Time to Pass the Baton

I’ve been moderating this blog for 20 months now.  I’ve made 160 posts and gotten almost 300,000 page views.  I’ve read (most of) thousands of comments and responded to some of them.   

We’ve covered lots of topics including blended learning, Hebrew charter schools, assistant teachers, school calendars, marketing costs, government funding, Communal funding, discounts for teachers and rabbis, transparency in finances, scholarship abuse, Talmud Torahs,   and more.  Hopefully the discussion has caused some positive change in Bergen County or has at least caused some people to consider certain ideas that they hadn’t yet thought about.

What I haven’t succeeded at doing is encouraging civility in our discourse.  Perhaps it’s just our nature to be nasty when no one (at least no one mortal) can see us doing it.  Though compared to some other unmoderated blogs and especially the comments section on youtube, the discussion here does remain somewhat polite and on topic.  Some people thought I should delete comments that were uncivil but that’s not really my MO.  I’m not a big fan of censorship and I think adults should make their own decisions on how to speak.  To all those who contributed in positive ways with your comments I wish you sincere thanks.

At this point I’ve said all I have to say about yeshiva tuition.  Also I need to focus on other things in my life right now and can’t spend that much time musing about yeshiva tuition.  I’m looking for someone else to take over the blog or to make a new blog so we can continue the conversation.  Please email me offline at yeshivadad@gmail.com if you’re interested. 

For those that were offended by things I’ve said I beg for mechilah and hope you understand that everything I’ve done on this blog was done out of love for our community and out of a sincere desire for our mesorah to continue to be transmitted to future generations, which can only be done if the community can afford the growing expense of yeshiva tuition.

I encourage everyone to get involved in other ways to help solve the tuition crisis.  Make your voices heard.  Come to board meetings.  Speak to administrators.  Get involved in fund raising.  Volunteer for the scholarship committee.  Accept that you may need to sacrifice some things you like in your school to help bring down costs.  And above all, try to stay positive.

Wishing everyone a Kativa V’chatima Tova,

Yeshiva Dad

New Assistant Principal Position at Moriah

Despite a recent drop in admissions at Moriah, a new Assistant Principal for Student Life position has been created, as reported by the Jewish Link.  This Assistant Principal will join the other Assistant Principal, two associate principals, 6 Directors and of course the Principal, in the Administration.  This does not include office staff or business office.  Does this seem excessive to anyone else?

AJE Selects "BOLD" Schools to Receive Funding

Five Schools Selected as BOLD Day Schools  August 20, 2013 NEW YORK – Five Jewish day schools have been selected for the BOLD (Blending Online Learning in Day Schools) Project, funded by The Affordable Jewish Education Project (AJE), The AVI CHAI Foundation and The Kohelet Foundation.  The goal of BOLD Day Schools is to design and implement sustainable, cost-saving blended learning programs to ignite the potential of students through the delivery of innovative and personalized learning.  Additionally, BOLD Day Schools will become a network of schools and educators working to accelerate the rollout of sustainable blended learning programs throughout the Jewish day school field. The BOLD Day Schools are: Denver Academy of Torah, Denver, CO Elementary & Middle School Magen David Yeshivah High School, Brooklyn, NY High School The Moriah School, Englewood, NJ Elementary & Middle School The Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, River Edge, NJ Middle School Tarbut v’Torah Community Day School, Irvine, CA Elementary School The five BOLD Day Schools were selected out of a pool of close to 30 submissions through an intensive application process that assessed each school’s vision for blended learning, implementation plan, and financial plan outlining cost savings and program sustainability.  The funding organizations also considered school size, location, denomination, and division in an effort to provide a variety of proof points that recognizes the diversity of Jewish day schools. Blended learning integrates online learning with face-to-face instruction, enabling teachers to align their instructional approaches to the particular academic needs of each student based on real-time, individualized data.  In addition to improved educational outcomes for students, blended learning educational models provide opportunities for cost savings through reducing schools’ personnel, facility, and textbook costs. “We are all very excited about this groundbreaking project,” said Jeff Kiderman, Executive Director of AJE, “and have selected a group of well-regarded established schools that have shown a desire to be bold and partner with us to lead the future of Jewish education.” Over the summer, the BOLD Day Schools have been deeply immersed in program design and planning with the help of one of two blended learning consulting firms (Education Elements and Evergreen Education Group).  The consultants have been assisting school leaders in refining their financial plans, selecting software, and planning professional development for their faculties.  Implementation is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2013.  Within three years, every student in the selected division(s) will be learning using a blended education model on a daily basis.  In addition, schools will create a plan to realize cost savings through the efficiencies of their new model. The three funding organizations have committed up to $3 million to the BOLD Project. This funding will cover most of the costs associated with transitioning each school to a blended learning model, with the schools gradually  assuming responsibility for all ongoing costs, including software, hardware, and personnel. “It is important to us that the BOLD Day Schools be able to sustain these innovations within their own annual budgets moving forward without relying on outside funding,” said Rachel Mohl Abrahams, Senior Program Officer at The AVI CHAI Foundation. The process will be documented to measure the effectiveness of each model and to provide guidance for additional schools looking to transition to blended learning in the future. “We hope the BOLD Day Schools will serve as paradigms of how established Jewish day schools can transform themselves into more innovative, affordable institutions that prepare our students for successful Jewish lives in the 21st century,” said Holly Cohen, Executive Director of The Kohelet Foundation. Read more about the BOLD Day Schools and follow their progress at http://www.bolddayschools.org.

No one is "Anti-Teacher"

This is something I've been meaning to get off my chest for a long time.  There's a rhetorical trick employed by people of all political stripes to discredit those with who them disagree, and it really should stop.

Most of us agree that in all ethnic, social, religious and political groups there are good and bad individuals.  There are people who care only about themselves, some that only care about their friends and families and those that only care about people in their "group", whatever that group happens to be.  Since one can't generalize about the behavior of all people in any particular group, those who do generalize are often called prejudiced, bigots, racists, etc.  and their arguments are automatically discredited.

So the trick is to show that a policy that you oppose doesn't merely reflect a different perspective, but that it represents an animosity towards an entire group of people.  That way it is prejudice, bigotry, etc. and you don't even have to argue the merits of the policy because it is discredited at the outset.

Hence, gun enthusiasts will oppose gun restrictions as being "anti-gun owner" rather than simply "anti-gun".  Amsterdam News will label the NYPD's "stop and frisk" program as "racism" (racist in itself, mot merely in the implementation).  The Jewish Voice and Opinion will label opposition to Israel's settlement policy as "anti-semitism."  If you believe that life begins at conception and that therefore abortion should be illegal you must be "sexist."  Opposition to gay marriage must reflect "homophobia."

And if I suggest that schools make up for days lost due to weather in the summer than I am "anti-teacher."  Similarly if I suggest that teachers who don't work in the summers have an easy July and August.

If you believe in any of the above you must hate everyone the respective group.  Even if you are a member of that group.  You must just hate yourself.  And since this is a thought crime there is no way to disprove it.

Of course everyone sees the ridiculousness in other people's hang-ups but not in their own.

Feel free to vent below.  But please don't say "how can you compare x to y?"  I'm comparing your faulty logic, not making any moral comparisons.

Shmoozing With Zach & Rabbi Sommer

I've been having an interesting conversation online about tuition and Yeshiva Day Schools with 2 former MTA teachers - Zach Abramowitz and Rabbi Pesach Sommer.  Here's the link:

http://www.replyall.me/forward-momentum/talking-with-yeshiva-dad-founder-of-the-yeshiva-sanity-blog/

Check for updates soon.  Shabbat Shalom,

YD