Editorial: All or nothing vs. something for everyone

Issue of Dec. 26, 2008 / 29 Kislev 5769

Finally, there is an indisputably positive development in the drama over the venerable Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn and its much younger sister school, Bnot Shulamith of Long Island.

A group of parents has come forward that is committed to peacefully negotiating with the school administration to develop an outcome in which viable branches of the school continue to exist in both Brooklyn and on Long Island, each in its own modern home. Their first public act was to announce that an auditor has been engaged to determine the true state of the school's finances, which have been kept secret until now, arguably in violation of halacha that requires a gabbai tzedakah to maintain open books.

Another group of parents has already done a great deal to lay the groundwork for a settlement. For one thing, by going to Bet Din and seeking civil court intervention, they frustrated the possibility of a quick sale, and very likely saved the Brooklyn school, attended by some 500 girls. Many of them are the nieces or grandchildren of Bnot Shulamith parents or supporters, or other Long Island residents.

The first group arguably went wrong in its increasingly shrill, extremist tone, leaving room for other Brooklyn parents to seek a more practical strategy.

No, it would not be proper for a Bnot Shulamith parent to seek the demise of the Brooklyn branch simply to finance a shiny, mortgage-free new building in the Five Towns — and those who hold such views ought to reconsider his or her priorities. Similarly, however, it is just wrong for a parent in Brooklyn to pretend that Bnot Shulamith is not a legitimate part of the institution — and categorically unworthy of benefiting from a potential windfall from the sale of real estate — simply because effective legal tactics have cast strong doubt on the validity of the current board. Those hundreds of Shulamith girls in the Five Towns aren't a legal tactic; they're Shulamith girls, including many nieces and grandchildren of parents and supporters of the Brooklyn branch.

As a general observation, some parents may find the value of a Shulamith education weighted or lightened by the nature of the real estate the school occupies, but others believe a Shulamith education for their daughters is priceless in and of itself. One parent of our acquaintance has said of the school, “I would send my daughters to Shulamith if the school was on the back of a motorcycle.”

That's the sort of passion that has led to this fight to save the Brooklyn school in the first place. Most other schools would have simply wound down their affairs and folded. Anyone remember Eitz Chaim? Retail stores stand today on the spot the school used to occupy in Borough Park.

None of this is to say that the Shulamith campus in Flatbush is without value. It would be preferable not to have to sell it, but it may well be that a sale is in the best interests of the school — and by school we mean the whole school — both branches.

We believe that word of peaceful negotiation is very good news and we encourage both sides to continue their discussions until an agreement is reached. It is also our opinion that an all-or-nothing outcome, of any sort, is undesirable. We urge all interested parties to reserve judgment until a deal is made and to then judge the outcome on its merits.

Related:

Shulamith audit planned; second parents group seeks compromise