Excerpt from Yiddish article in
Der Yid’s December 27, 2019 edition
Grant program was reopened after multiple schools
requested that UJO assist them in obtaining increased security.
UJO thanks Mayor de Blasio for reopening the program.
Brooklyn, NY – Last Thursday, New York City
reopened the opportunity for private schools to enroll in the Nonpublic School
Security Reimbursement Program that covers the cost of hiring guards for
private schools. This was done after UJO received requests from multiple
schools. UJO relayed these requests to City Hall. The Mayor then ordered the DCAS
agency to reopen the program. Although schools usually need to apply before the
advent of the school year, they are now allowed to apply for funding midyear in
order to be approved for the program and receive State funding to hire school
security guards midyear. The program was initiated after a campaign by Councilman
David Greenfield and the City Council, which resulted in the establishment of
this program two years ago.
“I express our sincere appreciation to Mayor de
Blasio,” says Rabbi David Niederman, UJO
Executive Director and President, “for taking the necessary steps
to better protect our schools and for Lisette Camilo, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Citywide
Administrative Services for re-opening the application procedure so expediently.
It took only a few days from the time we presented the request to City Hall through
our devoted servant Mr. Lincoln Restler at the press conference held in
Williamsburg with the Mayor on Thursday, December 12, for the program to be reopened.
“It is rare that you see government move so
fast. This shows how seriously the Mayor takes the security of our community
and how strongly he identifies against anti-Semitism and hate. We call on yeshivas
who didn’t yet apply for this funding to apply at this time. We know that ultimately, ‘The Guardian of Israel neither
slumbers nor sleeps’ (Psalms 121:4) and that is where our true protection is, but
we are obligated to make our best efforts to protect our children, and this
program makes great strides in that regard.”
In further news,
Councilman Chaim Deutsch announced that he is presently working to expand the
program to include schools that have less than 300 students so that they should
also be entitled to apply for funding through this program.
