Our sages tell us the days preceeding Moshiach, there will be brazenness among our youth, that the elders will bestow honor upon the youth instead of vice-versa.   Our chachamim are correct as we see the daily occurence of violence among our (elementary) youth in the local schools.  Please read to find out more ....

בס"ד

Is Israel safe for children under 12?

Are your children safe in Israeli elementary schools?

We made aliyah 5 months ago, at the end of April 2009. Since we've been here, we have nothing but tzoraas in the Israeli school system. Today, I'm focusing on violence. I live in Ramat Bet Shemesh Alef. I sent my children to the nearby local mamlachti dati torani school. My children are well-behaved Americans who have never been exposed to violence and swearing and other curse words. Since they started their schooling in Israel, they have been exposed to physical violence constantly by both boys and girls alike as well as verbal abuse from their schoolmates.

Today my son, who is small in stature and Eurasian, (I'm a righteous convert and my husband is Jewish) who's in 5^th grade, was attacked by his classmates at the end of the school day in class as soon as the teacher left the classroom. He was physically injured in the face, hand and stomach. The bullies have planned to attack my son after Sukkot according to an eyewitness report of a classmate. Unfortunately, I do take these threats seriously and therefore we went to the Israeli police for the first time.

The acting principal refused to call the police on behalf of the school, and told us to take the matter outside the school, and she doesn't want to get involved. In fact, the school refused to grant my son to call us using the school telephone when he was crying after he was injured. This is not the first time the school has rejected my children's pleas for help to call home from school.

From our meeting with the police in the police station, we were told by the detective in the station that

the law in Israel does not permit the police to get involved in cases of children under 12

This is not the first incidence of violence in the school. Two days ago, he was also attacked by one of the classmates from today. In the beginning of the school year, he was attacked by boys from a senior grade, for standing up against them verbally when they demanded to kick him and his classmates from the local playarea in the school compound during recess. The entire school compound was supposed to be supervised during recess, but it so happened that the appointed teacher was negligent that day. My son was targeted because he stood up for his classmates. He was surrounded by at least six 6^th graders and at least two of them physically injured my son.

In the last school year, he was also abused both physically and verbally by another classmate who continued to bully him this year as well. My son is not the only victim, there are others as well. But there are not enough parents who are standing up for their children against this problem.

So, what are we, parents to do, to protect our children, if the school principal doesn't do anything.

We had many meetings with the school principal. The first school principal from the last school year declared that the bully who continuously injured my son physically and verbally by threatening to kill him, to be suspended, but she left it to the school teacher (mechanech) to carry out the punishment. But the mechanech didn't carry out the punishment. This teacher has been avoiding us since then. I tried to resolve this by talking with the parents of the bully, but the school refused to give us the phone number of the parents. The last school principal is on sabbatical this year and is replaced by the prior counselor of the school. She has not acted upon the ex-principal's declaration of mandatory suspension of the bully. Instead, she insists that we trust her to work on a zero policy tolerance to violence that she herself said will take years to resolve. Through the many physical violence taking place in the school, we have requested that the school put up surveillance cameras in the school premises as a possible solution to this crisis. The principal said that this is not under her responsibility but the responsibility of the Misrad HaChinuch. We have also suggested that the school conduct a separate recess period for boys and girls, but she responded that the school is understaffed.

Our son is not the only one subjected to violence. Our daughter in 3^rd grade has been attacked by bullies in her class as well as bullies outside her class (mostly Ethiopian children). I had no choice but to enroll my children in self-defense chugim since the summer to protect themselves as much as they could since the school has done nothing to curb the physical violence. We have also heard of incidents involving my daughter's classmates who were attacked during class hours, outside the bathroom.

I am writing this because as new olim, I will not stand for this type of negligence from the school or from Israeli law. We have consulted the Va'ad Horim, who unfortunately, have not taken us seriously. The current va'ad horim is showing that it is not working for the parents but against the parents, and for the schools instead. I advise you parents to take a more active stance in protecting your children from the violence that occurs daily in our schools since the law is not written to protect your children.

I've only written about violence in the local schools. There are other problems within the Israeli educational system which will have to take another article to write.

May Hashem protect our children from further harm. May Hashem bring these violence to a stop by bringing these bullies to teshuva and if they are not going to do teshuva, may they regret having bullied our children.  May Hashem wake up the parents who think Israeli schools are safe for their children.

Be first to comment this article

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4