Parents in Netanya have raised serious complaints about the city’s after-school programmes (tzaharonim). In response, Mayor Avi Salma instructed the municipality to hold a dedicated discussion led by its director-general to examine the problems and set uniform, binding procedures for all programmes, Orna News reported on 11 November 2026.<\/p>\n
A programme at a municipal kindergarten in the north of the city.<\/strong> A mother says staff use their phones on duty, supervision is inadequate and violence between older and younger children is not properly handled. Children who wet themselves are not always changed. There was no permanent staff at the start of the year, and a permanent coordinator appointed later has not brought enough improvement. Once, a boy from the programme was found outside the premises without staff noticing he had left; his mother brought him back herself. In another case a girl was allegedly hurt and broke a tooth. The mother stresses she wants a safe, well-run programme, not someone to blame.<\/p>\n A school-based programme in the city centre.<\/strong> Another mother says the head coordinator phoned her, shouting, while she was driving, demanding she collect her son. When she arrived, she says, the coordinator made a hostile remark and a verbal row followed; a staff member filmed only the mother’s reaction. Her son then received a suspension letter without any prior inquiry. She also lists a child climbing a roughly three-metre fence, children leaving through the school gate and having to be searched for, and a child missing for about 20 minutes who was found in a nearby kindergarten only when a parent arrived. Parents, she says, were told children could be removed if complaints continued.<\/p>\n A special-education kindergarten in Kiryat HaSharon.<\/strong> The father of a five-year-old on the autism spectrum says the afternoon transport collected every child except his son. Arriving about ten minutes before closing time, he found the kindergarten locked and the boy alone outside, crying near the road; a passer-by stayed with him. Since then, the father says, the child has been anxious and afraid to go down stairs alone, and the family has not received satisfactory answers.<\/p>\n Netanya municipality said it is aware of the issues regarding staff performance and programme management and takes them seriously. On the mayor’s instructions it will hold a dedicated meeting chaired by the director-general, with education professionals and council members. Each case will be examined on its merits and the conclusions turned into clear procedures and binding standards for every after-school programme in the city. No date has been announced.<\/p>\n Parents who have faced similar problems can contact the municipality via the city hotline, 106.<\/p>\nThe municipality’s response<\/h3>\n