The "Leaders" organization, which represents school principals across the country, appealed to the Ministry of Education demanding that the "Great Freedom Schools" outline be adapted to Haredi and special education.
According to the administrators, the expansion of the program is being done without the necessary adjustments, and could harm both the preparation for the start of the school year and the response to special education students.
In a letter sent to the Ministry of Education, the principals warn against further burnout of principals and teaching staff, and propose a flexible model that will allow educational continuity for students alongside proper preparation for the next school year.
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Under the title "School Holidays in Haredi Society" - the letter states:
A. On behalf of the school principals in state-Haredi education, special education, and the Mukhshar, we appeal to you out of deep responsibility for the students, parents, teaching staff, and the stability of educational institutions.
B. In preparation for the summer period, administrators are required to make complex preparations for operating the “Summer School” camps, which are an important and meaningful response for students and parents. At the same time, the Haredi education system has unique characteristics that require managerial and operational adjustments to enable the correct, continuous, and responsible operation of the response in the summer, without affecting the start of the next school year.
C. In regular education - the Haredi education calendar is different from the general education calendar. The main period of family vacations takes place between Tisha B'Av and the 1st of Elul, while the 2017 school year begins on the 1st of Elul, about two weeks before September 1.
D. This means that principals and teaching staff have a particularly limited period of time left for rest, organization, and pedagogical and logistical preparation for the start of the school year. Extending the summer camps to a month and even expanding them to additional age groups creates a real concern for excessive burnout of staff and principals, harming the quality of preparation for the start of the year, and harming the ability to start the school year in an orderly and optimal manner. .
E. In special education - the difficulty is even more significant in special education. Currently, there is no approval for transportation to summer camps at the end of August. This has created a situation in which, from the beginning of Elul, regular education students return to their frameworks, while special education students are left without an adapted framework and without a regular transportation system. .
F. This situation harms students emotionally, educationally and functionally, places a great burden on parents, and sometimes even prevents them from going to work. For special education students, the educational continuity and the regular framework are not just an additional service, but a vital and significant need for maintaining their stability and functioning.
G. The proposed solution to both challenges: We seek to allow schools in the MAMAH, MOKSHAR, and special education a flexible model of splitting the camp days, along with operating the transportation system accordingly: some of the camp days will take place at the beginning of July, and some will take place starting on the first of Elul, in accordance with the Haredi calendar and the date of the start of the school year. This model provides a solution to both challenges. On the one hand, it allows students and parents, and in particular special education students, an adapted and meaningful educational continuity even during a period when there is a real need for the framework. On the other hand, it allows administrators and teaching staff a necessary period of time to rest, organize, and properly prepare for the start of the school year.
H. Our request stems from a desire to enable responsible, stable, and coordinated operation of the Haredi education system, for the benefit of students, parents, and staff alike.
"We request that the matter be examined urgently.".
