By COLlive reporter
Before leaving to celebrate Chanukah, students of Associated Beth Rivkah Schools in Crown Heights were told that the holiday break might be longer than the usual 5 days.
In a letter addressed to parents this past Friday, the principals wrote that “unfortunately, we find ourselves in a financial crisis; teachers are owed numerous payrolls.”
They have therefore notified that “we will not be able to reopen the school on a full schedule after the Chanukah break until this situation has been satisfactorily rectified.”
Signed on the letter were the division heads of Elementary and High School: Rabbi Leibel Newman, Mrs. Chavi Altein, Mrs. Shaindel Tiechtel, Mrs. Chana Feldman, Mrs. H. L. Gelfand, Mrs. Chaya Laine, Mrs. Leah Jacobson and Mrs. Eidala Nemenov.
The educational institution, which pioneered the Lubavitch educational system for girls, has long been battling financial distress with an enrollment of 2000 students, ranging from preschool through seminary, a considerable portion of them on scholarships.
A voluntary board-in-formation has stepped in last year to help with the responsibilities carried until now by the school’s leadership and current administration headed by Rabbi Leime Minkowitz and Rabbi Benji Stock.
Contrary to rumors circulating this week, the board has not resigned and its members are Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov, Dovid Junik, Yerachmeal Jacobson, Kasriel Shemtov, Itchik Orimland, Moshe Pinson and Dovid Sputz.
“The board is here to stay,” one of them told COLlive.com on Monday. “None of us has slept in the past 36 hours. We are working to stabilize the situation and implement measures to make sure we don’t have a financial crisis like this again.”
“We don’t anticipate a strike will end up happening because we are working to raise funds to pay the teachers in a week or so,” he said. “We are implementing positive initiatives, cutting expenses and payroll to make sure the teachers are paid. But it will take time to sort everything out.”
With such a large staff and veteran system, he equated the task to “working through rubble.” The person estimated that “it will take up to a year for us to get out of this mess. We have professionals working on the finances but it is a very complex job to sort through it.”
The person emphasized that “teachers are our community’s greatest and most important asset. Hopefully in a year from now all this will be worked out and running smoothly. This is the beginning of a new era.”
I work for the only school in Crown Heights that always pays on time. Kol ha’kvod Rabbi Plotkin.
I’m a student in six grade and I want my teachers to get paid
While I agree something is fishy over there and I suffered as a kolel wife teaching there close to thirty years ago, let me ask you all if you truly prioritize tuition? I see the same people on scholarships throw elaborate simchas and dressed to the nines. Gezunterheit! But ask yourself honestly if you truly pas as much creed to your child’s chinuch.
they owed alot more then that!!!! please dont be so naive
i am a BR alumni and was a teacher there many years ago when teachers still got paid..My daughters are all BR graduates and i feel so pained by the corruption in our school today. I literally pray that Hashem save this school
The school administration signed contracts with hundreds of parents and agreed on whatever amounts were agreed. Parents who don’t honor their side are sent letters advising them the girls will not be allowed to enter class without payment and girls have in fact been sent home.
SHOULDN’T THE SCHOOL BE HELD TO THE SAME PRINCIPLES AND VALUE SYSTEM AND BE FORCED TO PROVIDE THE EDUCATION THEY OBLIGATED THEMSELVES TO?
#17 you hit the nail on the head!
Time for another Charidy fund raiser
BH, for school choice:)
i heard that the million raised didn’t even go towards teacher’s pay..no one knows where it went. most teachers still have not seen a cent. i don’t understand this. CLEARLY BR needs some new administration. who is taking all the money?? is it them? i’m also wondering how the teacher’s pay their bills, are they not relying on their paycheck?? i guess not because they never see it..
So much money is dished out for extracurricular programs while that same money couldve paid quite a few teachers. These programs are nice.. but at what expense? Are the extras more important than those who are actually teaching?
And then pay everyone else
OPEN THE BOOKS!!!!!!!!!! The school is the REBBE’s and for the community. Let us see with our fleishidige oigen the TRUTH!!!! Once and for all.
I for one have full trust in the new board. I know each one of them personally, if anyone can turn this around its them.
I graciously donated to the charidy campaign to pay teachers salaries what happened to that million?
When I left to yeshiva after Tishrai my parents gave me 200$.
I just call again that I will need some more, they didn’t tell me that 200$ from two months ago should be enough.
Charity’s million dosent last forever when you run a mosed woth a multi million dollar budget.
P.s. Thank you all parents of yeshiva bouchrim for allowing us to learn in such beautiful yeshivas.
Oholie Menachem has two secretaries from pre-1A until 8th grade. Maybe count how many BR has. We won’t mention salaries of the administration…..
COLlive reports 9/11/15:
“Dozens of volunteers worked throughout the night to help the flagship school reach the goal to pay the school’s dedicated teachers.
In 24 hours 1,900 donors from around the world contributed $1,063,388, which includes a bonus round activated once the first $1 million was reached.”
AND 3 MONTHS LATER they are in such a predicament?
Obviously, something’s not kosher here…
Is the administration owed back pay? We don’t hear them threatening to resign…
The $1,000,000 they raised maybe covered 2 months of payroll.
Perhaps its time to get rid of whomever is sitting closest to the pot?!
The books should be open for all to see where the money is going.
Dont you think it was all spent already. I imagine a single montly payroll is about 250K. Besides, you probably didn’t even bother giving a rusty cent.
the teachers were sent the sameish letter. The admin decides.
This is so embarrassing for the BR leadership. They just raised a hefty some of funds on Charidy, captured our hearts and minds, gave us a glimmer of hope… And now this? Yeeeees, they probably didn’t get all the money from the matchers yet, that normal, but I’m sure they got most of it already! They paid the 5 checks that they promised! So why do this? Why ruin the glimmer of hope that they created?! Even if they are still behind… Why torture us with this? It’s almost as if someone at the top is desperately seeking attention. The… Read more »
Many of you are asking about the $1M raised in the Charidy campaign, I don’t work for the school but I have an idea how much $ it takes to run it and $1M is a nice amount but doesn’t take care of all your woes. Maybe it’s about time people realize how hard it is to run a school of such proportions and circumstances (think: big percentage don’t pay full tuition if at all(!)) and 1- give credit to the people that have been putting the money together, however late, year after year after year, and 2- maybe give… Read more »
Out with the old. .. time for fresh new energy that can see things amd adjustments needed from an angle the ones in the building already are familiar with aND not able to budge from …
As someone who is in Debtors Annoymous, I can personally tell you that it can take time to get out of debt. The thing is I also do not create new debt and I’m realistic to what I can pay back. I hope that they are not going further into debt and are looking at what comes in and what comes out balances. I wish them hatzlacha.
Charidy went to pay back pay of five payrolls
A big thank you to all those working to help this mosed get on to a good financial footing.
what happened to the big bucks that were recently raised and celebrated?
I dont mean to be rude but if the current administration cant do the job perhaps that would be a good place to start cutting expenses! the teachers havnt been paid on time or properly in years. What exactly does the current admin do? i havnt used names because this isn’t personell its just a fact. im sure the board can find someone to buy paper goods and pay the bills for a lot cheaper than the cost of the above mentioned administartion
I contributed enthusiastically and was led to believe that this was towards teachers’ payrolls??!!?
Where did that money go?
We need answers if we are to continue to contribute.
This has been going on for decades – literally. I taught for 10 years back in the 1980’s & we were owed 5.5 months at one point. To this day, I was never paid for Regent’s grading (I wrote it off years ago!) To say it will take a year to fix it – try 5. It is inconceivable that this school is still so mismanaged, going back probably 50 years. Every school comes up against this from time to time, but BR has an ongoing problem that never seems to resolve itself. But here’s an idea: cut the Administration… Read more »
sorry to say this… its time to reshuffle the staff…
thank you and goodbye…
Didn’t they just raise $1 mill ? Where’s the $ ???