocacy-Teach NYS is working with state and city legislators to enhance the program for non-public schools and ensure the greatest utilization of the program by Jewish day schools and yeshivas.
Participating schools represented a wide cross-section of the city’s Jewish schools, including Solomon Schechters, modern Orthodox schools and yeshivas.
Almost every school representative expressed his or her dissatisfaction with the length of the UPK day and the difficulty of providing religious education outside of UPK hours. Other issues the group discussed included half-day program options, state funding versus city funding, and the application process.
Council Members David Greenfield and Mark Levine joined the community forum so that they could understand the needs of the schools.
“We care about giving every child in the city a great start at education,” said Council Member Levine, who added that the Jewish Caucus in City Council is a “united front” on this issue. He is the Chairman of the Jewish Caucus.
Council Member Greenfield added, “We will keep fighting for our yeshivas and day schools until your children have the same access to UPK as public school children.”
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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3 Responses
more nonsense and nothing accomplished
Absulutely ridiculous! They need to get rid of UPK, it’s not fair to the tax payer. They also need to reform the public school system. How many kids graduate and come out with a good education? It should definitely not be free.
Universal pre-k is one of the best things the government has done in a generation. And contrary to KFP’s rant, it was funded without a tax increase.
There is nothing preventing yeshivot from running whatever pre-k programs they want. But if you want the government to pay for it you have to follow the government’s rules.