HOLLYWOOD, Florida: The towering piles of books and summertime stream of construction workers give no hint, but this school is like no other.
It takes its name from a Jewish high priest. Its director is a rabbi. The food is kosher. Hebrew will be uttered throughout.
Oh, and it’s a public school.
Ben Gamla Charter School is billed as the first publicly funded Hebrew-English school in the U.S. Its Aug. 20 opening has prompted fears of religion creeping into public schools — in violation of the American political doctrine of the separation of church and state that is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
The Ben Gamla school — named for Jewish high priest in the first century who encouraged education — has even drawn unlikely criticism from groups that defend Jewish causes. Similar criticisms have been raised against Arabic-language charter schools elsewhere, with some saying they teach Islam.
Ben Gamla is the brainchild of former U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch, who said he was as surprised by the controversy over the school as by the interest in it. Organizers say the school will teach the Hebrew language and culture, but not the Jewish religion.
“To me, it’s very obvious that we’re not teaching religion,” said Rabbi Adam Siegel, the school’s director. He previously directed two private Jewish day schools. “Religion is prayer, it’s God, it’s Bible. And so if you stay away from there, you’re not teaching religion.”
Ben Gamla originally leased space from a synagogue, with enough room for 100 children in kindergarten through third grade. Within weeks of publicizing its opening, the former Democratic congressman said, the school received more than 800 applications.
“If we had 50 kids I would have been happy,” said Deutsch, who hopes to open other schools in Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
For now, workers are scrambling to get a new school site ready in its own three-story building near City Hall. More than 400 students, up through eighth grade, will attend.
Charter schools are publicly financed and run independently, sometimes by private entities. Some specialize in a language, a trade or some other subject.
Ben Gamla students will follow state curriculum, but also will take a Hebrew language course, and one of their core subjects — math or physical education, for example — will be taught bilingually.
Siegel ran into tough opposition at Broward County School Board meetings when proposing Hebrew textbooks that included passages criticized as being too religious. After two rejected books, he told the school’s five Hebrew teachers to prepare to teach without one.
Siegel, whose four children attend Jewish day school, said lessons will never cross the line into religion. But critics are still concerned.
The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the school sets a dangerous precedent.
“Whenever you have a public school, a public charter school, that focuses on a particular culture that has an intense religious connection, there is the risk that you will end up teaching that religion,” he said. “It could happen because some people believe culture and religion are inseparable, or it could happen because many of the teachers and administrators are of one religion and don’t recognize the problem.”
Even the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Federation of Broward County have expressed church-state separation issues.
“There are unanswered questions as to how the subject matter of Jewish culture can be taught without also teaching the Jewish religion,” said federation head Eric Stillman.
Deutsch and Siegel claim the federation’s concerns about Ben Gamla are fueled by its fears Jewish day schools’ enrollments could suffer. The federation helps support five such schools in Broward County, but says that is not a reason for its reservations.
There are already numerous foreign language-centered public schools around the country, including Arabic ones. Some have questioned whether those were Islamic schools in disguise.
In New York, a new public high school centered on Arab language and culture has generated controversy. The Khalil Gibran International Academy, set to open in Brooklyn next month, has prompted concerns Islam will seep into the curriculum. Critics have even suggested the school could become a breeding ground of militant Islam.
At the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, many of the schoolgirls wear head scarves and halal food is served, though many of the children fast during Ramadan.
Asad Zaman, the charter school’s executive director, said Minnesota officials made frequent visits after its 2003 opening to ensure religion was not a part of the curriculum. But he said public response to the school was fairly tame compared to the reaction in South Florida over Ben Gamla.
“There was some concern that there would be a church-state separation issue,” Zaman said. “But the kind of community brouhaha that happened there did not happen here.”
Margaret Schorr, 47, who is sending her daughter Hannah to kindergarten at Ben Gamla, said she was told clearly the girl would not receive any religious education as her son does at a Jewish day school. She thinks concerns have been valid, but that those who have aired them have ignored the fact that the line between religion and the public schools was long ago blurred.
“If I were to send her to any other public school, you better believe that come December, she’d be learning Christmas carols,” she said.
