Haredi inspectors have been accused by education advocates of covering up deficiencies in haredi yeshivas, and when non-haredi inspectors have inspected some of those yeshivas they found significant deficiencies the haredi inspectors failed to report.
Haredi School Inspectors Apparently Sacked After Biased Inspections Of Haredi Schools Exposed
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
A British schools inspector who criticized the government’s handling of haredi schools is not on the government’s new approved list of inspectors, The JC reported, and neither are two of his haredi colleagues.
Rabbi Nesanel Lieberman, head of the Bnos Beis Yaakov School in London, reportedly accused the government's inspection service of "having an agenda to knock down our schools.”
Lieberman and two other haredi schools inspectors, Rabbis Chanan Tomlin and Yonoson Yodaiken, were not included on the new list of government-approved inspectors that was issued this week.
Haredi inspectors have been accused by education advocates of covering up deficiencies in haredi yeshivas, and when non-haredi inspectors have inspected some of those yeshivas they found significant deficiencies the haredi inspectors failed to report.
Ofsted, the British government’s Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, recently changed its system of managing inspectors. It would not say whether any of the three haredim had applied to remain with Ofsted after that change and the three haredi rabbis refused to comment when asked by the JC. However, Ofsted reportedly strongly rejected any suggestion the haredi rabbis had been dropped for being too favorable to to the haredi schools they inspected.
A number of government-funded Jewish schools have had their ratings downgraded, and several independent haredi schools were given failing grades.
The head of the National Association of Orthodox Jewish Schools, Jonathan Rabson, attacked the government’s apparent decision to sack the haredi rabbis.
"It is important that inspectors understand the culture and ethos of the school [they are inspecting],” Rabson, who often acts as an apologist for failing haredi schools, told The JC.
A spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish community’s umbrella organization roughly equivalent to North America’s Council of Jewish Federations, defended Ofsted.
"Where a school with a religious character is being inspected, it appears that the latest Ofsted policy is to use inspectors who are not from that community to ensure complete objectivity, although when a specialist knowledge is required, experts will be brought in,” the spokesman said.
A study of reports on independent haredi schools, mostly yeshivas, issued by Ofsted (the British government schools inspection agency) from 2007 through 2014 found those schools were rated as “good” or “outstanding” 71% of the time – but only when the inspector was a haredi Jew. When those schools were inspected by non-haredi inspectors, only 22% were rated good or outstanding – meaning most schools had serious unreported deficiencies.
Related Posts:
[Hat Tip: D.O.]