Tiferet "Merges" with HALB

The start-up school Tiferet, in the 5 Towns, was supposed to follow the He'atid model of using blended learning to reduce costs and lower tuition.  They just announced that rather than starting a new school they are going to merge with Hebrew Academy of Long Beach and try to incorporate their methods into the existing school (see the announcement, from their website, after the jump).  They haven't yet announced what the tuition will be but if tuition is not significantly reduced people won't consider this a merger but simply Tiferet giving up on its plan to open up an  affordable school.  At the very least, the funds from AJE should help with tuition reduction in the short run.

.

HALB Integrates Tiferet Academy in Partnership with AJE

The Hebrew Academy of Long Beach (HALB) and Tiferet Academy (Tiferet) have agreed to unify their efforts in 2013, with the support of Affordable Jewish Education Project (AJE). HALB will incorporate Tiferet's blended-learning educational approach and students into their thriving school of 1,700 students to accelerate their respective efforts to provide excellent Jewish education at affordable rates to Five Towns families.

As part of the arrangement, AJE will be funding the implementation of the blended learning program within HALB.

"AJE is very excited for this groundbreaking partnership that will further spread its mission of providing a high-quality, affordable jewish education to every child," said Jeff Kiderman, Executive Director of AJE. "The HALB community is very fortunate to have visionary professional and lay leaders who, together with the incredibly dedicated Tiferet team, are working to establish a new gold standard in day school education."

"We are confident that our partnership with AJE will provide HALB with the resources and innovation to accelerate our delivery of 21st Century educational technologies," said Lance Hirt, President of HALB's board of directors. "We could not be more enthusiastic about the educational opportunities this will create for our children."

"We are thrilled to work together with HALB and the AJE in improving the quality and affordability of Jewish education," said Avi Muchnick, a spokesperson for Tiferet. "The immediate potential to positively impact 1,700 students is tremendous and would have otherwise taken us many years to accomplish independently."

As part of the transition, Tiferet's students will move to the HALB campus where they will become a part of the HALB student body. Tiferet's blended learning program will be rolled out to select elementary school classes within HALB. Rabbi Avrumi Sacks, Head of School at Tiferet, has been appointed to be Chief Academic Officer of AJE. In that capacity, he will join the HALB administration as a representative of AJE, where he will work with HALB Principal Rabbi Plotkin to institute and support the blended-learning education program inside HALB elementary school.

"While we have been aggressively developing an educational model that incorporates leading technologies, we believe that Rabbi Sack's leadership of this effort within our elementary school and early childhood center will turbo charge our efforts," said Rabbi Plotkin. "I am very excited about the many programs we will be launching with the help of the AJE."

"I'm very excited to work with Rabbi Plotkin and the HALB administration in accelerating the educational growth of their students," said Rabbi Sacks. "HALB is renowned for fostering a warm, lifelong connection with its students, and we are looking forward to being a part of that relationship."

The program specifics will be announced to parents later this year.