Court: Defenses for Sderot schools improved

The High Court of Justice on Tuesday granted the state a further extension to complete a plan for the fortification of schools in the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

Supreme Court President Dorit Beinish wrote in the court's decision that the government would be given extra time to provide for the protection of educational facilities.

This, she explained, was "in light of the improvement in protection of schools since the court's prior verdict on the issue and the state's intention to cary out further improvements during the interim period leading to the full completion of the plan providing for protection of all schools in Sderot and the Gaza vicinity communities."

In May, the High Court received a petition from Sderot's Parents' Committee, according to which the government was obligated to protect all main classrooms in the Gaza vicinity communities. The petitioners rejected the government's claim that it was required only to reinforce special classrooms (labs, libraries, etc). In its decision, the court gave the state until the conclusion of the previous school year (September) to fulfill its obligations in securing all homerooms in the aforementioned area.

Former Defense Minister Peretz inspecting Qassam hit in Sderot school (Photo: Amir Cohen)

Six months later, Beinish wrote that "the interim solutions proposed by the government seem reasonable, provided that the efforts to reinforce the schools are concluded by the date agreed upon by the state and that they afford school administrators and parents a substantial opportunity to present their detailed reservations relating to this subject before the relevant authorities."

Mandatory busing

Beinish further determined that there was no reason for the court to order the state to provide for wide scale transportation of pupils to schools outside of Sderot. Nevertheless, she wrote, "We have been informed that satisfactory protective solutions have not been found in the interim period concerning two particular schools. For this reason, students from these two schools will be sent to study outside of Qassam range."

According to the state's response to the court, which dealt with the schedule for protecting educational institutions, construction had been completed on three of the seven schools slated for defensive improvements (and not total reconstruction) by the beginning of the current school year. Additionally, the government claimed that the required protective works in two additional schools would be completed by  May.

Regarding the thirteen schools which are scheduled to be completely rebuilt, the state informed the court that the responsible ministries were working together to accelerate the process of preparing the ground for construction. Of these 13 schools the government estimated that one will be completed by the beginning of the next academic year, eight more by January 2009, two by the beginning of the following academic year, and the final two by August 2007.