The number of culturally based, but publicly funded, charter schools is on the rise. This fall, Newsday reports, New York City will add a Hebrew school.
The Hebrew Language Academy Charter School’s school will open two years after the debut of a controversial Arabic-themed public school, also in Brooklyn, and as school districts around the nation grapple with issues of religion and culture.
School officials say they will teach Hebrew language and culture, but within the required curriculum, and without crossing church-state lines. As the administrators of the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Minnesota are finding (like the Ben Gamla school in Florida), that goal may be easier announced than met.