The Chicago Orthodox community has been up in arms for the past few days over an issue that started with a bang, but has gone out with a fizzle – and that’s exactly how many people hoped things would end. A meeting set for tonight to discuss a proposal for a local shul to rent space to an Ombudsman alternative school was abruptly cancelled. Ombudsman schools educate students from ages 14-21 who dropped out of high school, but are now choosing to return to class to earn their diplomas.
The shul has been zoned to house a school for many years, and in the past, had hosted overflow from the local public elementary school until a new Chicago Public School was built nearby. Private schools have also leased space from the shul. However, last year, when a local private Jewish day school abruptly left, it was too late to retain a contract with a different school. The classrooms have remained empty for the entire school year, seriously depleting the synagogue’s budget.
Ombudsman is a private for-profit school that works with the Chicago Public School as an alternative program for drop out students who want to return for their degrees. My understanding is that an Alderman must sign off on any new Chicago Public School location. Had this been a private school with no connection to the Chicago Public School system, an Alderman’s signature would not have been necessary for the shul to rent their own space.
So much of the conversation over the possible school lease has been stifled. As I said, the informational meeting that was supposed to provide facts about the program and its effects on communities where such schools already exist was forced into cancellation. The information I have about what happened is based on rumor, innuendo, Facebook rants, community emails, and a robocall.
Breaking it down, it seems that before the shul had the chance to present the proposal to the community, another nearby shul caught wind of the plan and attempted to send out a community letter appealing to the neighbors to protest the school coming to their area. Before their letter to could be publicized, the Alderman’s office sent out its own letter giving basic information about the proposed partnership and informing people about a community meeting to discuss the issue before it would receive approval.
After the Alderman’s letter made its rounds, the community went on high alert. It became the water cooler gossip last week and throughout the weekend. I heard every excuse about why this school should not be permitted from juvenile delinquents, to graffiti, to drugs, to parking problems, to non-tznius student clothing, to increased crime, to an invasion of non-Jews of various colors and ethnicities bringing down property values.
There was also the argument that the non-Jewish neighbors didn’t want the school either, and were resentful that a synagogue had so much authority to make a decision like this that would greatly affect the community. Essentially, the argument was that a plan that would negatively impact the surrounding neighborhood would be a chillul Hashem. Apparently, some rabbis spoke against the proposal from their pulpits on Shabbos and one rabbi even supposedly referred to “blacks invading our neighborhood.”
This robocall from a young child reading off of a script was sent to certain community members yesterday before the shul meeting was cancelled. The message is garbled but essentially says, “Save our neighborhood! I want to go outside and ride my bike without any problems or worry. Please come for a very important meeting….help stop (the shul) from bringing in an alternative high school for drop outs…I want our neighborhood to be safe, don’t you?”
I think this robocall represents the level that some people sank to in trying to dissuade the shul, the community, and the Alderman from pushing through this initiative. To use a child to spread propaganda that hinges on hinted-at racist stereotypes is low. If the school had been a place for Orthodox Jewish high school drop outs to earn their diplomas, I highly doubt such a robocall would have gone out.
I want to be clear that I have no opinion on whether or not Ombudsman would have had a positive or a negative impact on the community. I can’t have an opinion since I wasn’t given a chance to hear the facts. None of us were. My problem is the rush to judgment about a proposal involving non-Jewish students, presumably of varied races and ethnic backgrounds entering our neighborhood, even if only for a few hours a day. People had already gone into hysterics and made up their minds before the meeting.
We had the opportunity to make a kiddush Hashem with our behavior by reserving judgment until the facts were heard and not giving credence to fear mongering. Instead we believed the hype and turned into an angry mob brandishing virtual pitchforks. We also lost a potential opportunity to both assist a local shul in financial distress as well as assist kids from the larger community trying to straighten out their lives and get an education.
