Yeshiva Sanity: Jewish Week Looking to Interview HALB/Tiferet Parents

Friday, March 22, 2013

Jewish Week Looking to Interview HALB/Tiferet Parents

Julie Wiener of the Jewish Week is looking to do an article on the HALB/Tiferet merger. She asked me to post the following:

I'm doing an article about this for The Jewish Week, and would love to speak to Tiferet and HALB parents to find out how they feel about this. If any of you are on this blog -- or if any blog readers have friends at these places with whom they can put me in touch -- please e-mail me at julie.inthemix@gmail.com.

Thanks! Julie Wiener, Associate
Editor, The New York Jewish Week

Chag Sameach to everyone,
YD

Update: Article can be found here: http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/short-takes/startup-day-school-finds-established-home

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bob dylan · 627 weeks ago

Julie

I think it is best for you to leave the merger article out of your paper until after the merger is complete. There are many details still being worked out and right now there is so much gossip and speculation centered around this topic, why not wait till the dust settles?

Bob Dylan

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Anonymous · 627 weeks ago

If you believe it's a "merger" then you're quite naive. Tiferet folded, and HALB got a good deal without having to agree to anything meaningful on tuition or otherwise.

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Get a clue · 627 weeks ago

Anon: You are really uninformed. HALB got a good deal because they realized that the Tiferet model was far superior to their own. My guess is that one of the existing schools in Bergen County will make a play for He'Atid as well. Whether "the man" is willing to sell at this point is anyone's guess.

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Curious · 627 weeks ago

Clue, Any idea what HALB is doing with tuition next year? That will show whether you're right or Anon is right. My hunch is that they aren't changing much, as they didnt even do a press release.

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Anonymous · 627 weeks ago

There are already discussions going on about folding Heatid into one of the existing schools. The cost of running an independent subsidized school are clearly much higher than was expected and the looming need to buy a building will blow any rosy projections out of the water. The marketing will be similar to what is happening with HALB but the reality is that these schools grossly underestimated what it takes to run. Blended learning is a good idea that all the schools will pursue at some level. There is no proof that it drives the economic benefits that "the man" has been marketing. There is only so long that you can rely on one very wealthy backer to subsidize tuition in order to get parents to sign up.

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Anonymous2 · 627 weeks ago

I'm off to Arizona for Pesach thanks to AJE!

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Young Dad · 627 weeks ago

Anon: [Deleted]. There are two schools begging "the man" to do some sort of deal with them. I also live in the Teaneck apartments. I can tell you that 80% of people living here with young kids intend to send to HeAtid. We would like to see them stay independent because we don't trust any of the other schools to keep tuition low.

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Anonymous · 627 weeks ago

Young Dad, if you and your friends don't want Heatid to merge with Moriah or another school then why is "the man" talking with them? Just say no. Do you think the Tiferet parents wanted to merge with HALB? For a school that claims to be open and transparent it appears there is a lot of back room dealing going on.

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guest1 · 627 weeks ago

he'atid merging with moriah will send the masses running. .no one wants to send their kids to moriah. i bet half of he'atid leaves.

more interesting news is bachrach is still fighting the town. front page this weekend on the new bergen county jewish link newspaper.

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Young Dad · 627 weeks ago

Rumors around here is that HeAtid is going to merge with Yavneh. Either way, I'm sending my kid to whichever school is 9k instead of 15k.

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Anonymous · 627 weeks ago

Moriah has more room and is already clearing out staff so can bring in Heatid's staff. Whatever ...neither one is in a position to lower tuition to level of Heatid and even AJE's big money can't afford to subsidize tuition for over 800 children. But Heatid doesn't have much of a choice, they can't afford to buy a building and will get creamed if the hebrew charter ever gets its act together. Better to get out now.

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S.P. · 627 weeks ago

Dont you think the comment that the 'looming need to buy a building will blow any rosy projections out of the water' is silly? If the founders thought He'atid would be a big success - wouldnt they have realized they would need to buy a building? Do you think this is some sort of suprise to them that they didn't plan for? And anyone who thinks that Tiferet folded is also being silly. AJE is not looking to subsidize schools on a long term basis. They are willing to help start ups but not give money forever. If that was the plan, they would have chosen an existing school and just given money to them. Per the writers on this blog, many of those schools have blended, differentiated learning so AJE could have easily gone to those schools to subsidize education and make it cheaper. The plan is to turn over HALB, over time, because it is a larger school to the AJE /He'atid model - and that is why there is a merger. AJE is not just giving HALB money.

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S.P. · 627 weeks ago

He'atid is under budget this year, btw - so for those who say the costs of running the school was higher than expected - you are incorrect. You can call the Presidents of the Board and ask them. And it is true there will likely be a merger in BC - if it can be worked out, which is a big IF. But again - everyone on this blog is forgetting that the goal of the founders of He'atid was never to start new schools. The goal was to change the face of education and make jewish education affordable. If other schools are open to this and to the model, then He'atid is willing to merge.

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S.P. · 627 weeks ago

also Curious - by AJE and Halb's admission, Halb is slowly integrating the model into their lower school. Why would you expect HALB to lower its tuition for all its studetns in year 1? Why does that tell you anything about whose idea the merger was and why. My guess is that TIferet's students will pay the same tuition they were supposed to and slowly HALBs will lower.

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Anonymous · 627 weeks ago

S.P. - the problem is that all of your protestations just don't ring true. Tiferet was doing fine and ready to start in September and now decides to merge? They hired an administrators, staff, got a building and got parents all excited about their new school all in anticipation of merging. A bit hard to believe that this was the plan or, more realistically, things didn't work out as planned and it made more sense to call it quits by "merging". I know, I know, Halb is going to change over its whole school of 1,600 children to accommodate 50 families. And you've confirmed that Heatid is in talks to merge with another school despite the fact that everything is going perfectly well and there is money to spare and despite the fact that parents as noted by Young Dad above don't want you to merge. Sorry, you can spin it anyway you like, but most people aren't buying it. Good luck though to Moriah or Yavneh. Very smart move to merge, get 200 kids, money from AJE and continue to invest in new educational programs they were investing in anyway. Pretty much a no brainer for them.

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S.P. · 627 weeks ago

So Tiferet was failing - they had a building, they had students and a principal, but they weren't planning on opening. So HALB decided to save them because AJE said they would give HALB money with no strings attached and of course HALB decided they will take the money because everyone would take money they are given, especially if they didn't need to change or do any work. AJE decided if it is just giving money away, it might as well give it to HALB. And it is true He'atid is failing - their enrollment is down for next year so the model of filling the school so that the economics work isn't working. And even though enrolment is down, the founders want to buy a building. And it just occured to them that they might need a building. When they started the school they thought a building would just appear but alas it didnt. And even though He'atid is under budget from this year and even though it isn't planning on raising tuition for next year its financial issues are so severe. Yeah - your scenario's are so much more likely and truthful.

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S.P. · 627 weeks ago

now to the serious part - i appreciate that you are willing to believe me when it comes to me confirming talks with another school in BC but not willing to believe the other things i write. Why is that? The truth is that HALB and Tiferet is a merger and AJE is not just giving HALB money so they can implement some blended learning. AJE has no interest in that - it is not their mission. AJE's mission is to make education affordable. What things could you truthfully say as of now didnt' turn out as planned? they had the building, they had the admin, they had the students, they interviewed the students in preparation for them coming. What exactly wasn't working out as planned? HALB itself in its letter says it is implementing the model - albeit slowly - with the goal of turning over its lower school.

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S.P. · 627 weeks ago

regarding parents not wanting to merge - has it ever occurred to anyone reading this silly blog that the people writing here, with the exclusion of a few, really have no idea of details and real information? Again - He'aitd isn't going to merge with anyone and have tuition raised for its parents - that defeats the whole point of an affordable Jewish education. And as for people running the other way if it is Yavneh or Moriah - the people at AJE are smart. Expect them to understand any issues and to plan for them.

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LI Guest · 627 weeks ago

FYI, Since this question has been brought up a few times -__I have been informed by parents who were planning to send toTiferet but are now sending to HALB, that they will be paying HALB tuition next year. No reduction for those students who were enrolled in Tiferet.__To me, this is what makes it look like a real loss for the Tiferet/AJE model. They did not get their "affordable tuition," and I'm pretty skeptical about a longstanding school with 1000+ kids suddently making any significant changes to their educational model on a few months notice.

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S.P. · 627 weeks ago

LI Guest -interesting because the decision hasn't been made yet, per AJE and HALB so interesting you would say that.

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LI Guest · 627 weeks ago

Ok, it could be that my friends are mistaken. All I can say is that that is the current understanding of the Tiferet parents I spoke to.

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Anonymous · 627 weeks ago

S.P. - hasn't been decided? Isn't this the most critical issue especially for parents who made the decision to send to Tiferet. If this was all so carefully considered wouldn't this be the first decision to be made?

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kjp · 627 weeks ago

Anonymous halbs tuition is actually very close to the ten k tiferet parents would pay. Not to mention it is ridiculous for everyon to judge the success by tuition the first year. This year heatid had nine k as tuition.I guess it must be a success yet people on this blog keep talking about it failing.

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Hmmmm · 627 weeks ago

Anyone else think it's strange that HALB didn't issue its own announcement or press release about such a critical "merger". All they said in the Tiferet letter is that they're happy to get Tiferet's principal (for free) and funding from AJE for more programming.

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Anonymous · 626 weeks ago

S.P. - Heatid spent $400,000 before it opened its doors and educated a single child. It is currently losing about $2,000 per child to educate this year's mostly preschool children who should be the lowest cost children to educate. If they indeed have 200 children next year this would mean that the school will lose close to $1,000,000 in order to provide a subsidized no frills education to a small portion of the BC population. They may have planned for an even worse economic outcome but if this is success then I can understand why it is a victory that Tiferet is not opening and He'Atid will merge with another school before it loses any more money. As you point out AJE is not looking to subsidize schools on a long term basis.

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S.P. · 626 weeks ago

annonymous - and if they break even in year 3 per their budget? how is AJE still subsidizing them? I hope people who read this blog know that it is basically irrelevant - most of the information on here is conjecture by people who really have no idea what is going on in either the legacy schools or at He'atid. I am not sure how this is beneficial for anyone

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Anon2 · 626 weeks ago

AJE should be applauded for getting people to focus on tuition costs, but others should follow the Tiferet group that was smart enough to jump ship before throwing away money on a model that doesn't work.

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S.P. · 626 weeks ago

Anon2 -what is your proof that it doesn't work. He'atid is in the first year of school and they are under budget and per what was just told to all the parents at group meetings at He'atid, they have money for a building and there will be no building funds. The large majority of the parents are happy with the educaiton so far -yes there have been minor glitches -but legacy schools have plenty of glitches and He'atid is a new school so it is expected. Given all that - so far in the first year financially and educationally the school is doing well - why would anyone say the model doesnt work? at best detractors could say that they still need to wait and see otherwise they seem not to be talking from a place of knowledge

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HeAtid Rocks · 626 weeks ago

Here's the Jewish Week article on HALB/Tifferet merger http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/short-takes/sta...

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S.P. · 626 weeks ago

also Anon2 - your comment makes no sense - how are they jumping ship and not throwing away money on a model that doesn't work since by their own admission - in the letter they sent out -AJE will continue funding their model at HALB?

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Guest2 · 626 weeks ago

credit to the jewish week for seeing through the so-called "merger" of a 1,700-student school with a 47-person school. note that halb didn't agree to change its tuition structure -- proof's in the pudding...

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Teacher99 · 626 weeks ago

The low cost model does not and will never work unless they substantially increase class size. You can do all the mental gymnastics you wish, education costs are simply astronomical. Heatid managed to open it's doors thanks to individual contributions as well as a grant from a well known institution. I heard from a very reliable person that when Heatid started their expensive pr .campaign to raise funds in the community, the costs ate up every dollar raised! (actually, I think they lost money on that deal).

This quote on this blog is quite illustrative: "Rumors around here is that HeAtid is going to merge with Yavneh. Either way, I'm sending my kid to whichever school is 9k instead of 15k."

The truth is, many parents really don't care about hashkafic issues or educational models. They just want to spend as little as possible. (which is why Shalom Academy, that joke of a school, is still kicking around). No religious subjects? Who cares! No tuition is all that matters!

I don't necessarily blame parents are being stretched to the breaking point. Still, it's a sad assessment of our Orthodox community.

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Flawed · 626 weeks ago

Teacher99 - the flaw to your reasoning is that chabad has a fully built out elementary school for 10k. What isn't it packed to the brim?

1 reply · active 626 weeks ago

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Anonymous · 626 weeks ago

End Welfare - even a basic reading of the comments above from Young Dad highlight that your silly accusation makes no sense. You, like others posting here, have convinced themselves that people are sending to Heatid due to blended learning and new educational approaches. I'm sure there are some that are doing so but the vast majority care about one thing, the cost. If the hebrew charter opened tomorrow even with all of their missteps a good portion of current and future parents who would send to Heatid would send to the cheapest option. You only need to speak with a handful of current parents and you get this message over and over again. Blended learning is exciting and nice and was great marketing to convince parents that they aren't giving up anything by going no frills but every study proves it can't save the money that Heatid is claiming. Do even a modest amount of research and you will see this. Most everyone reading this blog knows that the comment about 9k vs. 15k is absolutely the case for most Heatid parents.

1 reply · active 626 weeks ago

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

Annonymous -please site those studies that show blended learning cant lower costs 'every study provesit cant save the money Heatid claims ' I would love to read them

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

I would hope you realize there are blended learning schools that have lowered tuition and costs and I hope you are smart enough to realize in terms of yeshiva day schools there cant yet be studies that prove anything because heatid is the first yeshiva day school using this model.

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Anonymous · 626 weeks ago

End Welfare - Wow. Great argument. Are the vast majority of parents at Heatid millionaires? How many of these millionaires are also founders of the school?

kjp - I reference the May 2011 Innosight Institute report on blended learning. Please show me one school that is profiled that has claimed to save 30-40% in savings due to blended learning.

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

And who authored that report ? And I am pretty sure your comment referenced 'every study' above you referenced one.

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Anonymous · 626 weeks ago

kjp - this is "the" report sited by almost everyone in the blended learning space. Easy enough to find the website and check out for yourself who authored it.

Now your turn. Please site any study that shows a 30-40% savings achieved through blended learning.

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

Umm still your turn. You said every report. Waiting for you to reference your othet reports. So easy to just write things annonymously on a blog. 'Every study' ' all the people I spoke to ' etc. And since you are so familiar witg this one and only study you know of why dont you tell me how much Rocketship And Kip save ? And give me the percentage savings of all the blended learning schools there are. And tell describeI am not familiar with all these studies which is why I dont go around claiming to know about every study. Having said all that I have a kid at heatid and thus far the teachers are amazing and she is learning a ton. And honestly even if savings are less lets say twenty percent I will take it.

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

Btw I hope you see the flaw in your argument. Heatid cand save thirty or forty percent over a school like bpy cause bpy is so ridiculously expensive. Pretty sure going to ynj will also save someone thirty percent ot some large amount. So it can be done.

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Anonymous · 626 weeks ago

Sorry kjp but lame responses. If you have proof provide it. The Innosight report researched 40 different blended learning programs. None make the claims that Heatid does on savings. Take a look at the reports by Dell and the Gates Foundation on Rocketship and KIPP. All very positive. Not one claims the savings that Heatid claims. If only it was savings relative to BPY, we could talk. They are claiming 30% saving better than YNJ. They are doing it lots of ways primarily by being a no frills school, not because of blended learning. I'm glad your happy with the school. Shame the school needs to make unsubstantiated claims to attract people.

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

Please quote to me where they say thirty percent over ynj. ? Tuition this year and next year is nine k. So whatever savings it is parents are indeed saving no ? And sorry anonymous I am waiting for you to show me those studies you spoke about. Note the plural. Two posts later and still no more studies. Will heatid stay at nine k ? I dont know but will bpy hit twenty k? The othet schools also will go up. They cant keep lowering or staying the same. And dont quote me the same junk as everyone else about heatid being subsidized since all the other legacy schools are highly subsidized too.

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anon3 · 626 weeks ago

The only smart ones are the Tiferet folks who figured out that the numbers didn't work, and pulled the plug before launching with a flawed model.

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anon3 · 626 weeks ago

The only smart ones are the Tiferet folks who figured out that the numbers didn't work, and pulled the plug before launching with a flawed model.

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Anonymous · 626 weeks ago

kjp - I would have thought that someone sending to Heatid would have done their research and would be very familiar with the sources I referenced. Try google, you'll find the reports and when you do, let me know when you come across one the refutes what I said.

Getting back to the point of this post, given S.P. has noted that Heatid is in discussions to merge with a number of other schools, if your school merges and doesn't keep the same subsidized tuition, will you continue to send there or seek out other low cost options?

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

I didn't choose the school for its low tuition. And so far I am thrilled with the teachers and the model and the school in general.

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Anonymous · 626 weeks ago

Great. So if it "merges" with another school even at a much higher tuition you will send to that school as well. That is important for the leaders of Heatid to know as they work their options.

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

Yes because I am sure they are basing their decisions on the back and forth of the few anonymous people who read and comment on this blog.

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kjp · 626 weeks ago

Has there anything heatid has done so far that shows in any way that they are paying attention to any of the negativity or doubters on this or any other blog or even anything that is said on these blogs ? As someone who sends there and reads what the people on here write I find that very comforting.

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