According to an article in the NY Sun, former congressman
Peter Deutsch said opening a similar school in New York will be a natural next
step. The Ben Gamla Charter School, is set to open August 20 and its founder is
already focusing on a plan to export his model to New York City within the next
two years.Mr.
Deutsch, 50, a Bronx-born graduate of Yale Law School, says he did not realize
how much interest his concept—public schools that teach in both English
and Hebrew, blending Jewish history and culture into language
lessons—would generate.
In one week they received 800 applications. Now, he says he may have landed on a revolutionary new way to educate pupils. “This is a model which conceivably could be a huge paradigm shift in education in America,” he said. “I can see a point in time where there would be 100 schools like this.”
New York has the largest Jewish community in the country. That, is why moving here would be a natural next step. A New York-based philanthropist Mr. Deutsch met with earlier this month praised the idea. “One of the great failings of the American Jewish community is that we have failed to educate our next generation,” said the philanthropist. Public charter schools like Ben Gamla might address that problem.
The executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, Michael Meyers, vowed to oppose any school that catered only to one population. “The whole purpose of a public school is to bring all children to the same schoolhouse, under a roof where people can learn about each other and with each other,” he said.
An Arabic-language school set to open in Brooklyn this September has been raised similar concerns about the church-state line.
In one week they received 800 applications. Now, he says he may have landed on a revolutionary new way to educate pupils. “This is a model which conceivably could be a huge paradigm shift in education in America,” he said. “I can see a point in time where there would be 100 schools like this.”
New York has the largest Jewish community in the country. That, is why moving here would be a natural next step. A New York-based philanthropist Mr. Deutsch met with earlier this month praised the idea. “One of the great failings of the American Jewish community is that we have failed to educate our next generation,” said the philanthropist. Public charter schools like Ben Gamla might address that problem.
The executive director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, Michael Meyers, vowed to oppose any school that catered only to one population. “The whole purpose of a public school is to bring all children to the same schoolhouse, under a roof where people can learn about each other and with each other,” he said.
An Arabic-language school set to open in Brooklyn this September has been raised similar concerns about the church-state line.