Once again, Lakewood’s famous special education school is in the news. NJ Education Report has extensively covered the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI), mainly because the city school district forks over immense amounts of money every year in tuition to a thinly-veiled yeshiva for ultra-Orthodox children with disabilities: during the school year 2020-2021, the total was $32,499,860. 

Money is also driving current headlines about SCHI but in this case it’s whether Executive Director Rabbi Osher Eisemann who has been on a rollercoaster of court verdicts:

• In 2017  the State said he stole $630,000 in tuition paid by Lakewood Public Schools to SCHI.
• In 2018 the State said the actual amount stolen was $979,000, used by Eisemann to repay debts to SCHI, to settle credit card debt, for a private business venture, and to pay back taxes.
• In 2019 Eisemann was acquitted of corruption of public resources but convicted of money laundering and misconduct by a corporate official. Superior Court Judge Benjamin Bucca sentenced him to 60 days in jail even though each charges carries prison terms of 5-10 years.
• In 2020, via the Asbury Park Press, a panel of appellate judges issued a “scathing opinion” to Judge Bucca for being too lenient and ordered Eisemann’s resentencing by a different judge.

And now, miraculously, a former SCHI bookkeeper has testified that she made an “accounting error” and mistakenly listed a $200,000 payment to Eisemann. In fact, Eisemann’s lawyer argues, SCHI actually owes the Rabbi $300,000!

What’s fact and what’s fiction? We’ll wait with bated breath. Meanwhile, Thursday’s Lakewood Board of Education meeting agenda includes one student’s annual tuition to SCHI for $157,491.95 (not including transportation).