Who We Are
Students for Educational Equity in Private Schools (SEEPS) is a student-led peer-to-peer advocacy group comprised of students attending private schools in New York. We are profoundly troubled by the lack of enforceable education standards in private schools across the state and by the opposition of our school leadership to reasonable state regulations. Most private schools strive to offer a superior curriculum to that of public school, and indeed the education at many of those schools easily exceeds the state minimum standards for public and private schools. However, the failure of a growing number of nonpublic schools to provide even this basic education is immoral and unacceptable. Such schools threaten the reputations of all private schools, especially those who are complicit in perpetuating this injustice.
SEEP's Mission
Our mission is rooted in the progressive values our schools imparted to us: to be a voice for the voiceless children in less fortunate circumstances by raising awareness among private school students about the lack of secular education provided in New York’s Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox yeshivas. By amplifying this issue and our own private school’s shameful involvement in allowing it to continue, we seek to mobilize private school students in our communities to speak out and take action on behalf of our Hasidic and ultra-Orthodox peers.
We demand our school leaders cease opposing efforts to ensure all private schools are meeting minimum standards. Our school leaders should cut ties with schools that refuse to comply with New York State’s Substantial Equivalency laws and who have a track record of failing their students. Finally, we call on elected officials to put the interests of children above those of special interests, including New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), a private school accreditation agency with ~200 member schools, which has been at the forefront of the fight against the enforcement of reasonable standards for nonpublic schools.
The Issue
Tens of thousands of children attending ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic Yeshivas (parochial schools) in New York are being denied a basic education that they are entitled to under New York State law. Many ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic boys’ schools provide only NINETY MINUTES of secular education a day in elementary school and ZERO secular education in high school.
An average Hasidic 14-year-old boy attends Yeshiva for 12-14 hours a day and receives instruction exclusively in Judaic studies. That means no instruction in subjects like English, math, science, or social studies is provided.
This is a brazen violation of New York State law, which mandates that all children attending private and parochial schools receive at least the minimum standard of education guaranteed to students in public schools.
What do Private Schools have to do with this?
It took New York State many years to heed the calls from Yeshiva graduates who had suffered educational neglect and its long term consequences but they finally revised the guidelines for non-public schools. Obviously, NYSED cannot discriminate and only impose enforceable standards in ultra-Orthodox Yeshivas, hence the need for the guidelines to be applied to all non- public schools.
When Yeshiva students and graduates finally began to see a glimmer of hope, their cautious optimism was met with a surprise attack from none other than the elite private schools who filed a lawsuit and have derailed the enforcement for more than two years.
Unfortunately, much of the independent school community is still actively fighting against the State’s proposed enforcement mechanism designed to ensure that all children, including Hasidic yeshiva students, receive the education they deserve and are legally entitled to.
The enforcement mechanism in question takes the form of NYSED’s proposed regulations on a State law codified in 1895, which states that all nonpublic schools must provide an education that is “substantially equivalent” to that of local public schools. The regulations were first issued as “guidelines” in 2018 and called upon local school authorities to check in on all nonpublic schools and make sure that pupils were learning subjects like English, math, and science.
Unfortunately, it was not just the Hasidic Yeshiva leaders and their usual powerful allies who voiced forceful opposition. This is where the private school community enters the picture: Accreditation agency NYSAIS and its member schools(which include elite college prep schools, private Catholic schools, and mainstream Jewish day schools) joined forces with the Yeshiva leaders against the state’s guidelines and won on a technicality.
Following a public comment period, the proposed regulations were published and NYSAIS schools responded with a campaign of misinformation which has had real, lasting consequences on the hearts and minds of private school parent bodies.
In December 2020, NYSED held a series of stakeholder engagement meetings to hear from nonpublic school educators, students, alumni, and parents. Today, we await the release of the State’s revised regulations and hope to impact the wrongheaded resistant stances of NYSAIS and member school administrations by harnessing a critical mass of their students’ voices in favor of the proposed regulations.
Our Leaders
Julian Hartman-Sigall
Leo Raykher
Adina Gerwin
How to Get Involved
Join Seeps! Tell a friend to join SEEPS! Sign up with just your name and email address.
SIGN OUR PETITION!
TELL NYSAIS: “NOT IN MY NAME!”
SEEPS drafted and recently launched a petition from private school students outraged by the oppositional stance of NYSAIS and their school administrations towards the proposed regulations. The petition articulates that private school student signatories will not stand idly by the continued perpetuation of educational neglect of our fellow students.
Our hope is that NYSAIS and its member school administrations will take note of student demands to reconsider opposition of the proposed regulations from the State and recognize that an enforcement mechanism on the existing law is needed for the greater good so that all children receive a sound, basic education.
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Media
Coming soon!