Southern Israel is
under attack. On Tuesday, 41 Qassam rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, and Wednesday morning alone a salvo of 30 Qassam rockets was fired on Gaza vicinity communities.
Not surprisingly, many parents in the battle-weary town of Sdeort chose to leave their children at home today and not run the risk of sending them to school.
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| Qassam salvo hits western Negev / Shmulik Hadad |
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(Video) Sderot, Ashkelon residents wake up to another day of rocket attacks following IDF operation which killed 19 Palestinians. At leaset 28 rockets fired from Gaza within one hour; several people suffer from shock, hothouses damaged |
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An examination of records kept at the Sderot municipality’s education branch, revealed that 25% of all school children did not attend classes Wednesday, along with 30% of Kindergarteners who were kept at home.
Head of the education branch in Sderot's municipality, Miriam Sassi, said that the Sderot’s educational system is operating normally, but that psychologists and counselors were brought in to aid troubled students.
“Learning takes place in reinforced, barricaded classrooms alone,” said Sassi. “We only allow students out for recess if they are within a 15-second range of a ‘safe room’, and if there isn’t one we do not let them out to play,” she said.
On Wednesday, member of the Sderot parents’ association, Batya Katar, spoke to Israeli-Russian billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, who assured her that he would arrange for children and teens to be transported to hotels and hostels outside Sderot beginning Wednesday afternoon.
The Sderot municipality held an emergency meeting Wednesday in light of recent massive attacks on the city, and discussed the possibility of evicting the elderly and individuals with disabilities from the ravaged city.
Mayor Eli Moyal noted that “we visited the homes of some of our elderly and disabled residents Tuesday, to prepare for all contingencies. If an evacuation becomes necessary, than we will be prepared. Bear in mind that it is the military that makes these kinds of decisions, and not the municipality.”
Sasson Sara, head of the Sderot parents' association, noted that he was displeased with the fact that the association was not part of the aforementioned municipality meeting and was not privy to the town’s decision making processes.
“We (the parents’ association) will convene today and discuss recent events in the city. We do not want to bring the education system to a halt and let children roam the streets in this type of environment, but that being said we resent being left out of the municipality’s decision making processes,” said Sara. “If the municipality continues to leave us out of the loop we will take unilateral action.”
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