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DETROIT
THE JEWISH NEWS
30 TISHREI 5754/OCTOBER 15, 1993
Community Weighs
Education Reform
pestry
f Love
And Labor
LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER
s the state of
Michigan watch-
es what the legis-
lature creates
from Gov. John
Engler's educa-
tion reform pro-
posals, the Jewish
community ap-
pears to be especially fo-
cused.
Issues such as vouchers
and charter schools could
affect future funding and
tuition at day schools and
challenge public school
separation of church and
state.
But for now, everyone is
waiting.
At this time of year,
Judith Adler and other
Birmingham school board
members would normally
be working on preliminary
budgets for next year.
However, Gov. John
Englet's proposed reforms,
which also include at-
tempts at equity in fund-
ing and tax changes, have
put school planning on
hold.
"Right now everything
is uncertain. The propos-
als to the legislature are
divisive. In the short term,
they preserve many of the
inequities of funding
throughout the state. The
question is, will this plan
survive?" Ms. Adler said.
Michigan voters have
watched the early closing
of schools in Kalkaska
where a necessary millage
to keep classes going
failed, inequality in spend-
ing and school standards
from district to district and
a growing debate as to the
value of a public education
versus a private one.
Among the terms being
thrown around by the gov-
ernor are charter schools
and vouchers.
SCHOOLS page 26
aside
A Quilt
Exhibit
Exploring
swish
ots
48
aLvIrlinc
Dedicated To A Child
A couple watches over their son, while scientists have located the gene
that causes a fatal disease that strikes mostly Jews.
Good Grades
Borman Hall passes
the latest inspection.
Page 15
Cash Poor
The real estate business
hits a 50-year low point.
Page 34
Give Him A Zetz!
The Yiddish Football League
plays for the Matzah Bowl.
Page 52
Contents on page 3
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR
ershey Tinman was almost
as many as one in 3,000 Ashkenazi Jews (but is rel-
2 years old before his par-
atively rare in the general population). There is no
ents began to suspect that cure, and no one knew how to detect the affliction
something was terribly in the unborn child.
wrong.
But now an Israeli physician working in Florida
He had been a beautiful
has made a dramatic discovery: He and his fellow
baby, inquisitive and hap-
researchers believe they have found the gene which
py. He did everything nor-
CANAVAN page 12
mal babies do: He
smiled; he gurgled.
But then his eyes began to cross slightly,
and he seemed to be inordinately quiet. He
had difficulty holding his head up.
After scores of appointments with physi-
cians, plenty of their own research and a
chance connection, Michael and Chaya Leah
Tinman of Southfield learned their son had
Canavan disease, a fatal genetic disorder that
strikes mostly Jews.
First recognized some 60 years ago,
Canavan is a spongy degeneration of the brain
that results in loss of motor skills and, gener-
ally, early death.
For years, little was known about Canavan
disease, which researchers believe may affect'
' Chaya Leah,
and Michael Tinman: Education is key.