DETROIT

Two Freshmen Representatives
On TV Student Advisory Board

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

Pho to by Glen n Triest

JEWISH COMMUNITY
CAMPUS
15109 - t5llih -*no

Bit Of Oak Park History
Will Pass Next Week

ALAN HITSKY

Associate Editor

I

f all goes well, a piece of
Oak Park history will be
moved from the Jewish
Community Campus on 10
Mile Road next week. In
fact, it's a pretty big piece.
The home of one of the
original farm families in
what is now Oak Park will
be moved from in front of the
Teitel Federation Apart-
ments to a new site near
Armada, in northern
Macomb County.
The owner of the single-
story ranch home, Joseph
Reibel, was granted lifetime
tenancy when he sold his
property several years ago to
United Jewish Charities.
Mr. Reibel was in his 90s
when he died earlier this
year.
"When we purchased the
land for the Teitel Building,
we purchased two houses
from the Reibel brothers,"
said Irving Protetch, proper-
ty manager for United Jew-
ish Charities, which holds
title to all land held by Jew-
ish Federation agencies in
Detroit. "The brother died
while Teitel Apartments
was being built, and that
house was moved."
Oak Park City Assessor
Ron Sztumerski said the
homes were built in 1955,
when Oak Park was in its in-
fancy. Mr. Protetch said the
Reibel family owned a farm
that extended from Church
Street to Greenfield and nor-
th from 10 Mile Road. The
family removed several farm
houses on the land when
they decided to build the two
ranch homes.
Hugh Greenberg, chair-
man of the 10 Mile Campus
Planning Committee, Fed-
eration treasurer and a
member of the United Jew-
ish Charities board, said,

14

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1991

"We made a tacit agreement
with the City of Oak Park to
remove the houses when
they were vacated. Now we
can complete the landscap-
ing in front of Teitel and
complete our obligation to
Oak Park."
He said the remaining
home caused the Teitel
Building to be located fur-
ther from 10 Mile than
originally planned.
Federation will receive no
funds from the removal and
sale of the home, but will not
have the expense of tearing
down the house. A company
that moved numerous homes

"We made a tacit
agreement with
the city to remove
the houses when
they were
vacated."

Hugh Greenberg

from the area during con-
struction of the 1-696 Ex-
pressway is handling the
dismantling and move of the
house and a garage.
With the removal of the
home, there will be no sin-
gle-family dwellings on the
north side of 10 Mile, Mr.
Protetch said. Ultimately,
homes on Kenosha, between
the freeway and the Beth
Jacob School (the old B'nai
Moshe building), also will be
removed. Those homes have
been used by the state
Department of Transporta-
tion during the 1-696 con-
struction.
Workers will try to save
major trees adjacent to the
Reibel house when it is mov-
ed next week, weather per-
mitting. Then the area will
be given a grassy berm and
additional trees to match the
rest of the Jewish Commun-
ity Campus and the adjacent
Temple Emanu-El.

❑

R

isa Alperin and Ami
Goldfein are the Class
of '95.
Appointed last spring to
the city-wide Class of '95
Student Advisory Board,
Risa and Ami meet
periodically with local TV
producers to discuss aspects
of education. Results of their
discussions influence future
educational programming
for children.
"It's our chance to discuss
what we like and don't like
about our classes and
teachers and about what we
think could be improved,"
said Risa, 13, in ninth grade
at North Farmington Hills
High School.
In its second year, the
Class of '95, a five-year edu-
cation project between PBS
station WTVS/Channel 56
and WJBK-TV 2, examines
the quality of education for
students from eighth grade
until their graduation from
high school in 1995.
Through special programs,

news reports and community
outreach, Channel 56 and
TV 2 track a representative
group of metropolitan
Detroit students by follow-
ing their goals and ambi-
tions as well as the expecta-
tions of parents and
teachers.
"Kids have changed a lot
since the days when I went
to high school," said Debra
Lawson, Channel 2's direc-
tor of community develop-
ment. "They're more adult,
a bit more sophisticated.
They have a lot more to deal
with today."
The nearly 200 students on
the advisory board serve as a
voice for the graduating
class of 1995. At board
meetings, students have the
chance to communicate their
needs and goals. They par-
ticipate in televised town
forums and design the Class
of '95 newsletter which is
distributed three times a
year throughout the tri-
county school districts.
"It's also a great oppor-
tunity to meet kids from all
over the city," said Ami, 14,
in ninth grade at Southfield-

JCCouncil Joins
Pro-Choice Coalition

NOAM M.M. NEUSNER

Staff Writer

D

etroit's Jewish Com-
munity Council join-
ed a number of local
and national Jewish organ-
izations in • Michigan's Re-
ligious Coalition for Abor-
tion Rights (RCAR).
The Council, which has
had a pro-choice stance in
the past, decided to join
RCAR after a short discus-
sion at the Nov. 21 board of
directors meeting.
"Many of our constituent
members were already a
part of this organization,"
said Robert Brown, chair-
man of the Council's do-
mestic concerns committee.
"We felt it wasn't a major
issue."
RCAR, a national organ-
ization with a local office,
supports abortion rights be-
cause it feels "reproductive
freedom is intrinsically tied
to religious liberty." The co-
alition includes organiza-
tions representing several
religions. It includes B'nai
B'rith Women, Episcopal
Urban Caucus and
Unitarian Universalist

Association.
The local chapter of
Hadassah also joined RCAR
and sent a donation to the
group.
Abortion rights activists
said that the Council's deci-
sion to join RCAR
dramatizes the growing
sense that abortion rights
can no longer be taken for
granted.
"As we get closer to losing
Roe (vs. Wade) as a constitu-
tional protection. . . people
are starting to realize that
that won't be the case
anymore," said Sarah Smith
Redmond, director of the
Michigan chapter of RCAR.
She said organizations
that join RCAR are repre-
sented on a local board, and
will work with other groups
on educational and action-
oriented programming.
The Jewish Community
Council, she said, will be a
valuable addition to RCAR's
fold, since it is an umbrella
organization of over 300
fraternal, religious, social
and community relations
organizations.
"It's a very important
member to have," said Ms.
Smith Redmond. ❑

Risa Alperin

Lathrup High School. "It's
been neat to find out we
share a lot of the same ideas
and concerns, no matter our
color or religion."
One of the first duties of
the student board this year
was providing input for this
season's first Class of '95
documentary, "My Dad Is A
Hero," a program which
aired Nov. 20 about the role
of parents in education.
Ami and Risa have given
their opinions about what
they like about their
teachers and what they can
do to help students perform
better. "What students want
is a teacher who makes sub-
jects come alive," Ami said.
"We like someone with a
sense of humor and who
really takes an interest in
our lives."
"It's not a secret," Risa
added. "We get together and
kind of say the obvious, but
adults need to hear it."
"Kids don't exist in a vac-
uum," said parenting expert
Karen Weiner, student
counselor at Birney Middle
School in Southfield. Mrs.
Weiner, interviewed for the
documentary, originated
Parenting Day, an annual
seminar given at Birney for
parents.
"Parents today have the
same responsibilities but
less time in which to do
everything," Mrs. Weiner
said. "Kids are aware of
these added pressures and
reflect it through their
schoolwork and through
their relationships with
their peers." Students give
the program a much needed
"reality check," added
Agnes Scott, director of spe-
cial programming at WTVS.
"There's nothing like asking
kids to sound off on the state