Ben Gamla Charter School
The Ben Gamla Charter School is a U.S. English-Hebrew Charter School, the first of its kind, in Hollywood, Florida. It opened 20 August 2007, with approximately 400 enrolled students from Kindergarten through eighth grade.[1] The school is run by an Orthodox rabbi.[2]
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.[2] On September 11, 2007 permission to resume Hebrew language instruction was granted by the School Board. [1]
Supporters of the Hebrew classes compare the program to hundreds of other dual-language schools in the United States.[2] Parallels have been drawn between Ben Gamla and the Khalil Gibran International Academy in New York, which offers lessons in Arabic language and culture.[2][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. What, after all, is the point of a Jewish cultural school if not to bring the students to appreciation and acceptance of Jewish values? And what are those values if not the outgrowth of Judaism's millenniums of religious faith an practice?"[3]
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.”[2]
References
- ^ School website. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
- ^ a b c d e Goodnough, A.: Hebrew Charter School Spurs Dispute in Florida, The New York Times, 2007-08-24. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
- ^ a b Feldman, N.: Universal Faith, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, 2007-08-26. Retrieved on 2007-08-26.