Copyright 1994 News World Communications, Inc.  
The Washington Times
June 28, 1994, Tuesday, Final Edition
SECTION: Part A; Pg. A17

LENGTH: 576 words

HEADLINE: Jews lament loss of school district

BYLINE: Liz Trotta; THE WASHINGTON TIMES

DATELINE: NEW YORK

BODY:


NEW YORK - "Sad? That doesn't come near what we feel," said the man fielding a barrage of telephone calls at the Kiryas Joel School District office yesterday.

He succinctly reflected the Satmar Hasidic community's solemn mood in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively dismantles the special school district that New York state established for 200 disabled children.

Judith Gluck, a mother of nine children, has a 6-year-old boy with Down syndrome at the special school. "I never believed this could happen. Until now I felt school was sharing responsibility with me. Now suddenly that extra shoulder isn't there anymore. My son looks beautiful now, but if he doesn't have the proper school to go to, he may regress. I have to hope in God."

"I almost fainted when I heard the news," said Chaya Polatseck. Her 3-year-old son was only 15 months old when a soda bottle exploded and injured his eyes. At the school he receives counseling and visual and speech therapy. "This is going to be a real problem for him," said his mother.

Malka Silberstein, whose 20-year-old retarded daughter receives special services at the school, said: "It is a devastating decision for children. They were educated in the least restrictive environment according to the law, as part of their families and communities and accepted. Now the future is very blurry."

Chaya Reisman, a mother of nine, said she had many sleepless nights worrying about her handicapped son, who also is afflicted with Down syndrome. "We were hoping for the best," she said.

Gov. Mario Cuomo, who signed the legislation that created the 100-square-mile district in southern Orange County, said in a statement that he regretted the high court's action.

"I believe that while the Constitution, thankfully, bars government from forcing anyone to be religious, it does not mandate that we punish people for being religious."

Kiryas Joel Board of Education President Abraham Wieder said he is conferring with the governor to find ways to educate the handicapped children. The regular summer program, he added, will proceed "one way or another."

Differing sharply with the court's reasoning was Terrence L. Olivo, superintendent of the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District, the boundaries of which are the same as the Kiryas district.

"We have a very unique situation here of a very large Satmar Hasidic population living in their own incorporated village, which is a political subdivision of the state of New York."

Mr. Olivo said because people share a religious belief does not mean they have to surrender their political privileges, including holding public office. As examples, he cited "villages out in Utah where they are predominately Mormon" and "Roman Catholic priests who have been senators." (No Roman Catholic priest has ever served in the U.S. Senate. Former Rep. Robert F. Drinan, Massachusetts Democrat, who served from 1971 to 1981, is the last Catholic priest to serve in Congress.)

Louis Grumet, executive director of the New York State School Boards Association, which brought the original suit, said: "If we had lost, I think it would have changed the entire structure of the public school system and allowed public funding of religious enterprises. We knew we had to go to court. And we always felt we'd win from the beginning."

GRAPHIC: Map, BANNED DISTRICT: New York violated the required separation of church and state when lawmakers created the special Kiryas Joel school district for a community of Hasidic Jews, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday., By The Washington Times

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