Parents of Sephardic Students Outraged: Assigned to “Quarantined Classrooms” Far From the High School

Yerushalayim is facing renewed uproar over the ongoing high school crisis. Despite assurances from the administration of the Old High School and the municipality that two new classes were being opened as an integral part of the institution to accommodate all girls left without placement, parents charge that, in practice, their daughters have been placed in a detached building far from the rest of the student body.

The plan was unveiled last week as a supposed solution to the crisis, with officials announcing that two new ninth-grade classes would be launched under the Seminar Hayoshon’s auspices. The goal, they said, was to provide every girl who remained without a school a proper placement.

But parents say the arrangement amounts to segregation. Instead of joining the high school’s established classes, the new students have been directed to an off-site facility, a move that has sparked intense anger and accusations of discrimination.

In a letter circulated by the high school administration, officials wrote: “Daas Torah has ruled that the Seminar Hayoshon should continue accepting excellent students from quality homes who remained outside for lack of space. At the same time, the current classes will be slightly reduced, and from them, two additional classes will be opened in a new building allocated to the high school by the municipality.”

The letter further stated that the additional classrooms are to function as a full and equal part of the high school: “There is nothing new under the Seminar Hayoshon. The students are an inseparable part of the high school as a whole, in every building, from ninth grade through the end of their studies.”

Parents, however, are unconvinced. They argue that their daughters have been relegated to what they call a “leper building,” isolated from the mainstream of the school. “After being badly hurt during the admissions process, they are now forced to begin their studies cut off from the regular classes, even though they are fine girls from exemplary chareidi homes,” parents said. “If the issue was only a matter of space, the twelfth-grade classes—already well integrated into the high school—could have been moved there. Instead, they are starting ninth grade in isolation.”

The Yerushalayim Municipality responded in a statement: “With the agreement of Mayor Moshe Leon and the Old High School’s leadership, it was decided to open additional classes to absorb the students left outside the system. Due to acute space constraints, the municipality located a nearby building and prepared it with new classrooms. All accepted girls are a full and integral part of the high school in every respect, from the unified educational staff to joint study days and extracurricular programs. Claims of racist discrimination are baseless and are categorically rejected.”

{Matzav.com Israel}