New York City Asks State to Help Investigate Yeshivas

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The New York City Department of Education has asked the New York State Education Department for help investigating 39 Orthodox Jewish private schools that allegedly provide inadequate instruction in subjects mandated by state law.

The city has been investigating the schools, known as yeshivas, since 2015, when a group of parents, former students and former teachers filed a letter of complaint. The advocates say the schools provide little, if any, education in English, math, science, history and other secular subjects.  

In a letter to the state sent on Wednesday, New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said 15 schools allowed investigators to visit and expressed interest in expanding secular education to meet state requirements for nonpublic schools. But 15 of the schools did not allow the city to visit, observe classes or oversee curriculum changes as part of the investigation over three years. However, after the letter was sent, eight of the remaining schools said they would be open to visits. 

Ben Chapman, an education reporter for the New York Daily News, says advocates view Carranza's approach to the yeshivas as more transparent than that of his predecessor, former New York City schools Chancellor Carmen Farina.