Lawrence, NY – Yeshiva Turns to Court to Recover Tuition

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    Lawrence, NY – A local family is named as the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaways. HAFTR is seeking reimbursement for more than $10,000 it claims it is owed. The family, which acknowledges that HAFTR provided scholarships to help pay their children’s elementary and high school educations, maintains its obligations to the school have been met.

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    Family members spoke to The Jewish Star on the condition that they not be named or otherwise identified. They told of receiving a letter from HAFTR over the summer requesting payment of more than 10,000 dollars in unpaid tuition. Two months later, they returned to the home they rent in the Five Towns to find a legal summons taped to the door. It threatened that the school would seek a default judgment if the summons was not answered.

    Isaac Tuchman, an attorney with Daniels and Morelli, which represents HAFTR, confirmed that the school has filed a number of lawsuits against HAFTR families. When parents come to the school with hardships, “accommodations are inevitably made,” to allow children to attend the school, he said.

    “The school provides a service to the community, to the parents, and the parents commit to paying tuition. Often, parents don’t honor that obligation so the school believes it is justified – we’ve been trying to collect unpaid obligations that are owed by parents,” said Tuchman.

    Read the full story at The Jewish Star


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    121 Comments
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    Rafalowitz
    Rafalowitz
    14 years ago

    We who volunteer to help these yeshivot need to take action to pursue parents such as these.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I’m just curious… does this yeshiva teach its talmidim to go to batei din? Can someone explain to me why the requirement to go to batei din apparently only apply to baalei batim?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    If the parents are caught going to florida on vacations and having summer homes and all the extras then there is a problem. Tuition comes first beofre thew extras. Now we really don’t know what the facts are here so this comment is just a generalization. At the same time schools should be opening. Their books since they are also always claiming poverty.

    It is interesting how not one school closed this year yet they all complain thewy have no money!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    WOW, while I may understand the need for yeshiva’s to collect tuition. I find this shocking that they went to court with this!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    disgusting haftr how can a jewish school do that

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Yeshivot, beis yaakovs and batei medrashim are a business and must have money to pay their teachers, keep the yinglach fed and pay the utility bills. Parents must treat a bill from the yeshiva like any other obligation and honor their committmements whether they pay only half of the normal tuitition or full tuition. I’m sorry if some families are having trouble in these hard economic times but we all are having the same issues of paying our bills. What is especially disgusting are those ehrleche yids who are already behind on their bills to the yeshiva going out and having more kids which the cannot afford. These parents are especially irresonsible and the lawyers should make sure they get every dollar back they can from these people who try to shift their debts on to the rest of us.

    Gave A Get
    Gave A Get
    14 years ago

    Which Rav let’s HAFTR file lawsuits? Where are the Botei Dinim? Why is this school allowed to get away with this? It is not the first time they have gone to the Secular Court system. Are they a religious institution or not?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Why doesn’t HAFTR take this matter to the Beth Din?

    bd
    bd
    14 years ago

    why they do not go to BD?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    people think its a free ride- a magic money machines. The schools/yeshivas need the tuition to pay their bills, teachers etc. Its cost lost of money to educate our children and we must take responsiblity and pay for this. They are our children and it is our responsibility. If you cannot afford it then go raise the money. If you needed food for your kids what would you do… same thing – the parents are responsible to get the money to pay the school- either pay for it or fundraise it.

    mark
    mark
    14 years ago

    I know all u people are going to jump on this one, but the schools are suffering and there are many many people who are blatantly and purposely not planning to py there tution. its stealing . I know someone who owes much more than 10 thousand, and he feels no need/ or pressure to pay it . SHAME ON YOU. as an administrator of a schoolm I can sympathize with this school . Then there are those poor widows, who dollar by dollar , do evrything they can to pay tution, volunteer for the dinner, substitue, bus monitor sell chocolates are just a few things you can do . One 11 yr old girl made 20,000 selling cookies door to door. ,Many times you see these people with their leased cars, exepensive bar mitzvahs and pesach vacations and going to the country. to those few , SHAME ON YOU FOR LEAVING YOUR CHILD’S REBBE TO BORROW FROM GEMACHS OR FORCLOSE ON HIS HOME BECAUSE YOU DONT THINK ITS IMPORTANT. for the record , most people are not like this its only a small few, but the small few can add up to thousands of dollars the yeshivas really count on .

    elvis
    elvis
    14 years ago

    they probably tried everything and this was a last ditch effort

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    if satmar can take take each opponent of thiers to secular so can haftr .give one reason why bais din is better is better then secular if chassidim don’t abide by this rule?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    how do u know for a fact that haftr didn’t first try baisdin but they weren’t getting any where so they got a heter arkaos. why don’t you hear both sides of the story

    Don Ungarischer
    Don Ungarischer
    14 years ago

    I know of a case in Westchester where a “Hebrew High School” is taking a single mother to court without having gone first to Bais Din. A disgrace and “proof” that these Hebrew Academys and Hebrew High Schools do not believe in or teach Torah. No wonder so many of their graduates are mechalel Shabbos .

    NYCESQ
    NYCESQ
    14 years ago

    When you come out to the Five Towns on Pesach or Mid-Winter Break week the place is a ghost town because everyone (whether they can afford it or not) is away on vacation. Yet, everyone likes to complain about the tuitions and how the schools are robbing them. Teachers and Rebbeim need to be paid and that comes before Joe Woodmere gets to take his whole family to Florida and then ask for a break.

    5T
    5T
    14 years ago

    This is why it’s important to keep Tzedukah money in our own community as a priority, instead of outside soliciting organizations.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    We have 2 boys and a girl at yeshivot in the Five Towns and our tutition bill is about $28,000 per year plus lots of addtional charges. We haven’t taken a real vacation in several years, both of our cars are over 10 years old and we don’t go out to the expensive kosher restaurants that charge $100 for the five of us for dinner. Each of us works full time and are still having a a tough time making ends meet. I have no sympathy whatsoever for these jews who don’t pay their bills and put the burden on those of us who do. I hope the court makes them pay quickly so set an example.

    Yeshivah Parent
    Yeshivah Parent
    14 years ago

    I find it reprehensible that Yeshivas seem to assume that when parents don’t pay tuitition, the parents are hiding the money. As a parent with many friends I can unequivocally state that parents who don’t pay simply don’t have the money to do so. Its not as if Yeshiva is a luxury that the parents who cannot afford should simply opt out of! In other words, even parents who cannot afford it, have no choice but to send their kids to Yeshiva. I have yet to meet the mythical parent who pleads poverty but takes his entire family to a hotel for yom tov. They simply don’t exist. While I agree that Yeshivas need money, suing the already overburdened parents is simple rishus and cannot be condoned.

    Hate em Tatem
    Hate em Tatem
    14 years ago

    The posters on this read make very valid points. Yeshivas need money for their operating expenses and unfortunately, some people do not look it at that way. With that said, if HAFTR is going to secular court and playing that game, the parents should act like any other debtor, including filing for bankruptcy. If HAFTR would act in a mentchlich manner, I would hope the parents at mentchlich. This does not seem to be the case.

    think about it
    think about it
    14 years ago

    The parents should have brought the lawsuit against themselves! They need the school to survive as much as anyone else does. Why should some community members feel responsible for the local school and others not? Each and every parent of the school and indeed every community member should feel obligated to do whatever it take to help the school grow, ans succeed,. In essence in a perfect world the delinquent parents would sue themselves. Then again in a perfect world they would have long ago made figured out a way to compensate the school for the services they received.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    The issue is NOT whether the parents should pay if they signed to it- it’s whether the yeshiva should have gone to secular court.

    As for whether or not tuitions are justified… Nothing comes for free, but many of the yeshivas’ expensive decisions are never put to the parents for approval. Case in point: my children’s school, which has SIX principals for about 200 students. Excuse me???

    The principals are: director, dean, boys’ kodesh principal, girls’ kodesh principal, general studies principal, preschool director. Plus they have a director of development. They hire assistant teachers for classes that have only 10 or 12 students! You’d think they get a great education there, but they don’t. None of my kids knew alef-bais by the end of the kindergarten, including one child who tested as gifted. It was their only curriculum that year for 6 hours a day. There’s no excuse. Nor did my bright son know how to subtract 7 – 2 when I asked him at the end of second grade. So you can add tutoring fees to tuition. Can I sue the yeshiva? LOL

    When I went to school there were 30 kids in a class with 1 teacher, no assistant – and 1 principal for over 700 kids. And we learned!

    Disgusted
    Disgusted
    14 years ago

    Disgusting excuse for a yeshiva. How can a place be called a yeshiva when they go to secular courts to get $10,000, which is not even a years worth of tuition. Such a chilul hashem. Horrible!!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    While the Yeshivot need money to survive – I find it sand how they will not take the financial situation facing our community into account. How many parents lost there jobs & are not able to pay. It is a vicious cycle. I know of a Yeshivah day school that is a lost this year 100 students – because parents cant afford the tuition. They went to public school – that is sad – Yeshivah should also work the parents.

    Exempt no more!
    Exempt no more!
    14 years ago

    People are entitled to go on vacatio. that should not affec t your tuition status. What a husband and wife should totally “crack” from teh pressure of trying to make ends meet? People “need” the break. It is essential to get away once in a while.

    Why should schools have “Tax emept” ststus if they are running it like a business. There is a trade off to reeceiving the “tax eempt” status(That enables everyone in the schools adminstration familt to buy “Tax free” items ; – ))

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    A yeshiva is not “any other debtor” there is a communal responsibility to provide Jewish education dating back 2000 years to R’ Yehoshua Ben Gamla. There is definitely no requirement for a family to file for bankruptcy. If there was no attempt at mediating this in Beis Din than this is a Chilul Hashem of tremendous proportions for a communal institution to take a family to court. And the school should close down.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    This is a very import lawsuit and is meant to set an example of these parents for not paying their bills. Its not somthing appropriate for a beth din. We are not talking about stealing someone’s chicken or whether someone has chazakah over a bench in the beis medrash.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    I know some of these parents personally and I can assure you that they have no money, live off the local gemachs and social service organizations and do not go on vacations and have even advised HAFTR of their dire situation. Further, there was no move to go to Bais Din and certainly no Heter Arkoas issued. These whole thing is shocking and many of the Rabbonim in the 5T neighborhood (including the MO ones) were stunned by the turn of events. Hopefully, HAFTR will do the appropriate thing and (i) vacate the default judgments that they have received and (ii) carefully analyze each individual case before pursuing such indigent people. No one is looking for a free ride and people who take advantage of the system should be taken to task but not at the expense of real Aniyim.

    joe
    joe
    14 years ago

    hmm haftr is a frum school??

    Reuven
    Reuven
    14 years ago

    My father ran a school for the past 30 years. He has some parents who avoid him when they fail to meet their obligations. That is unethical. Then, there are parents that respons to their messages from school administration and explain that they are going through a difficult financial time. This group of parents are honorable. These parents are offered new terms of tuition obligations based upon what they can realistically afford.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Why are people complaining about secular courts? Do you live in United States or Antarctica where there is no legal system? Do you have some special rights over the rest of population in the U.S. that use “secular courts” to resolve legal matters? Bes Din is nothing but politically controlled lobbies where those with money or name recognition can turn things to their favor.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Why is everyone assuming the parents breached an agreement to pay. It sounds like the parents thought that they had paid the part of the tuition that wasn’t covered by the scholarships. It sounds like a misunderstanding where the school thought the parents would pay $Y and the parents thought they were to pay $X. If the school doesn’t have the agreement as to the amount of the tuition in writing, it may have a hard time in court. Oral agreements are enforceable, but one would expect a school to have some written agreements with the parents or at least some paper work showing what was agreed to and what was paid.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    HAFTR has changed a lot in the past 5 and 1/2 years. The executive director died on the job, so what he promised is an open question. They ran existing principals out of the HS because of a few Board Members and lost lots of students-both those who they pushed out and future ones whose parents wouldn’t want to deal with an institution that thinks nothing of changing on a dime its promises about what the school is. Then they hired a new Exec Director -a proud son of a traditional Conservative Rabbi. Not sure if one who is brought up and proud of a Conservative Rabbi father-a traditional one to be sure-cares much about Beis Din.
    HAFTR probably sued after 5 and 1.2 years because of Statute of Limitation problems-contracts have a 6 year SOL in NY.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “These whole thing is shocking and many of the Rabbonim in the 5T neighborhood (including the MO ones”

    I don’t believe a single Rav from the 5Ts sends their kids there-as opposed to 30-50 years ago when many sendtheir kids to HAFTR’s predecessor instittutions.
    One Rav whose kids are beyond school age-a number of years back sent some of his kids there.
    If I’m wrong someone will contradict me.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “As for whether or not tuitions are justified… Nothing comes for free, but many of the yeshivas’ expensive decisions are never put to the parents for approval.”

    HAFTR like many day schools has many administrators earning over 200k-note the Beis Din decision involving R Brisman where thye were ordered to pay him 118K-and Brisman was an ordinary Rebbe-not an administrator.

    Joshua
    Joshua
    14 years ago

    I guess this would be the right time for parents to start requesting tuition refunds from those who had their children kicked out of school. Tuition is for Schar Limud, and when a student is kicked out at some point tuition dollars should be retuned.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    “Now through December 31, 2009, HAFTR will be accepting no fee credit card payments on our website.

    Please visit our website at http://www.haftr.org and click on “donation/tuition payments”. There is no need to login with ID and password to make credit card payments”

    So they don’t care about absorbing the costs of the credit card payments-but go after immigrants for tuition.

    “I guess this would be the right time for parents to start requesting tuition refunds from those who had their children kicked out of school. Tuition is for Schar Limud, and when a student is kicked out at some point tuition dollars should be retuned.”

    They like many day schools/yeshivot would be truly bankrupt if they had to pay the huge salaries to their administrators and mechanchim AND refund money to those who spent morethan a decade there and are functionally Jewishly illiterate .

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    We had a food store for many years and many families would shop and “charge on their accounts” which was fine, if they paid up regularly. However, some went away for winter vacation, bought a house, went to the bungalow and all the extras before they paid the bill they had with us. There is something very wrong with that.

    Go for it HAFTR – just like some people don’t honor the halacha of paying up their bills, they will also not honor the ruling of the Beis Din.

    Been there, lived it. Sorry.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    It’s a chillul Hashem that they don’t go to beis din. They should be ashamed of themselves. And why does sombody sue another for not paying tuition nowadays?

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    can someone please explain how come when our parents went to yeshiva all our grandparents were holocaust survivors and coludnt afford to pay much tution if any and everyone stayed n school and the schools survived also. is it bec they were only a few big ones or maybe every school today has to build a fancier building than thier nieghbooring yeshiva and we have to pay for that ( my fathers yeshiva had leaks was run down the day before the inspectors came they would try to fix it) maybe someone could list some reasons im not surel what the aawnser is

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Any parent who takes scholarship money and then goes on vacation is effectively financing their vacation with the blood of unborn children (unborn bc their parents used birth control to avoid paying yeshiva bills). They deserve to be treated as accordingly.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    Let them send their kids to public schools during the day and to talmud torah in the afternoons, and enough with the sports, debate teams and other shtus.

    OMG
    OMG
    14 years ago

    As long the collections are done within the guidelines of the, The Fair Debit Collection Practices Act, I don’t see a problem, and a debit is a debit regardless if it is a none for profit or a credit card, if you own you need to pay, that said, if you really cannot pay you should take advantage of the bankruptcy laws, but remember it will be un your credit report.

    to joshua
    to joshua
    14 years ago

    the guy who said parents of “kick out” kids should get money back , never happens because a kid who pays full tuition never gets kicked out

    Court Jester
    Court Jester
    14 years ago

    To all you ignoramus people in here: It is clear why secular court was chosen – the ‘jewish’ ones are a big joke and do not have power. You have brought this upon yourselves!

    Sara
    Sara
    14 years ago

    Why are schools so much cheaper in Boro park and Monsey???

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    14 years ago

    As the wife of someone who sat on a “tuition assistance board” for many years, I can tell you story after story of parents crying poverty, while the wife wears a mink coat and drives a BMW. The stories go on and on. HAFTR is not the first, not will it be the last going after overdue tuition in civil court. They have no choice, they have to pay their staff and they can’t pay with parental “empty promises” of next week, next month, during the summer, etc. There are many yeshivot that charge a great deal less than HAFTR, if you cannot afford the tuition, or choose not to pay such a high tuition, send your child to a “cheaper” yeshiva.

    NO ONE IS FORCING you to send your child there. Your obligation is to pay the committment you made !!!!

    Roshe Teves
    Roshe Teves
    14 years ago

    HAFTR:
    Hebrew
    Accadamy
    For
    The
    Rich

    Lawyer
    Lawyer
    14 years ago

    I once represented a yeshiva that was trying to collect several bad debts. Many parents wrote post-dated checks on accounts they knew were closed. Intentionally writing a bad check (or a whole series of them) is a crime in NY. I attempted to file criminal charges against some of those parents. Fortunately for them, the local DA discouraged us from doing so. Out of a dozen cases, some were resolved in civil court (with the school getting a judgement for the full amount and then filing that judgment as a lien against the family’s house), some were resovled in Bais Din (where the losing family basically ignored the decision and paid very little or nothing in spite of the judgment) and some were resolved by the family calling me and offering 10 – 30 cents on the dollar – which the school graciously accepted.
    I do not know anything about HAFTR, but I do know the parents who owe the money should make some effort to pay. I’m sure that would go a long way!

    Chaim Greenberg
    Chaim Greenberg
    14 years ago

    Let all the yeshiva”s open they’re books to outside auditors…..Menahalim, Administrator, hire they sons, son in law, nieces, cousins,ALL FAMILY member’s….that never show up to work..that’s how they get away with high salary’s..nice cars..vacation..no mortgage on they’re houses..its all about inflated expenses…suck the parent body as much as you can..
    ITS A BUSINESS!!!! ITS SUPOSED TO BE A COMMUNITY SERVICE…