Ben Gamla Charter School

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The Ben Gamla Charter School is an English-Hebrew Charter School, the first of its kind in the U.S., located in Hollywood, Florida. It opened August 20 2007, with approximately 400 enrolled students from Kindergarten through eighth grade.^[1] The school's director is an Orthodox rabbi, at least 50% of the 400+ students accepted to the school are Jewish, and only kosher meals are served in the cafeteria.^[2] The name of the school is taken from an Israelite high priest (Yehoshua ben Gamla), known in the Talmud for his campaign to establish yeshivas throughout Judea.

[edit] Controversy

On 23 August 2007, the Broward County school board ordered the school to suspend its Hebrew classes because the curriculum referred to a website that discussed religion.^[3] Supporters of the Hebrew classes compare the program to hundreds of other dual-language schools in the United States^[3]that provide lessons on foreign culture and language such as the Spanish, French and Greek language charter schools already operating in Broward County and elsewhere. Supporters also say, “Why shouldn't Jewish kids get some sort of free Hebrew (whisper "Jewish") education,” and feel that this type of public funded program may be a good solution to the high cost of private Universal Jewish Education. ^[4]

Parallels have been drawn between Ben Gamla and the Khalil Gibran International Academy, an Arabic public school in New York that also opened in autumn 2007. ^[5] But some who have followed the evolution of both schools and understand the difference between a public school and a charter school say the Hebrew school could be more problematic.^[3] Since it is a charter school (not a public school) it receives public money but is exempt from certain rules of public schools and is subject to less oversight. Their founders are often teachers, parents, or activists who feel restricted by traditional public schools. ^[6] Basically, the operators are private contractors who make a deal with the government to educate the children. In contrast, the Arabic school is under the direct management of the NYCDOE system and subject to all its rules, regulations, and statutes. ^[7]

Opposition to the school is led by Broward County Jewish day schools who have lost students to Ben Gamla and therefore suffer losses in tuition income. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that “an advertisement distributed in kosher restaurants” in the area of the Hebrew school reads: “Excellent Academic Program. Dual language (English/Hebrew) curriculum teaching Jewish history and culture. Rabbi Adam Siegel, Principal (formerly executive director of Yeshiva Elementary School).” This school was clearly marketed in the Jewish community in a way to suggest that it will be similar to a yeshiva, a traditional religious school where Judaism’s authoritative texts are studied, but the tuition there is about $10,000 per student per year.^[8]

Per an NYT report, "Opponents say it is impossible to teach Hebrew - and aspects of Jewish culture - outside a religious context, and that Ben Gamla, billed as the nation's first Hebrew-English charter school, violates one of its paramount legal and political boundaries."^[3]Harvard Law School professor and constitutional scholar Noah Feldman has criticized the school's Hebrew curriculum as violating of the establishment clause of Constitution on the grounds that the school "seems poised to teach religion as a set of beliefs to be embraced rather than as a set of ideas susceptible to secular, critical examination."^[5]

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League said of the school, “[c]harter schools have greater autonomy than a school being run by the Board of Education. Let’s give it a shot, but let’s watch it very, very carefully.”^[3]

On September 11, 2007 the Broward County School Board approved a Hebrew-language curriculum and Hebrew instruction resumed at the school on September 17, 2007. ^[9]