Rabbi Accused of School-Jobs
Scheme
By Verena Dobnik
Associated Press Writer
April 16, 1999
NEW YORK (AP) - For years, Hertz Frankel has been known as
a gentle, fatherly Brooklyn rabbi and principal of Beth Rachel,
billed as the world's biggest Jewish girls' school.
The Holocaust survivor was prominent internationally as a
spokesman for the ultra-orthodox Satmar Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg,
a neighborhood of bearded men in black hats and coats.
Few suspected what investigators charge - that the 68-year-old
rabbi siphoned about $6 million in public school money to finance the
private school.
Frankel pleaded guilty to conspiracy April 9 in Brooklyn federal
court. The judge sentenced him to probation for three years and
ordered the Beth Rachel school to pay $1 million in restitution.
Edward Stancik, the city's special schools investigator, said
Frankel conspired with public school officials to trade political
support on a community school board for the money.
From the mid-1970s until 1994, phony jobs were given to 80 women
living in the district, Stancik said. The ``jobs'' ranged from
security guards and remedial teachers to aides and came with family
health insurance benefits for the women, some of whom had as many as
10 children.
The phony employees gave their paychecks to the rabbi, who then
passed on the money to the 4,000-student Beth Rachel school and its
parent organization, the United Talmudical Academy, authorities
said.
In return for the money, Stancik said the rabbi assured district
administrators that they would get the support of a critical bloc of
Hasidic men on the nine-member community school board.
The rabbi has denied holding any sway over the board, but Stancik
said ``many people benefited from this corrupt bargain. None of them
were New York City public school students or their parents.''
In a statement, the rabbi said he pleaded guilty to avoid further
humiliating his community. He said he's ``the victim of a great
injustice,'' explaining that school officials had told him to accept
the money to help relieve an economic burden from New York taxpayers
by educating the Jewish children privately.
``The arrangement took place, but he did not benefit one penny,''
said Frankel's attorney, Nathan Lewin.
Two former district superintendents also were implicated in the
scheme, but died before any charges could be brought. Three
lower-level administrators pleaded guilty to misdemeanor
charges.
