From Seth Cohen at Boundless Drama of Creation Blog – a discussion about a school in North Carolina that is 40k short and will close. The parents created the school from scratch in 2006.
There are nineteen Jewish children in Asheville, North Carolina, far from the Jewish centers of life in New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Atlanta. These children are getting a daily dose of Jewish education, culture and language, and they are sharing experiences that will help cement their identities for years to come. They may go elsewhere in life, far from Asheville – perhaps even to our own communities. We know this.
So with all we know, let me ask this – will we, the Jewish people, let this school fail? And if we do, what does it mean about what we say?
Please read the whole story if you have a chance. This issue is huge – there are many facets. Perhaps they are better off in a public school with a really good after-school program?
From a halachic perspective it is fairly clear that these children’s education comes before even paying the mortgage on a shul, or any other program, except giving out food and money to the poor – it is that important.
Wellington, New Zealand has the very same problem. It is entirely possible that the Ministry of Education would no longer have the school be accredited if the numbers drop below a particular level.
Has any of the financially failing schools considered enrolling students from outside the Jewish community. Often, parents who are not Jewish would prefer that their children be educated with Jewish children because of supposed higher educational standards.
We need to use electronic/online tools to spread the cost of curriculum development and teaching/support.
This kind of network could support everything from lone homeschooling parents to day schools.
R Yonah, please read this old post of mine and if you think it’s relevant, include it in your post. It’s called “Jewish Education – Some Suggestions.”
Btw, I am aware of three Jewish day schools in different cities that have closed in the past 18 months. This would be the 4th that I’ve heard about.