Shulamith sale in Brooklyn unraveling
Judge gives parents green light to sue; high school may fold
By Mayer Fertig
Issue of Sept. 19, 2008
The Lawrence man who planned to buy the campus of Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn wants out of the deal. The sale was supposed to fund, at least in part, the purchase of a permanent home in Inwood for Bnot Shulamith of Long Island.
Joshua Guttman is offering to terminate the contract, provided that his “full down payment deposit” –– believed to be $1.5 million — is returned within 30 days. His attorney, Israel Goldberg, sent a letter to that effect Monday to lawyers for the school and the parents who are suing to block the sale, which would possibly result in the closure of Shulamith in Brooklyn. [ltr-from-goldberg-9-15-08]
The money had been released from escrow to the school, and The Jewish Star has learned that at least some of it was spent on payroll taxes that had been in arrears.
The expenditure had the approval of the board, Jason Hirsch, a member of the board, said Tuesday.
Messages left for Guttman and Goldberg were not returned before deadline Tuesday.
The sale of the massive property in the heart of Flatbush started coming undone several days after Brooklyn State Supreme Court Judge James Starkey tossed out the school’s motion to dismiss the parents’ case. A hearing is now set for Sept. 25 at which parents hope to begin gaining access to the school’s financial records prior to trial.
The parents are challenging the legality of the present Shulamith board, which approved the sale. They cite 1937 bylaws that grant the membership, which includes the parents, power to choose the trustees.
The school, led by Executive Director Rabbi Moshe Zwick, and represented by Ed Rubin, first told the court there were no bylaws. When the bylaws turned up, the school then claimed they were invalid, having been long abandoned. Then a 1999 mortgage application was found to cite the bylaws, indicating that they had not been abandoned after all.
“When they wanted to use them, they’re perfectly content to have bylaws and it’s only when the parents say they have rights then they don’t have bylaws,” observed the parents’ attorney, Robert Tolchin, Tuesday.
Meanwhile, it appears likely that Shulamith High School won’t survive to see the case resolved.
At a middle school orientation Monday night parents were told that no decision will be made until at least November on whether there will be a ninth grade next year, according to several parents who were at the meeting.
Parents were told that students are being prepared to take the BJE exam and that each would have to apply to at least two other schools in the event Shulamith High School goes under. In the event applications are opened up in November or December for a ninth grade next year, many students, presumably, would have already committed to other schools.
Additionally, administrators and teachers are preparing for the possibility that a joint graduation of 11th and 12th graders will be held next year, if a decision is made to close the high school.
“As a parent I do not want that to happen,” said Hirsch, who has a daughter in the 10th grade. “I would not be happy. And the fact that he’s a board member is far, far second” to his daughter’s happiness, he added.
Still, in many ways it’s business as usual at the middle school, said one parent who asked to not be named. “The bottom line is they’re doing everything as if the school were not closing. They’re doing their Shabbatons and working for the kids because that’s what they do.”
The teachers “don’t even know what to tell you except to say go check out other open houses and be prepared,” she said. “And they’ll work with them, if need be, to find a school that’s appropriate.”
The mother, who is the parent of an eighth grader, was bitter about the lack of information being provided to parents.
“Even if [Rabbi Zwick] lied to our faces –– still, to this minute, nothing to the parents. The BJEs are in November. Be upfront and honest, or be upfront and not honest, but something.”
Compounding the information blackout is that for several months school officials have either refused to answer questions from reporters, or not returned calls at all, reportedly on the advice of attorney Ed Rubin, who also does not return calls or e-mails.
Incredibly, despite the turmoil, a small group of girls have transferred into Shulamith this year from other Brooklyn schools. The prevailing attitude among the parents of the new arrivals is described as ‘any school that seems to be worth fighting for is where they want their daughters to go.’
Marianna Vulakh of Flatbush can understand that point of view. She and her husband, both baalei teshuva from the former Soviet Union, switched their two girls into Shulamith three years ago from another well-known Brooklyn school, considered by many to be somewhat to the right of Shulamith.
“We knew the rumors that Shulamith might close,” she said, but “when I looked at Shulamith graduates I saw girls who loved being Jewish and loved doing mitzvos, and when I looked at the other school I saw girls who were doing it because their parents were doing it. There was not much love behind it.”
Vulakh said she has no regrets. “I’m still happy that I did it because my girls are getting a proper religious and secular education. You have to give Rabbi Zwick credit, whatever it is, he built, really, a wonderful school.”
Melanie Marmer is an attorney from Marine Park, Brooklyn, and the mother of a seventh grader at Shulamith.
“I don’t think I would have bought a house in Brooklyn if I didn’t believe that there was a school –– a Zionistic school –– that met my daughter’s needs, where the education is phenomenal. And I think that the education is phenomenal.”
Some Brooklyn parents, like Vulakh, accept that the Brooklyn campus may have to be sold as the price of Shulamith’s survival.
“As much as I would like the Brooklyn school to stay where it is and thrive, I do realize it may not be an option at this point. The most logical option would then be to split the proceedings from the sale [with Bnot Shulamith], though how to split it is another question,” she said.
Others, like Marmer, feel that a sale of the Brooklyn campus, with its “amazing qualities,” is premature.
“Until we see the books we have no idea what the expenses are. And until we spend a year or two seeing if we can raise money we have no idea if we should give the campus up ... We can’t replicate it in a smaller building. There would never be enough money to build another building.”
Whatever the result, Marmer wants to make sure Shulamith is in Brooklyn to stay.
“My child should be able to be a professional as well as a Bas Yisroel,” she said.
