In Conclusion

This post will go on-line following the Yeshivah Annual General Meetings (AGM)s of YBRSL ad CIVL.  While there has been a plethora of issues circulating about the elections and the AGMs, I have chosen not to write through the last ten days as I watched them play out, wondering if they could be put to bed preliminary to the AGMs.

So, in this finite space between the AGMs and the announcements of the new Boards; first to those past leaders who who oversaw the tragedies outlined during the Royal Commission, were responsible for the debacle of current constitutions and who had no qualms promising they would resign by the end of December 2015, despite ensuring that they remain ensconced.   The Trustees -  Nechama Bendet, Hersh Cooper, Mr Shmuel Gurewitz, Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner,  Rabbi Sholem Mendel Kluwgant, Rabbi Shimshon Yurkowitz and Max New.  These are the individuals have seen to it that their authority is entrenched despite any pretence of change.  Consider YBRSL - while not even all parents have been permitted to vote for the incoming Board, these 7 individuals have the entitlement to appoint 2 of the Board members as well as 2 of the Board members of CIVL.

To those, who for whatever their efforts over the last few months, have been unable to hand over a transparent election slate and gift the community the ability of empowerment and confidence in a quality leadership going forward;

• The Interim Board Members of YBRSL - Chaim Kingsley, Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, David Herszberg, Yechiel Belfer, Nussen Ainsworth; and
• The Interim Board Members of CIVL - Chaim Kingsley, Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner, David Herszberg, Yechiel Belfer and Israel Paltiel.    

From the 27 September 2016 they knew they were on a 3 month deadline till the next election, the first election.  Despite any other efforts, there should not have been a day that the importance, the transparency and accountability of this next election, this first election that launched the  new Yeshivah entities and community into a democratic era was not front and centre and should have been a matter for regular discussion at every Interim Board meeting.

As results are about to be called - how have these Boards, these individuals responsible for the AGMs and the elections scored?

Let’s check it out.

17 November, 2016

Issued Yeshivah Centre

Matters seemed pretty clear.  The voting process would be managed independently and that independent body would also be tallying the votes.

So far, so good, till we hit the following information, within the same distribution. This turned out to be very problematic down the track, when The Australian Election Company (AEC) advised members of the YBRSL that they did not handle voting at AGM's.  All of a sudden we had moved from an independent voting system to one being managed internally.  To make matters worse, till late in the piece this information had not been shared, in fact was not volunteered till there was no choice and it transitioned the opportunity of a fine process to the confirmation of a highly problematic one.

I have been asking for a long time on this Blog that the Boards of Yeshivah be given time to arrange appropriate voting at the AGMs for their members.  

As late as the Notice of Annual General Meetings and Explanatory Notes, that is, the official documents, provided three weeks prior to the AGMs and voting at that time, the  Interim Boards were signing off that regardless as to which of three ways the members would be casting their votes, The Australian Election Company would be tallying all the votes.    If the AEC were not able to undertake AGMs, how was this information submitted on the AGM Notice??

Other matters?  A considerable amount of abuse was spread around about various candidates during the election period.  Some of it excessively demeaning, ugly and unpalatable.  While the point can be made that 'campaigns are campaigns' when this is sourced from a member of the Interim Board - who holds particular influence over voters and potential future, peer board members, this goes beyond acceptable behaviour.  When brought to the attention of the Interim Board, the whole community would have benefited by a stronger stance being taken and greater standards being set for everyone's behalf.

As to the day-to-day management process.
I have repeatedly taken the attitude that every day had to be crucial.  
This election was not well served firstly, by a shabby constitution process. Secondly, one suspects, from poor resources at the Yeshivah end.  
Thirdly, repeated (endless) queries were ignored, many from candidates, or not addressed in a timely fashion, or repeatedly not addressed, or perhaps just not dealt with because answers were required and known for any number of reasons.  Back to lack of appropriate resourcing on the part of the Board.

One can only imagine that if this election had been valued sufficiently it would have been resourced to access an independent entity to undertake the entire voting process, from beginning to end.

It is untenable to consider the process that has occurred as acceptable, conducted by various entities, with votes counted by whoever is on hand, put together at the last minute on the hope that no-one would take up their justified right to vote as members at an AGM and calling on numerous employees and friends of employees of Yeshivah to be considered as independent parties.
Where do we see further floundering?  An organisation of the size of Yeshivah will have their AGM Chair in place for a considerable time.  On this occasion it appeared to change from 24 hours prior to the event.  Justifiably, how can one run an election, scrutineers, etc and manage an AGM?

Does this mean corruption has occurred?  Has this election been tainted?
This means that no-one cared to run a process, this means that no-one cared to pick up a phone 12, 10, 8 weeks ago and source support so that this community would be well served from beginning to end.
This means that no-one has anything of which to be proud, even a little. 

Where have the Boards been???  
Most certainly, not paying attention to their commitments on this matter.

In Conclusion

I plan to close this Blog, at this time, prior to the announcement of the new Boards.

These have been tumultuous days.
The opening week of October this year I began this Blog and advised that it seemed a fine time to reflect and converse for those interested in opportunities for transparent, responsive, 'service-driven' leadership and governance at Yeshivah.
My intent at the time had ben to provide a forum for education and insight where it seemed to be lacking.
The engagement was overwhelming.  The numbers have been far greater than I had anticipated but this has certainly indicated to me that my belief in the need for provision of education around which the purpose of these writings have revolved has been overwhelmingly correct.  

While my own interest in matters constitutional has always been considerable - the response has reflected that so too over the past months is this the case with the wider community.  There has been great interest in the  posts that address elections, constitutional rights and entitlements of members within the legal entities. 

I am sure these interests still exist and encourage all in the community to pursue them. Your Boards, Constitutions and Structure are designed for your service.  This is your entitlement.  

Should you have any questions I would encourage you all to put pen to paper and address your Boards, address your leaders, their place is to be of service to you.

I wish the new Boards and Leadership groups, each member of these leadership groups great opportunity and capacity in service together.  May the community and their leaders come together in a consultative and supportive way to empower all so as to benefit every individual, family and member of the community as a whole.

Before I close, thanks to my many readers for your involvement and focus on the subject matter herein.  Thank you also to the copious numbers of my readers who have reached out to me with enthusiasm to engage me in discussion and provide personal support and appreciation for my writings.

May all experience transparent, responsive, 'service-driven' leadership and governance at Yeshivah.



...marcia pinskier

Elections 105 - Royal Commission Report; A Pall over Elections

We have now reached the end of the road.  By the standards of many.  And if Yeshivah won't respond to the voices around  them, to the Rabbinate, to the secular press, to their community and to plain issues of good governance, it's time for the authorities to step in.

I've been a strong believer that as this community has been deprived of a voice in many ways, without accountable leadership for decades; this election has been a momentous point in the life-cycle of Yeshivah.  As such I have wanted to support it as cathartic and crucial.  However, watching the processes play out, seeing the leadership take a somewhat 'close enough is good enough' attitude has accounted for many of my own  concerns over the previous months.

Between the call of our Rabbinic leaders across Australia and New Zealand through to the words of the secular press, editorialised across the country in the Australian Jewish News this week, it has become unequivocal that Yeshivah Melbourne cannot go forward with this current process and election.  A process and election designed to re-empower those identified within the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse, Report Case Study 22, as having  been part of a previous leadership so responsible for the many specific and wider forms of abuse of victims, families and supporters of child sexual abuse.  

The Report is finally available and has prompted an immediate statement by the Executives at the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand, the Rabbinical Council of Victoria and the Rabbinical Council of New South Wales, calling on leaders who intimidated victims to vacate their positions.  Leaders were claimed to have '...lost their moral right to serve as leaders in our communities...".

The statement called on those '...identified in the report as not fulfilling their legal obligations to protect children to stand down from their public positions,...'

The statement, while long overdue, is powerful in that it addresses both moral and legal frailties.

It is diminished somewhat by the choice not to take the obvious, more difficult but more principled step of naming those to whom it refers.  

While a potent statement, as long as individuals remain nameless one could take a pretty educated bet that those to whom it refers will choose not to apply it to themselves.  The long and the short of it is that Trustee, Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner and Rabbi Telsner must, in line with this key statement remove themselves from all leadership positions.  Till they do so they continue to cast a pallor on their community and further pain to victims, their families and advocates.

The AJN has named both Rabbi Telsner and Rabbi Groner and spoken unambiguously about their failures in leadership as outlined in the Report.  Of Rabbi Groner they say, he '...was a trustee of the Yeshivah Centre, which oversaw, was responsible for, and appointed the Committee of Management.  It is therefore unthinkable that the new Yeshivah Centre which was only recently formed, will have Rabbi Groner on its board, as well as the board of the Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Colleges and Chabad Institutions of Victoria.'

The victims of child sexual abuse in Yeshivah have waited decades for action and justice of some fashion.   Victims of child sexual abuse and their families have suffered ostracism, intimidation, harassment.  The community has often been blind to what has occurred.  Sometimes through ignorance, sometimes eyes have turned away in fear, sometimes due to the mores of a culture we hope is long gone.  
The community has waited for the better part of two years, since February 2015 between when the Royal Commission called Yeshivah Melbourne to task and the release of the Report of Case Study 22, issued just days ago, for the results of an investigation that by now reflected on what many were horrified to know.

The reality is that even now there are many who believe they still have an entitlement to abuse victims and those advocating for victims.  There are many who believe they still have an entitlement to abuse those advocating for cultural change in leadership, so the old guard needs to be named, changed and gone.

Trustees Must Go

TRUSTEES 2008-2014

With the issue of the Report of the Royal Commission, it is untenable that any of the 'Old Guard', Committee members or Trustees remain anywhere in a position of authority for Yeshivah to move forward.  For Yeshivah to have presumably expressed sincerity in the words of apology it has conveyed to victims (or regardless of sincerity) the 'Old Guard' must be gone.  

It is indicative that this 'Old Guard', the Trustees, had the absolute authority in creation of the new constitutions for the whole community.  Within these constitutions, Trustees such as Hersh Cooper, (long resident in Israel) Nechama Bendet, Rabbi Sholom Mendel Kluwgant and others have continued authority to appoint individuals to the Boards of the new Yeshivah organisations.    
Any and all authority at the Yeshivah organisations for the Trustees to make appointments to the Boards must come to an end.

DON WOLF RESIGNS 2016
SEVEN TRUSTEES
STILL TO GO

  
Constitutions must be immediately amended to remove this entitlement.  These allocated seats on the Boards should become available through open election to members of the community organisations.

The current authority of the Trustees to make appointments, including the life tenure of Rabbi Groner on all Yeshivah boards, so taints the outcome that the current elections must be voided and any further electoral process delayed till a number of constitutional amendments can be generated.

Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Groner must resign from the positions allocated to him on all the Boards of the new Yeshivah entities.  These positions were always highly problematic.  Regardless of Rabbi Groner's actions, all the constitutions must immediately be amended and this position on the Board should become an additional seat available to be voted in by the community membership.

All Trustees, who have served from 2008 and particularly, who remain in place as of 15 December 2015, must depart the organisation.   Whether from governance position or management leadership involvement, any long-term authority Trustees currently hold for future appointments and participation, as is currently the case must come to an end.  Should this require constitutional or other documentation amendment this must be dealt with immediately.

As matters stand:

• Appointments by Trustees disdain the messages of the Royal Commission
• The appointment of Rabbi C.T. Groner to a seat on the school Board of Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah disdains the messages of the Royal Commission, disrespects cross-communal leadership and disregards governance issues highlighted by the Victorian Registrations and Qualifications Authority (schools regulatory authority)

Yeshivah have had a more than generous period to get their house in order.  In many ways they have done poorly and if they will not respond to this Report as community leadership now demands, it is time for the authorities to step in and decontaminate so much of what should have, what could have been managed in-house.

The 'Old Guard' must be gone in both a governance and operational sense.  It is time to allow the Yeshivah community to draw a deep breath and move forward with it's life.

...marcia pinskier

Elections 104 - Exposure

Yeshivah Centre have held their 'Town Hall Meeting' for Yeshivah-Beth Rivkah Schools Ltd. 
Hard and Fast - The Feedback from a range of sources...

• Great opportunity to hear from the candidates;
• Evening affected decisions for whom people would vote;
• Big impact by 3 - 4 candidates; these candidates repeatedly named as having swung attendees around to vote in their favour.

The event took place well into the voting cycle and well past the period that many had voted.

This is why I have repeatedly advised members NOT to vote till as late as possible.   

This is why if you haven't yet voted, the call is out to hold your vote and either (preferably) attend and vote at the AGM or hold your vote for casting as late as possible when as much information about candidates as possible can be gathered.

BIG IMPACT POINTS:

• Major concerns re lack of grievance or dispute resolution policy
• School needs to be more empathic, better at listening, more responsive
• Women needed and valued on Boards
• News on bullying within the school environment - Strongly and factually confirmed from a number of sources;  This is a major and ongoing concern
• Concerns re teachers not being confident to speak out - Fear factor exists
• Parents 'harassed' accused of being 'agitators' or otherwise intimidated by school leadership for previously speaking out on issues of concern
• Confidential information being leaked from leadership - culture and practices needs to be addressed

A brief wind-up from my own perspective.  There are some1200+/- students in the schools and in the zone of 150 teachers.  

Estimations had about 100 attendees on the night.  Where was the rest of the school community?  If parents aren't members they did not receive an invitation to this event.    

Every parent is a Stakeholder in their child's school.  
Board members will be required to serve every parent in the schools.
What better time than an evening such as this for all parents to meet and hear from prospective members of the Boards?  
Even more to the point - what better time to encourage further school membership; regardless of timelines associated with the election.

THIS WOULD BE THE ACTION OF AN INCLUSIVE CULTURE.

Yeshivah has to get its head a round a cultural turnaround.