Parents protest lack of schools in northern neighborhoods

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Some 700 parents from north Tel Aviv have signed a petition protesting against the lack of schools and kindergartens in their areas, reports www.mynet.co.il. The parents, who live in the newer neighborhoods where a lack of educational institutions has long been obvious, say it is outrageous that their children are being allocated to schools all over the city by lottery, and say they hope to change the system by enrolment time early next year. According to the report, parents began signing the petition recently and hope to gather 1,000 signatures before sending it on to city officials. One parent said the city had encouraged young families to move into new buildings in the northern neighborhoods, but had failed to provide sufficient schools and kindergartens and was "letting parents kill one another" to get their children into any available place. "It looks as though no one (in City Hall) thought for a moment where they would put the children," one parent said. Another parent said it was "contemptible" to use a lottery system to decide in which schools children should be placed, and that children should not have to pay the price for the city's attempts to save money. A municipal spokesman responded that a committee comprising parental and municipal representatives had been set up, and that its job would be to re-examine the system of enrolment for seventh grade.