The right of Jewish pupils in New York City public schools to wear yarmulkes during school attendance was upheld yesterday by School Superintendent Bernard E. Donovan in a rebuff to the Board of Education’s legal department.
The Superintendent’s reversal of his legal experts followed the accidental discovery by Mayor John V. Lindsay that such a ban existed. On a visit to the Bronx High School of Science, the Mayor was asked if he knew that the skullcaps were banned in a Manhattan high school. The Mayor said it was news to him and promised an inquiry.
The Board of Education then indicated that the board’s legal department had so advised the principal of George Washington High School but that the school system had never taken a formal position on wearing skullcaps in schools. A few hours later, a board spokesman announced that Dr. Donovan had discussed the matter with board members and then ruled that skullcaps could be worn.
The spokesman, in reporting on Dr. Donovan’s ruling, said there was no ban on the wearing of such jewelry as crosses, crucifixes and Stars of David but that the wearing of religious attire — including yarmulkes — was banned for teachers in the New York school system.
The New York Board of Rabbis praised Dr. Donovan’s ruling as a “very judicious decision.” The Board had severely criticized the earlier legal ruling.
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