Anyway here's part 2 of Julie Wiener's article on the Ben Gamla network of Hebrew charters in Florida.
One thing I didn't know about until I read this article was the Hebrew Charter School Center which is based in New York and has as its mission "to help advance the Hebrew language charter school movement". They helped get the Hebrew charters in Brooklyn & East Brunswick off the ground. But of course their website doesn't acknowledge the existence of any charters that are supposedly going to open in Bergen County at some point in the future.
Logging you in...
who's attending? · 678 weeks ago
Miami Al · 678 weeks ago
Ben Gamla, OTOH, was founded by an BT Orthodox Jew with the goal of providing an American Public School experience with sensitivities to Orthodox Jews, providing an Israeli Dati Leumi "cultural" component. The Jewish cultural side to Ben Gamla is wrapped up in Israeli Sherut, NOT NYC-centric bagels and lox.
This also sees more emphasis on holidays with a strong Israeli secular component as well, Tu B'shevat and Purim absolutely stem from a Jewish religious origin, but manifest themselves in Israeli culture in a secular manner, and become a part of the cultural component (Purim being a celebration of the festive month of Adar, not Purim itself).
That is a BIG difference.
Hebrew Charter School Center is interested in helping unaffiliated Jews learn the building blocks for learning of their identity, NOT providing an affordable manner for Orthodox and Orthodox-sensitive children to attend a quasi-Yeshiva school.
Regarding groups, something to keep in mind is that the observant children at Ben Gamla are, by definition, from families that are less community integrated, and more family focused. Shabbat groups is not a religious obligation, but rather a community social function. Families that want their children to be in the Orthodox community socially 24/7 are more likely to use Day School AND Groups. Families that want their children to know Hebrew but are less focused on community-centric Judaism are more likely to elect a Charter AND have Shabbat as a family day, regardless of observance level.
I also know that Hollywood and an Orthodox Ashkenazi Shul and a Sephardic Synagogue in close proximity, and given the Israeli nature of the school, it no doubt is going to manifest itself more pronounced at the Sephardic synagogue than the Ashkenazi one.
I have no numbers for "who's attending," but I socially know several Ben Gamla Hollywood families, some are committed observant families, some are not, but all are far more family focused in their Shabbat observance (family meals + kids playing) than the local observant RASG families, who are much more dependent on groups + play dates to observe Shabbat.
Miami Beach and Hollywood are NOT identical, but many Hollywood young families come from Miami Beach, but I'm not sure that I know a representative sample of them. The Hollywood families that come to their parents for Shabbos regularly are clearly more likely to value Shabbos family time than those that do not, simply by the fact that they ARE using Shabbos as family time when regularly visiting, if that makes any sense?
who's going · 678 weeks ago
Your comment is fine, but the simple question was - how many Kindergarten kids' parents attend the orthodox shul in hollywood, and then out of those, how many kids is ben gamla serving? i am looking for a similar response in the way a shul in Teaneck can say "our shul has 20 kindergarten kids, and 3 of them go to Chabad".
Miami Al · 678 weeks ago
411 · 678 weeks ago
Yeshiva_Dad 69p · 678 weeks ago
You seem to be the only person that knows anything so tell me:
Have they had lotteries for next year? Have they started hiring teachers and a principal?
If not, are they waiting till June to start looking?
When are they going to make the building's location public?
-YD
Dan · 678 weeks ago
SACS? · 678 weeks ago
Can you post this e-mail. What disturbs me is that dozens of Orthodox and Conservative families are very interested in a Hebrew Charter program in our area, and many are interested in getting involved, but NO cooperation has taken place from SACS leadership.
Dan · 678 weeks ago
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Progress towards opening in September 2012 is going very well and on schedule.
All of our Administration and most of the Staff are still lined up and applications continue to come in to fill any vacancies.
Following another round of in-district applications, announcements will be made of admission of students from the out of district waiting list – if there are any remaining seats. Registration will occur in late spring – Shalom Academy will provide you with registration guidelines to secure the spot (district transfer cards, proofs of age and residency). For now, your in-district spots are being held and no action must be taken.
Our current phase involves demonstrating to the NJ State DOE and Bergen County DOE that the school has achieved all of the necessary preparedness steps and is indeed ready to open. Our Administration, and Immersion and Development teams have been working very hard to ensure successful navigation of this process including mandatory weekly seminars and workshops in Trenton and Washington, DC.
Last year this phase was navigated successfully with only 1 deficiency - a limit to the number of students that was far below our actual enrollment was added to our Certificate of Occupancy.
We have already leased a new facility, and last week underwent a preliminary site evaluation - the outcome was extremely favorable.
It is likely that we will be able to get a reasonable sense on the final approval status as early as mid June – less likely but possible as early as mid May.
There is every indication, and we are optimistic, that we will be able to receive this approval – and efforts to get an advance ruling are underway. However, as we found last year, there is no guarantee that the school will receive this approval.
In the event that there is any indication that we will be unable to open in September we will inform you immediately. Similarly, if we are clear that opening is definite, that information will be released immediately.
We look forward to a positive result from the DOE and passing on this great news to you.
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