2 students at an Orthodox school claim they had sexual contact with a staff member – The Forward

The interior of the boys’ gymnasium at Yeshiva University High School in Los Angeles, better known as YULA. Photo by Louis Keene

By Louis Keene
May 28, 2024

Two students at an Orthodox Jewish high school in Los Angeles have reported an “inappropriate relationship of a sexual nature” with the same staff member, according to an email from the school’s principal shared with Forward.

Yeshiva University of Los Angeles, commonly known as YULA, did not name the employee cited by students in the email sent to the school community on Tuesday, but said she was a woman who worked on the boys’ campus.

Rabbi Arye Sufrin wrote in the email that YULA received the first student’s allegation on Monday and the second student’s on Tuesday. He said the school referred the matter to the Los Angeles Police Department.

“It is unbelievable and more than devastating that the students are faced with such a situation,” wrote Sufrin, who has worked at the school since 2008.

He said the woman was no longer on campus and had been banned from communicating with anyone in the school community.

It is unclear how long she had worked at the school or how old the students were at the time of the alleged contact.

The Forward received a copy of Rabbi Sufrin’s email on Tuesday from someone who had received it from a parent who was on the original mailing list. When contacted about it, YULA administration declined to comment further.

Located in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson, YULA is the oldest and largest modern Orthodox high school in Los Angeles with approximately 400 students at its two locations.

The allegation follows a report in November of allegations of sexual misconduct at a Houston school involving the longtime former principal of Shalhevet High School in LA. Rabbi Ari Segal. In a similar email to the entire community, the Houston school board said that a Private investigator had found credible evidence that Rabbi Segal had “sexualized, persistent and emotionally charged communication” with two female students during his tenure as school principal from 2004 to 2011.

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