A small number of dati leumi residents of Beit Shemesh held a protest outside City Hall on Tuesday, 5 Menachem Av, questioning why the city is not allocating a kindergarten for the dati leumi sector in their area.
One parent, Mr. Yossi Yankowitz, questions why after repeated attempts to contact City Hall requesting a kindergarten in their area no response is forthcoming. The city appears unwilling to accommodate the request because the neighborhood in question is chareidi.
When City Hall was contacted, officials explained in line with the character of the neighborhood, which is chareidi, all the kindergartens operating are run by private NGOs and not the city. Yossi however remains determined and began gathering support, now representing the parents of 35 children. He adds he has also tried making progress with the Ministry of Education, but here too, no response.
Yossi explains it is worse, for at one point they found a solution on their own but the city torpedoed it. He explains the head of the city’s education portfolio offered an apartment used for a kindergarten today, and then he got a court order to oust the kindergarten from the building. Yossi adds the city manager did finally meet with him, promising the kindergarten would be established but he refused to put it in writing.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
And why shouldn’t there be ONE?
Why? Because the city just thinks it wouldn’t look good for the continued marketing of Ramah Gimmel as a chareidi neighborhood if there were a DTL gan there. They must fear what other “surprises” are lurking there if 35 families with 3-year-olds prove that the neighborhood isn’t homogeneous.
Of course, the law requires that if enough parents want it, the municipality has to provide it. The Education Ministry has already given its approvals; it’s the city that’s dragging its feet.