אלייענס קרומע קעפ געבן אריין סקול פאפירן

So now school is a school

By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com

Monroe – The school that was not a school is back before the town Planning Board. This time around, everyone has even agreed to call it a school.
Two years ago, a group called Congregation Shari Torah bought the former Manhattan Beer Distributors warehouse on Larkin Drive in Monroe with visions of turning it into a school, banquet hall and synagogue for Kiryas Joel families thirsty for an alternative to the Hasidic community's chief rabbi and his schools.
But getting approval for a school must have posed difficulties, because the attorney for the congregation last year came up with the idea of calling the proposed school a "workshop" – which is permissible under town zoning on Larkin Drive – and calling its students "tradesmen."
The trade, Planning Board members were told, would be "editing publications." The workers just happened to be 14- to 18-year-old boys, toiling away at their chosen trade during school hours.
Sounded good to the board, which granted approval in January 2004.
A month later, after the Times Herald-Record inquired about the property, two town officials visited the building and were shocked – shocked! – to find about 80 boys inside, engaged in what distinctly appeared to be learning, not editing. They also found the congregation had started working on the building without permission.
Class was dismissed that day.
Fast forward one year. Tuesday night, the congregation's lawyer, Alan Lipman, returned to the Planning Board with a rough plan for a 32-classroom school at the site and a new designation for his tradesmen.
"Actually, we're going to convert those workers to students," Lipman said, eliciting chuckles.
The town building inspector, William Muente, told the Record in December 2002 that the area was zoned for heavy industry and would require a variance before a school could operate there.
But Michael Donnelly, the Planning Board attorney, said Tuesday night that this particular school was "being allowed there under the religious mantle." He could not be reached yesterday to elaborate.