by Dan Perla If you ask a large group of parents whose children attend a Jewish day school to name the most pressing school issue on their mind, they will almost certainly utter the same word - AFFORDABILITY. Simply put, for a large group of parents, a day school education in the U.S. and Canada has become unaffordable. The average day school tuition nationally is approximately $14,000 and has increased at a 3%-6% percent annualized rate over the past decade. By comparison, wage growth over the same period of time (particularly the last 3-4 years) has been virtually flat. So for many families it really is more costly to send a child to day school than it was five or ten years ago. While the quality of a Jewish day school education is arguably better than at any time in recent history, an … Continue Reading
2011-12 Day School Enrollment Sees Modest Decline
The question raised frequently in the press and around day school tables across the country has been how the recent and lingering economic crisis is affecting day school enrollments, with widespread predictions of significant enrollment decline, including in the Modern Orthodox sector. As he has done annually since the economic decline in 2008, Dr. Marvin Schick has collected and provided enrollment data for schools outside the yeshiva world and Chassidic sectors. “The data evidences a modest decline overall,” explains Dr. Schick. “Nevertheless, it is important to note that the decline is not necessarily a trend being seen across the country. In fact, there are some schools and communities experiencing growth while others decline.” In collecting and analyzing the data, Dr. Schick … Continue Reading
Start Playing Around
by Daniel Bloom and Ariel Beery The movie Moneyball sets a scene that could be easily adapted for a gathering of educators in the teacher’s lounge. Around a paper-packed table, older, more experienced individuals are trying to dissuade a new up-and-coming manager that his approach using technology to determine what the right composition of the baseball team was not going to work. “We’ve been doing this a long time,” one of the more wizened coaches told Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt. But Billy pushes back, “You don’t even understand the problem.” What Billy realized is that his experienced advisers were looking at the world as it was yesterday, as opposed to what it could be tomorrow. Experience, in times of rapid change, can bring as many challenges as it brings solutions. New … Continue Reading
Catalyzing Jewish Networks: How Can Jewish Schools and Camps Join In?
by Leah Meir “Jewish geography” is a favorite game among Jews who meet up anywhere - conferences, social gatherings, work meetings, street corners. You know the game questions: “So where are you from?” “No kidding, New Jersey! Do you know my brother (son, daughter, sister), who went to school (camp, college) there?” “Sure, I know your brother (son, daughter etc.) - We were really friendly at school (camp, college etc.)! I actually just connected with him (her) again through Facebook (Twitter, LinkedIn).” Jews have been master networkers since the Babylonian exile 3,000 years ago - our survival as a people has depended on the ability to stay connected with fellow Jews wherever they were scattered across the globe. Our networking helped us hold fast to our shared values, texts, … Continue Reading
Planned Bergen County Day School Inspires National Funding Effort
from The Jewish Week: A Breakthrough Model For Day Schools? Nearly 400 young parents attended an open house this week for a Modern Orthodox yeshiva, planning to open in Bergenfield, N.J., next fall, that will not only offer a bargain-rate tuition but promises to be a model for Jewish education in the 21st century. And the still-to-be-opened school, called Yeshivat He’atid (Hebrew for “Yeshiva of the Future”) has apparently already inspired one still-anonymous donor, representing several wealthy businessmen interested in the effort, to form AJE, Affordable Jewish Education, a fund with the goal of starting schools like Yeshivat He’Atid around the country. Gershon Distenfeld, He’atid’s executive vice president (a lay position) told the enthusiastic, overflow audience at the … Continue Reading
Heschel Day School Receives $1m. Endowment Gift
Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School has received a $1,000,000 endowment gift from an alumni family which is the lead gift to Heschel’s Endowment Fund. The gift to Heschel is also the first endowment gift received by the seven Jewish day schools in Los Angeles participating in Generations LA grant program. Heschel is a participant in Generations LA, a collaboration among PEJE, BJE, the Lainer Day School Endowment Fund, local Los Angeles donors, and the AVI CHAI Foundation, which is designed to transform the way schools fund their budgets by raising endowment and legacy gifts. As a result, Heschel will receive the annual investment earnings on a 25% matched portion of the endowment to be used for financial assistance. An endowment gift is one in which the original principal is never touched. The … Continue Reading
Technion Receives $30m. Commitment
The American Technion Society has announced a $30 million commitment from the estate of the late Henry Taub and The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation. $25 million of the commitment will be used for the "Leaders in Science and Technology" faculty recruitment program at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and $5 million will go to the university's Faculty of Computer Science. The gifts will create an endowment for the Leaders in Science program's future and provide support for its annual expenses over the next 10 years. Established by the Taubs with $10 million in 2002, the program provides the university with the resources and flexibility to attract a cadre of internationally renowned scientific leaders to serve as senior faculty. It also allows the Technion to be competitive in … Continue Reading
For Whom the Full (Day School) Tuition Bell Tolls
by Dan Perla Here’s a fact many day school parents may find surprising. If you’re paying full tuition at a typical day school in the US, you’re still receiving a scholarship. According to data compiled by YU’s Institute for University-School Partnership, it appears that a majority of day schools in five major U.S. communities charge less in gross tuition than it actually costs them to educate a child. This amounts to a scholarship, or subsidy, for the roughly 50% of the families in this sample who are listed as “full paying” families. YU’s data is based on extensive financial information collected from nearly 40 schools in 5 communities across the US as part of an AVI CHAI-funded financial benchmarking program. The benchmarking program indicates that the average full paying … Continue Reading
Digital Wrestling
by Jeffrey Lasday As Jews, we are born to wrestle. Our very name Israel means “One Who Wrestles with God.” We wrestle with prayer. We wrestle with text. We wrestle with Jewish identity. As Jewish educators, we are charged with providing our students with wrestling matches that will enable them to engage in these classic Jewish struggles in the 21st century. To do so means to better understand our digital students, wrestle with our own fears of change and master the amazing possibilities of using technology in the classroom. Facing a rapidly changing world, Jewish educators need to tackle the use of technology in pursuit of Jewish learning. Our contemporary world forces educators to wrestle with what were once basic assumptions such as: What is a classroom? When does learning take … Continue Reading
The People of the Video Camera
Tami Warshawsky recognized the power of video while she was in high school. When she graduated from college, her first job was producing promotional and training videos for a chemical corporation. Today, as Director of Marketing and Communications at Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago, a Pre-K - 8th grade Jewish day school, Warshawsky is recognizing once again the unique opportunities that video offers to bring the school’s mission to life. She is regularly posting videos to her school’s YouTube channel - videos that she produces herself using a flip video camera and software that is available on her Mac. “There are so many extraordinary opportunities that Schechter offers children and families, from the strong dual General and Judaic Studies curriculum to our visual … Continue Reading
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