Yeshiva Sanity: Have a Great Yeshiva Week (and a half)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Have a Great Yeshiva Week (and a half)

We've been at it for a month now & I think we've had mostly positive discussions about how to pay for Jewish & secular education for our children. Thank you to all the readers for making this blog a success. A special thanks to all those who contributed guest posts and/or comment regularly. For the most part I think we have disseminated our ideas in a respectful tone.

Readership and comments have gone down significantly from the time we started the blog. This is primarily because of the new format we're using where people have to log in and use screen names. People now have to put in a little effort and sacrifice some anonymity in order to comment. This means less comments, and by extension less readers, but less name-calling and improved quality of the comments. I think the trade-off is worth it.

One thing that I'm finding a little annoying is the "threading." This is when the comments are indented to allow for separate conversations within 1 post. Problem is you can't quickly see which are the latest comments by scrolling to the bottom. Now that we all have screen names we can have multiple conversations without the "threading" feature and without having to respond to other comments by calling them 5:45 or 7:31. I'm curious to see how everyone feels about eliminating the "threading" feature before taking it off. Also, feel free to give any other feedback about how I can improve this blog.

I'll try to take a little break from posting until the break is over, if I can manage to keep my opinions to myself for that long.

For those of us working hard so we can afford our tuition bills or staying home to conserve funds I applaud you. For those who are on vacation, enjoy it! See you when you get back!

Comments (15)

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guest · 688 weeks ago

Personally, I hate the threading for the reasons you mentioned. Why not get rid of it and just list the comments in chronological order?

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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Guestonymous · 688 weeks ago

Guest 12 min ago - hard to keep track when it's just chronological.
:-)

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JS (hello) · 688 weeks ago

Personally, I hate the threading. Makes it so hard to tell where new comments are, even with the sorting by "Last activity". I also find that sometimes the threads get condensed automatically and sometimes they're expanded, which doesn't help matters. Otherwise, keep up the good work.

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guest · 688 weeks ago

Just as an aside, anyone notice how heatid is almost begging for teachers? They have been advertising in the Jewish Standard for quite some time, and now they are sending out emails on Teaneck Shuls. How hard is it to hire a few teachers in a recession? I'm beginning to think teachers do not want to go there. Is it because it's a new school?

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Avi · 688 weeks ago

Try it without threading. See if you like it better.

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israelteaneck 23p · 688 weeks ago

Thanks for your hard work. I would remove the threading, and try to figure out how the comments / posts can be accessed and reviewed more easily. I know some people have told me in shul there are no comments - and I told them there are, but just you have to play around to get to them - try to fix that glitch please. That is chasing away some readers and comments. As far as signing in, I like that. People need to think twice before they say disgusting things about segements of our mo community or the general population.____With regard to Guest's post about He'Atid teachers. I also heard that some teachers that were considering to apply, spoke to some parents that registered, got their feedback and chose not to apply. However, I think it is not fair to have a substantive conversation about He'Atid or other issues at this time, where people from both sides of the "aisle" may not be present to defend or comment. Many are in Florida / Israel, etc. ____

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israelteaneck 23p · 688 weeks ago

Going into this break, let's all realize we have a right to disagree...a right to actually not LIKE a model...but, I really hope we all wish everything success, even if we don't like it, because there are 100s of children that are impacted with each failure - be it SACS, He'Atid, etc...things have a domino effect of impact not just one that school, but others, like when SACS children ran back to the other yeshivot weeks before the new school year started, etc...let's just hope for global success.

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CJ Srullowitz · 688 weeks ago

I agree that the required civility has led to fewer comments, but those comments are far more substantial, and the conversation develops instead of going in circles. Reading your predecessor's site was often like walking into a bar with the same 15 angry drunks every night. The tradeoff is well worth it.

As for threading, I like it. I'll hunt for new comments but I think that placing your comment in the appropriate area makes it easier to read for those of us who aren't monitoring the site every hour.

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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thatguy · 688 weeks ago

Understood, but what throws me off is that on the front page, I consistently see "0" as the number of comments, so I never know if there are new ones to hunt for. When I come in to a particular post, it would then be easier for me to look in a designated place for new posts so i can see if there has been anything going on.

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Hoof Hearted · 688 weeks ago

Notice He'Atid changed the minimum requirements they are seeking for their teachers? Check out their website- they don't even require a degree or experience

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guest · 688 weeks ago

Heatid: I knew this would happen. I used to post it on Chump's blog, but he always censored it. Why in the world would any experienced teacher go to a start up school? Of course, they could simply vastly overpay, which would get some teachers in. However, what does that do to their "low cost" model?

It is pretty obvious that heatid will eventually hire relatively inexperienced teachers and then claim that that's what they wanted in the first place, in order to train them in their own style. So, students in heatid will probably be left with younger relatively untested teachers. Is it any wonder so many parents are now having second thoughts about being the sacrificial lambs for this grand experiment?

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Miami Al · 688 weeks ago

Are their any Jews left in the tri-state area? I'd swear they were all here right now.

I wouldn't read too much into the requirements being listed or the advertising job postings. They are looking for what, 6 teachers, maybe 9? Also, given the scrutiny that they are under, stripping requirements is probably a good thing. Published requirements opens one up to EEOC complaints.

For example, if they were to hire a music instructor part time that lacked a degree, could even have been a "retired" touring musician that dropped out of college, having those published requirements could create problems.

Either they will have the right teachers in place or they wouldn't, I think that scrutinizing their recruiting process is just silly. Say they hire a Hebrew language instructor that lacks a US accredited degree, want to face a discrimination suit?

"Is it any wonder so many parents are now having second thoughts about being the sacrificial lambs for this grand experiment?"

Wow, talk about drama for a PreK - 1st grade school. Sacrificial lambs? Grand Experiment? Wow. Hopefully they know how to hire staff. If they don't, it will collapse. But to assume that they are hiring all undegreed people without experience because of how they are publishing requirements is farcical.

1 reply · active 688 weeks ago

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thatguy · 688 weeks ago

though I can't say for certain, it seems that "hoof" is stating that they changed the requirements from what was already posted, not that they were employing a particular approach in their wording from the get-go. A change, the inference would be, reflects a lack of suitable (or suitable numbers of) resumes.

As to your first question. Yep, some of us are still in this area. I'm thinking of getting my kids into bathing suits and having them sit in the bath tub so I can take pictures to put on Facebook of our version of a beach vacation. My kids are spending their time doing Hulu dances...

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Yeshiva_Dad 69p · 688 weeks ago

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I've heard the people & removed the "threading" feature. I don't know how to remove the "reply" button but let's all avoid using it so the comments are all chronological.

I'll get with my techie after the break & try to fix the comments glitch that happens on some browsers that either hides the comments or says their are zero comments.

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tesyaa · 687 weeks ago

It's 55 degrees today, no need to visit Florida...

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