The city council determined: the allocation to an ultra-Orthodox school in Haifa will be canceled

On Tuesday 04/06/2024, a stormy discussion was held during which the city council voted and determined that the allocation to Alma School on Derech Hayam Street in Haifa would be canceled. There are 107 female students studying at the school, and according to the allocations committee it is necessary to cancel the allocation, since some of the female students do not live in Haifa and some are also registered in urban schools at the same time as registering at the Alma School.

The discussion on Tuesday was in harsh tones, when council member Michi Alper spoke about the issue and city secretary Bracha Sela stopped him. This is where an argument began between Alper and Likud council member Eli Ben Dayan, who argued that since it was such a significant issue, there was room to allow Alper to complete his words and the vote was opened.

Alfer did not have time to vote and demanded that the vote be opened again, but it did not happen. Today council members Alfer and Ben Dayan say that on Tuesday was only the first step regarding the allocation and the continuation will be in court. On the other hand, Deputy Mayor Sharit Golan Steinberg claims that the cancellation of the allocation was done out of a desire to maintain a proper administrator, and therefore she supported the recommendation of the allocations committee.

Golan Steinberg: "There is a fear here of the absence of a proper administrator and suspicion of crimes"

Deputy Mayor Sharit Golan Steinberg rejects the claim that her vote is part of political persecution and says that all that interests her is a proper administration and the good of all the residents of Haifa: "I supported the recommendation of the professional allocations committee to cancel the decision of the city council that gave the allocation to the association, after there was not only a fear of the absence The principal is correct in the allocation process, but also suspects crimes, in light of the fact that there was no match in the reports regarding the number of Haifa students studying at the school, but even worse is the fact that some of the girls registered in the same private association appear as registered in the municipal schools.

It should be remembered that already in the previous term we were alerted to the seizure of possession of a building without an allocation procedure arranged by law contrary to the procedures of the Ministry of the Interior, after a "new mechanism" of an agreement without compensation was invented which included an attempt to bypass the rigid allocation procedure of the Ministry of the Interior.

A private association has many options for finding properties and renting them for a fee, either in Haifa or in another authority, preferably in the authority where most of the female students live, and as mentioned, not in Haifa. The building itself is necessary for urban needs and the procedure states that where there is a distinct urban need, it overrides allocation to a private body. A number of municipal auditor reports from the previous term under the rule of Klish and Alper presented very disturbing findings in regards to procedures for allocating municipal assets to associations from a very specific sector. In this term, we do not intend to continue with the improper conduct, since these are public resources that belong to the entire city of Haifa. All sectors should receive resources equally, when Haifa's need will always increase."

All we have demanded over the years is proper management of public resources

"The opposition's claims of political persecution are baseless, and the many questions I and Deputy Mayor Sophie Nakash have asked on this issue over the years prove that all we have demanded is proper management of public resources, such as the request to examine why the association has not paid electricity and water bills for years, and those who bore the burden of the payments are residents Haifa contrary to all rules of proper management.

Compared to those who claim political persecution, we were precisely the ones who were politically persecuted, when a silence lawsuit was filed against us in the amount of hundreds of thousands of shekels to put fear on us and try to get us to vote in favor of these allocations. An elected official should be committed to the public, and this public is all of Haifa's residents and not a specific sector."

Councilor Michi Alper: What happened on Tuesday is political persecution

Council member Michi Alper says that what happened on Tuesday in the city council was a political persecution: "Alma School (in the allocation it is called Kalli Orot) for girls combines religious and non-religious girls, this is a quite unique school. The school needed a building and got 3 buildings on the way to the sea. The buildings were built with the funds of the Ministry of Education. It is important to understand that the building on the sea road was originally intended to be a school, but it was not used as such. For years, the municipality turned the place into offices of the municipal departments and a garage, contrary to the designation of the land.

As soon as a local authority does not make the original use of the land, it has to redeem it financially. The school opened about 7 years ago. In the previous term, we were looking for a solution for the school. The place was located about 4 years ago, it was half empty.

There was no budget for those works, in order to use the building as a school, and the school's association took it upon itself to renovate the current building as well as the spaces to which the municipality's uses, which were there with an investment of millions of shekels, would move. Equip the additional structure and turn this structure into the school. Hadva Almog, Sofi Nakash and Sharit Golan already submitted queries on the subject in the previous session. I don't understand the objection to this activity, everything was kosher. This move has progressed."

"They asked the association for lists of female students. Then they said that not all of the female students are from Haifa. In Haifa there are students from countless local authorities. Students from Haifa study outside of Haifa. Many schools have a large percentage of students who are not from Haifa.

Another argument in the request to cancel the allocation is that there are yards that the school uses and they do not belong to it. The legal adviser Yamit Klein told me that the yards belong to the building. A law was passed, that each student is allocated 5 m of yard and thus reach 500 m of yards. The education system of the Haifa municipality came to the school several times and expressed admiration. This story is not over yet, it will now go to court."

"This is bullying and political revenge. I saw the members of the coalition, some of whom I spoke with in the morning. They didn't want to be a part of it and they still voted in favor. It's disappointing. They don't let me finish a sentence and they didn't give me 3 minutes to speak. The vote was closed, even before I voted. I demand a repeat vote today, because the vote was not done legally. The law is that the vote is counted by two council members and not by the city secretary. This is not a political issue, but the children of the city, and they are not going to accept it."

"The parents of the female students are very worried, they made all kinds of promises. They were not told which school the female students could transfer to. This is political revenge, they said they would vacate the school as early as the previous term. We are in a city where the number of students is decreasing, instead of investing and building schools More are busy closing a school.

If they take all the public institutions, which are intended for educational institutions in the city, and return them to their original use, there will be enough educational institutions for everyone. In the previous term, we were unable to receive budgets from the Ministry of Education, because the coalition did not agree to approve budgets in the finance committee, which would allow the receipt of the money. Hundreds of millions of shekels could reach Haifa. The same people who did not allow the transfer of funds in the previous term are now complaining that there is no room."

Councilor Eli Ben Dayan: You don't get up in the morning and throw 107 girls into the street

Likud council member Eli Ben David does not understand the opposition to the allocation of the school: "The multitude of issues that need to be dealt with, focusing on such an issue is irrelevant. It smells like political persecution. At the end of the day, the school went through an orderly allocation procedure 3 years ago for ultra-Orthodox girls with core studies , architecture, etc. They got the assignment and the school is working. They don't get up in the morning and throw out 107 girls. We don't send them Hundreds and thousands of Haifas in special frameworks? So what, are they thrown away?

The second procedure, which is delusional in my eyes, is that the mayor takes the council to cancel the allocation. I'm sure there are new council members who didn't understand what they were even voting for. The document that was there did not include all the facts. The assignment is for 3 years. The allocation time has not ended and during that time they want to take them out.

In addition, close the votes in the middle. They usually ask what is being voted on in an orderly procedure. We wanted to speak before the vote and ask the questions for the protocol, since this has legal implications in the appeals to the following parties later. The mayor decided he would close the vote. City secretary Bracha Sela always tells a council member to vote, if he doesn't vote. This time she moved on without saying. I personally wanted to say my opinion and ask the questions.

There is harm here to the girls who did nothing. I want to get a map of all the students in Haifa - where there are foreign students and how many Haifaites study in other places. This is a very serious event, certainly in a time of war and uncertainty. Today it is the ultra-orthodox sector, tomorrow it will be Arabs and a democratic school. This cannot be the face of Haifa. It was a completely ruined place, which was renovated and turned into a magnificent institution. What do we want altogether? I wish there were more institutions like this in Haifa for all communities."