EXCLUSIVE: [The following letter exclusively obtained by TLS was sent yesterday to over 70 Mosdos in Lakewood. The letter is being published with permission] BS”D, Rosh Chodesh Av 5771, August 1, ‘11. Dear Colleague – As you may or may not know, this past Tuesday night, a few heads of mosdos met privately, and based on what now seem to be trumped-up charges, decided that Chesky Seitler and Yoni Silver should be compelled to resign from the Lakewood Board of Education. They proceeded to meet with the Roshei Yeshiva, and presented this demand in the name of Lakewood’s mosdos, (see below for more on this).The majority of mosdos I asked, were not invited, nor knew anything about this meeting, agenda, demands, etc. At least 2 people who were quoted as agreeing with this decision, Rabbi Yosef Posen and Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Kanarek, vehemently deny it, (in the case of Rabbi Kanarek, I personally verified it, and in the case of Rabbi Posen I asked R Aharon Stefansky; both confirmed that these persons are NOT in agreement; Rabbi Posen said to R’ Aharon Stefansky that he was not even consulted).
Chesky Seitler correctly believes that since he participated in a meeting attended by a majority of mosdos, and was endorsed to run for the LBOE, in a wide-open Igud meeting, after every single mosad was duly notified well in advance, it should take a similar meeting to ask him to resign, not a handful of individuals acting secretly (and deceptively, claiming others agree with them, when they don’t).
From what I heard so far, the charges against Seitler and Silver are that they committed 2 avlas:
(1) They tried to fire Gus the Bus, the District’s excellent transportation coordinator, and
(2) Are trying to get rid of Lydia Silva, the current Superintendent.
I promptly emailed Chesky Seitler for a response to these accusations. Below are the email responses I got back:
(1) “Just to set the record straight I would like to give you the timeline and actual events as they occurred. These facts can be verified through the Board minutes, Ms Carcari, or Gus himself.
In January 2011 Gus was hired as our Transportation consultant for 12 months. Nobody was aware that his contract needs to be renewed on June 30th. In fact, his name was not even on the June 30 the agenda!!
On July 1st we all got a call from Ms. Carrcari saying that Gus needed to be renewed but the Superintendent had forgotten to put him on the agenda. As such a “phone vote” was conducted and of course he was unanimously approved.
On July 20th there was another meeting. For some reason Gus was stuck in on the last page of the agenda and nobody saw it. When the agenda was voted down, he was inadvertently voted down as well. Nobody was thinking about it since he had already been approved via phone on July 1st.
After the meeting it became clear that there was a problem. It could have been rectified with another phone vote, however Michael chose not to allow it. I began getting calls from the Mosdos about it even before I knew what happened. I sent a text to Gus telling him that we will fix the situation asap and he shouldn’t do anything rash. Yoni called him the next morning to explain the mistake and he was very happy and understanding. He was reinstated at the next meeting 3 days later.
I am shocked and amazed that anyone would dare say that I am against Gus. In fact, in numerous situations over the last 3 months when some members wanted to go after him, I was there defending him. Just as this story is a blatant lie so are the others. Please disseminate this email to all Mosdos.
(2) I would like to clarify my position and the recent “hullabaloo” over the Superintendent search committee.
Over the last year or so, the Board members have complained bitterly about the lack of communication between the Superintendent and the Board members. Emails are ignored, motions directing action by the Superintendent are never followed-through, and overall the atmosphere is one that makes the Board members feel like they are just a tolerated nuisance.
The “straw that broke the camel’s back” came in June. The Board had voted 3 times to require each student who registers in the Public School to present 4 pieces of proof of residency instead of 1 or 2. However, when registration was actually done (over Shavuos) the forms clearly stated that only 2 pieces are necessary. In addition, many Public School community leaders felt the Superintendent was not doing a good job in the Public Schools, and wanted her replaced. As such, instead of taking definitive action, we voted to begin a search of our options. I spoke withnumerous non-public school administrators to get their reaction. It varied from “it makes no difference to us” to “go right ahead”. In this vein, I found it surprising that the other Board members were opposed to the move. I am now hearing that ALLEGEDLY these members were working under the false impression that there would be unintended repercussions should this actually go through. I was NOT made aware of this and would have reconsidered my position had it been determined to be true. In any case, the debacle played itself out how it did and here we are after the fact. I believe there are some serious issues that both the public and nonpublic community leaders need to discuss about how our District is run and that a meaningful discussion should commence as soon as possible to find the best way forward. I would be happy to help in any way I can.”
Fortunately, the Roshei HaYeshiva, as expected, acted with prudence, and have decided to look into these specific charges, any other charges, and to examine what’s really behind this entire matter, before deciding whether and how to get involved. I encourage you to contact our Roshei Yeshiva, and let them know your true feelings. Speak for yourselves, they WILL listen.
On the face of it there seems to be several issues here, that we as mechanchim need to meet and discuss.
1. Have we effectively surrendered our collective voice to a few yechidim, pretending to speak for us? If so, When? Where did this happen? Should we go along with this?
2. Is there any link between the fact that some of those in the forefront of this move are also the direct beneficiaries of the $4 Million in IDEA funds for ‘self-contained’ classes, and/or exorbitant ‘rents’ paid for special services, to the exclusion of other mosdos? Is there any truth to the report that leverage is being applied on them to get rid Seitler and Silver, or else they lose their self-contained classes’ IDEA funding?
3. I previously wrote in this space (repeatedly), that the entire IDEA use of funds for self-contained classes was never sanctioned by the mosdos, was done without the required consultations, and that these funds were previously (for many years) earmarked for OT/PT. Who decided that 300 children (our students) needing OT/PT should be dumped, literally, and that those funds should be diverted to a select few mosdos for ‘self-contained’ classes? Make no mistake – I am NOT against self-contained classes. I am simply asking who, when, where, decided on their own “pleitzes” how to be דוחה נפש מפני נפש? . Were the Roshei HaYeshiva consulted about that question? Why NOT?
4. Do we as mechanchim, and roshei mosdos, allow these self-appointed, self-anointed leaders to drag us into a confrontation with the entire kehilla taxpayers, by allowing them to paint us as advocating against fiscal responsibility on the LBOE, and against the taxpayers’ interests? I raised this very objection when we met last March regarding LBOE candidate endorsements, and warned that mosdos’ endorsing a particular candidate (Abraham Ostreicher) sends a message of insensitivity to the plight of our taxpaying parents, neighbors, and friends. Fortunately, the majority agreed with me then. It seems that since then, the mosdos, misled by a few individuals, have gone back to the same agenda that proved so catastrophic, and which has previously undermined and discredited the Vaad. Do we really want to follow in their footsteps? If not, we need to let our newly elected representatives, R Zecharia Greenspan and R Yisrael Friedman, our collective position so that they are not misguided by a minority pretending to represent the majority.
5. Do we encourage these newly-elected representatives to act decisively against the interests of the public school parents, and continue the tenure of the present Superintendent, while dismissing educators these parents favor (such as Ms. D. Mercora)? Why build opposition to our entire community for no reason whatsoever, on a matter that is anyway also against our own interests? Is that דעת תורה ?
Sincerely,
Meir Hertz
P.S., unlike my esteemed colleagues, this note is being circulated to ALL mosdos, in real time, so everyone has an equal chance to review and respond if they so choose.
NOTHING is being done here in stealth or under cover. Just as I am entitled to present my opinion, they are certainly entitled present theirs. I trust the intelligence of our tzibbur to be the ultimate judge. All I ask is for open, honest presentation and debate of the issues.
As a former tiny tot parent, all i can say is that i know from meeting with the LAC members that they certainly dont care about the kids. Enough said.
