Yeshiva’s Promise: No More Minor Students

Under investigation by the state, the Yeshiva of New Haven has promised that no students under 18 years old will attend classes when school resumes this fall.

Rabbi Daniel Greer originally opened and ran the Orthodox Jewish high school at the corner of Elm and Norton Streets. A federal jury sided against Greer in a $20 million dollar verdict in federal civil trial, and the rabbi is now facing criminal charges of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor, based on allegations that he sexually molested teens there for years.

The school lost its students after the federal complaint was filed. It has since reopened with new students; it is currently on summer break.

Earlier this summer, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) began looking into accusations that the yeshiva has been running a boarding school without proper authorization. The central issue is the presence of any minors in the Elm Street dorms.

Attorney David Grudberg, who’s representing the school, told DCF that, aside from one family member on site, no one else is under 18 years old. DCF now wants proof.

The State Department of Education (SDE) was first tipped off to teens’ overnighting at the school by a complaint from blogger Larry ​“Noodles” Dressler, the author of 220 posts about Greer and subject of an application for a restraining order from the rabbi.

Reviewing the yeshiva’s paperwork, the state found that the yeshiva’s five-year authorization to run a day school had expired in 2006, and that the yeshiva had never applied for the authority to run a boarding school, either through an education department certificate of exemption or a DCF license.

The agency sent a letter, by certified mail, on April 20, alerting the school of its seeming ​“non-compliance,” as Laura Anastasio, a state attorney who oversees SDE’s legal and governmental affairs, described it.

SDE didn’t hear back for months; Grudberg maintains the yeshiva never got the letter, according to Laura Stefon, SDE’s chief of staff.

(Separately, Stefon added that Greer doesn’t hold any state-issued educator certificate, so the agency ​“cannot take licensure revocation action” following the civil trial verdict and arrest.)

DCF remains the final enforcement authority because by housing teenagers in its dorms, the yeshiva can technically be considered a child-care facility. In several conversations, Grudberg has told the agency that no minors are on the property, aside from one special case. 

“[The school’s] attorney represents that there are no students under the age of 18 and also that the Rabbi who was arrested is no longer connected with the school. We are requiring the school’s attorney to present evidence to confirm that information,” said DCF spokesperson Gary Kleeblatt. ​“If there are no children (younger than 18 years old) then the Department of Children and Families has no jurisdiction to require licensing.”

Based on conversations with several students, the Independent reported in June that children as young as 16 years old, including the son of new head Rabbi Avrohom Notis, attended the school and lived in the dorms. The students also said that Greer remains in the building, where prayer services take place on the second floor. One evening, the Independent observed Greer standing on a porch outside the boys’ dorms around 9 p.m.

Asked whether DCF will confirm Grudberg’s claims with a site visit, Kleeblatt responded that DCF will ​“carefully” review any information the school provides, and ​“then we will determine if additional information is required.”