CLOSE-UP

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

inda Kaploe, 36, was
raised in Southfield.
She graduated from
Southfield High School
in the early 1970s,
which at the time boasted a
large Jewish presence.
Her neighborhood was 90
percent Jewish; she liked it
that way.
Linda Kaploe still lives in
Southfield, today in the
Mount Vernon subdivision
on Constitution Avenue
with her husband, Mark
Kaploe, 39, and their three
children.
The neighborhood, also
once heavily Jewish, now is
more ethnic. A black couple
lives on one side of her
house. Down the street are
some Chaldean families. A
few houses down is an Or-
thodox rabbi. Quite a few
observant Jewish families
have moved there. It is a
short walk to Young Israel of
Southfield.
Also living on Constitution
are Jewish couples whose
children are grown. Kaploe
says there are few playmates
in the neighborhood for her
children. She is worried
about the schools.
The Orthodox families
send their children to pri-
vate schools. An estimated
300 Southfield residents are
enrolled at Akiva, Yeshivah
Beth Yehuda and the Sally
Allan Alexander Beth Jacob
School for girls. Other
Southfield parents send
their children to Hillel Day
School in Farmington Hills,
whose roster lists 90
students from Southfield.
As the Jewish community,
once concentrated in 12
square miles around Dexter
Avenue in Detroit, continues
to spread beyond 100 square
miles, Kaploe knows
chances of finding an all-
Jewish neighborhood are
slim to none.
She doesn't know where to
move, but she knows her
family won't stay in
Southfield.
Like other parents, Kaploe
wants assurance that her
children will be enrolled in
good, safe public schools.
Unfortunately, she says,
Southfield may not always
fit that bill.

L

24

FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990

C e nte r

It

Southfield houses more
Jewish families than any
other suburb in Metropolitan
Detroit. For how long?

'•■■•■ 1111 ■ 1/

PINE KNOB

SILVERDOME

SOUTHFI

THEATRE
ROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS

DETROIT
Nor

CANADA

METROPOLITAN
AIRPORT

If the Kaploes move, it will
be their second move from a
Southfield home. They came
to Constitution five years
ago from a home located
behind Congregation B'nai
David on Southfield Road
shortly before their first
child, Evan, now 10, entered
school.
Had they remained, Evan
would have attended Ken-
nedy school, which 20 years
ago, had a heavy Jewish
presence. Kennedy, north of
Nine Mile Road and east of
Southfield Road, now is 86
percent black, according to a
1989-90 racial-ethnic report
of the Southfield Public
Schools.
Few Jews remain in the
Kennedy neighborhood,
which represents the chang-
ing facade of Southfield.
Once a predominantly
white, middle to upper class
community, Southfield in
the past decade has become
an ethnically diverse
melting pot.
A recent Jewish popula-
tion study of metropolitan
Detroit reveals that
Southfield embraces an
estimated 27,500 Jews, a
substantially higher number
than any other metropolitan
Detroit area. Yet the city of
80,000 is in a state of tran-
sition, thus raising ques-
tions within the Jewish
community over whether
Southfield's Jewish identity
is at a fragile equilibrium.
"The Jewish people are
moving out of Southfield,"
says Southfield resident
Marla Gartner. "And those
who do move in are sending
their kids to private schools.
That presents a problem in
terms of saving the public
schools."
Marla Gartner's and Linda
Kaploe's sentiments are
echoed by many other Jew-
ish parents living in
Southfield. They say an in-
creasing racial mix in the
schools could leave their
children in the minority.
A decade ago, Southfield
Public Schools enrolled
10,741 students — 13 per-
cent black. Today there are
fewer total students — 8,568
— and an increase in ethnic
groups. Last year, 46 percent
of the Southfield school body
was black. That figure has
escalated to 50.1 percent of

