18 Hasidic Schools Failed to Provide Basic Education, New York City Finds

The results of the city’s investigation were summarized in letters sent to state education officials on Friday. Of the 18 schools the city found to be deficient, officials made a final determination that four were breaking the law. The city recommended that the state make the same determination about the remaining 14. Under the law, the city has the power to make final determinations about some private schools but not others. A spokesman for the state Education Department said officials there were reviewing the city’s recommendations.

City officials also said five other schools they investigated were complying with the law only because of their affiliations with state-approved high school programs. Those schools will not face additional scrutiny.

Just two of the more than two dozen schools the city investigated were found to be in compliance with the law based on the quality of their instruction, echoing preliminary findings issued by the de Blasio administration late in 2019. One of the schools was a yeshiva for girls.

In the letters summarizing the investigation, officials described visiting schools and finding deficiencies in course planning or proof of teacher training. In some cases, officials reported seeing no instruction at all in core subjects.

After multiple visits to Oholei Torah in Crown Heights, one of the largest yeshivas in the state, inspectors said they had found “insufficient evidence that teachers have the appropriate knowledge, skill and disposition to deliver” adequate secular instruction.