Community Hebrew Afterschool Program (CHAP) has been the only daily Hebrew after-school programs in Northeast Miami-Dade for over a decade. Recently, a highly objectionable report by the Office of the Inspector General regarding CHAP’s practices resulted in the abrupt termination of their program. 

The report ignored readily available information that contradicts their narrative, and has singled out CHAP — the only area Jewish after-school program of its scope — for flaws they discovered in MDCPS practices. The report seeks to paint CHAP in a negative light for complying with the demands of school principals — demands which routinely resulted in financial gain for those schools at CHAP’s expense.

To wit, the allegations against CHAP include:

That CHAP charged for its program despite being allowed free use of their classrooms.

• This is highly misleading. CHAP never charged for its after-school program; charging only nominal fees for books and snacks , just like public schools do. 

• These fees were optional donations — no child was turned away for lack of funds — and the program itself was always free.

• While CHAPs fee structure was never hidden, as stated in the report, no one at MDCPS ever raised a concern to CHAP administration. 

• Chabad was instructed to pay fees to the schools in used, by MDCPS principals on a regular basis. 

2. That CHAP teachers were not properly accredited.

• This is patently false. Chabad has been fully licensed since 2015 — which is when the current DCF licensing requirement came into being.

• Chabad is in compliance and in good standing with DCF and was chosen as one of a select few by The Children's trust as an exemplary after-care.

3. That CHAP filed temporary paperwork instead of short- or long-term paperwork.

• CHAP was compelled to do so by the schools it served, who gave CHAP no other option. CHAP filed exactly as the principals asked them to — temporary paperwork. CHAP was never offered a short- or long-term application.

• The principals benefited from CHAP’s temporary paperwork, as the principals used the constant need for renewal as leverage to compel CHAP to pay for various unrelated services, including breakfast and t-shirts for the school staff, as well as compelling Chabad to pay for an Aventura Waterways custodian, which likely violated federal labor laws.

See here for a comprehensive rebuttal of all of the report’s allegations.

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Update:  The Oral Arguments from the Eleventh Circuit Court are now online at  https://youtu.be/OUvs2TgnFSM. The Mishna tells us that the world stands on three things:  Justice, truth and peace.  May HaShem bless us all in furtherance of our pursuit of these three pillars upon which our lawsuit is based.