Friday, May 17, 1985

15

Bill Pugliano

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Dr. Jerry Teller plays with Cheryl Miller.'Miri Salinger and Sander Dijkers-Jacob in the UHS nursery school.

ment forced the closing of the UKs
branch at Cong. B'nai David in 1982 ,
with most of the students transfer. ng
to Beth Achim and the B'nai Moshe
branches.
Consolidation has also led tk; an
"Indy 500" situation on Sundays
through the streets of Oak Pak and
Southfield. The B'nai Moshe F nd Beth
Achim branches have been PAired for
several years, with the sam e staff
teaching at B'nai Moshe on Mondays
and Wednesdays, and at Beth Achim
.on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Sun-
days, the B'nai Moshe students are
taught from 9 a.m. to 10:50, with
classes at Beth Achim from 11:10 to 1
p.m. The students joke about Demoli-
tion Derby, but the teachers have 20
minutes to drive the five miles be-
tween schools.

"We aim to

provide youth

who will

feel comfortable

in the Jewish

community."

Small classes at some branches
have been consolidated, and bus serv-
ice has been curtailed.
"We used to lose $95,000 annually
on bus service," Rabbi Moskowitz says,
"but this year our deficit is down to
$9,000." To reach that level, however,
the . bus service was reduced to only
taking the students to UHS. There is
no service from the schools to the stu-
dents' homes. In addition, the Jewish
Welfare Federation took over the
buses, creating a Federation Trans-
portation Authority for the entire
community.
Can one form of Jewish education
be emphasized over the other forms in
Detroit? Dr. Teller argues against that
philosophy. He says that enrollment
growth at the day schools nationally
has never gone beyond 15-18- percent

of the Jewish student population over
the past 15 years.
"I think there will be a continued,
slight increase in the day schools'
growth here . . . But our future Jewish.
leadership is coming from the other 80
to 85 percent as well," he argues, "not
just from the day schools."
He adds that United Hebrew
Schools is attracting "a kind of parent
or family interested in an intensive
Jewish education," with a stress now
on Hebrew and Judaica. Enrollments
at schools within the Reform move-
ment have climbed "much higher," but
at the same time, Teller says, "they
have also improved and become much
more intensive," offering Hebrew and
bar and bat mitzvah training.
"Most parents who send their

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