A generation of students and graduates of the Yeshiva University High School (YULA) are rallying around three veteran teachers who were recently dismissed.
Former math department chair Manny Katz and Judaic studies teachers Rabbi Ephraim Niehaus and Carol Bess were relieved of their positions at the end of the 2010 school year. All three had been with the school, located in the city’s Pico-Robertson district, since its founding in 1979. Nearly 400 students attend the Orthodox high school, which is split into boys and girls campuses.
On May 20, Katz, a 1995 Milken Family Foundation Jewish Educator Award recipient, told 20 current and former students in an e-mail that the three teachers were not leaving YULA voluntarily. He asked students to forward his message to others in an effort “to set the record straight.” He also asked for written testimonials.
“I’m not trying to keep my job,” Katz wrote. “To me, it’s all about respect. After 31 years of dedicated service to this school, I feel I deserve more than to suddenly be discarded like yesterday’s newspaper.” The others declined to comment for this article. Katz has retained an attorney and is pursuing legal action.
Katz’s letter sparked anger among supporters of the teachers and prompted former student Joseph Roth to create a Facebook page titled “Protest the Unfair Termination of Mr. Katz, Rabbi Niehaus and Mrs. Bess.” The page now numbers more than 950 members. The site encourages members to write to school administrators and board members demanding an explanation. Roth said he is unaware of any official response to letters or e-mails. “The main issue is that the school must have had a reason, and we want to know why,” said Roth, a senior at UCLA. “If it’s a poor reason, we might want to put pressure [on YULA officials] to reconsider.”
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