Complaints About Jewish Preschool

I am part of the staff at Gan Israel Pre-School of Chabad of the Valley and belong to the local Jewish community.

I noticed in Bob Pool’s article of Dec. 19 that he made no mention of the St. Paul United Methodist Church just two doors down from our school. Why are only Saturday worshipers a bother who disturb the neighbors, and Sunday worshipers are not? The church also has a nursery school on its premises and has been there for many years. Why doesn’t its nursery school disturb the neighbors?

Gan Israel is in its seventh year, and the new developer next door is there less than one year. If this supposed smart capitalistic businessman is having economic problems, he has no one to blame but himself. A good businessman always does a feasibility study of any area he is considering to build in. Why should a developer invest so much money into a project when he isn’t sure of the area, or did not check it? If he had done his homework, he would have seen he was putting up this complex between two religious facilities. He also would have found the already-in-progress plans for Chabad of the Valley’s new facility.

Mr. Pool quoted one man as saying “the school was inappropriate and out of character for the neighborhood.” If this is true he should inform the families on our very long waiting list. Mr. Pool should also check to see that most of our families live within one to two miles from us, and that most of our Saturday worshipers walk to the temple. Maybe Mr. Pool is in the wrong neighborhood.

There are also two other Jewish temples within one mile of our school. They have been there for well over 20 years. They also have a religious school and nursery school. These facilities service the Reform and Conservative families in the area. We service the Orthodox families.

We welcome Mr. Pool’s close eye on our school. The only thing Mr. Pool will find out is that we have one of the best schools in the area, Jewish or not. He will also help add to our growing waiting list.

HELAYNE AMRANI

North Hollywood