Lakewood school director charged with stealing over $600K in tuition

LAKEWOOD — The founder of a special-needs school that gets millions in tax dollars was charged with stealing more than a half-million dollars in public tuition funds and creating a fake fundraising foundation.

Rabbi Osher Eisemann, 60, of Lakewood, who was also the director of the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI), created a foundation called Services for Hidden Intelligence used to launder $200,000 in public tuition money to make it appear he was repaying debts he owed to the school by using personal funds, according to Attorney General Christopher Porrino, who said Eisemann also stole nearly $430,000 for a personal business venture, TAZ Apparel.

Over 600 severely-developmentally delayed, medically fragile, and socially-emotionally challenged children and young adults ranging in age from birth to 21+ attend the school, according to its website. Porrino said the school gets nearly $1.8 million per month in tuition from Lakewood and other outside public districts that send students to SCHI.

“By allegedly stealing public funds that were strictly earmarked for the education of special needs students, Rabbi Eisemann broke the law, violated the public’s trust, and betrayed the vulnerable population of children served by SCHI,” said Attorney General Porrino. “He had a duty to use every tuition dollar for the benefit of the children at the school, but instead he allegedly diverted hundreds of thousands of tuition dollars to gamble on a personal business venture.”

The FBI raided SCHI last June along with other Orthodox schools in New York State, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Eisemann was charged with second-degree misconduct by a corporate official.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com

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