Special needs education is a tougher issue to address. We are currently investigating the possibility of establishing Special Needs Hebrew Charter Schools, in conjunction with a complementary Torah Studies component, for moderate to extreme special education needs. For those special needs that do not fit into this category, more and more current day schools are already opting to have these special needs education costs borne by the individual parents; perhaps this is an option to explore and discuss further. The complementary and cooperative relationship between the different model schools will, of course, depend upon the good will of all educators and parents involved.
In a perfect world, this proposal would never be mentioned. This is not a “lekhatchilah,” ab initio proposition; it is meant to respond to a severe crisis. Moreover, it is a proposal – a suggestion meant to initiate a comprehensive and thoughtful discussion, ultimately resulting in some tangible plan of action. At the end of the day, it is important to define the “lines in the sand.”
What is not subject to compromise? If we say that the current system must remain as it is now with no alternatives for parents, what shall we say in a few years when the issues of imposed family planning, serious marital tension, and public school enrollment, along with a collapse of the current system as we know it, take their awful toll?
It is not enough to say that we need to ensure the current, excellent system as it is, exclusively, for all students at an affordable rate, “somehow.” The stakes are high; the time is now; how shall we proceed?