PHOTO BY DANIEL L IPPITT

Rena Amit: Saying goodbye to children after 15 years.

See Spring and Summer
Through Clear Windows

A School Disappears

Preschool to close after director search fails.

Complete Window & Doorwall Repair Service

For Your Free Estimate or Consultation

DAVID ZEMAN STAFF WRITER

Call Our Custom Experts at:

810353-5770

GLASS

And Visit Our Southfield Showroom at:
22223 Telegraph Road • Southfield

A Clear Reflection of Quality

Since 1964

(South of 9 Mile Road)

,

ee

nee , Sae-

n ee

Scree

So ee

e

,UMIDOR ONFRAN CRE SUPER, SAM,

30 (Ye

Savings*:LBUUN2 CASES

20000 W. Ten Mile at Evergreen, Southfield

(8 1 0) 3564600

*Selected Items & Groupings

nee

So ee

Scree 1

#

'

Sale

I

'Sate #

•

co

ki)
co

nee

PATIO FURNITURE FACTORY OUTLET
BUY DIRECT & SAVE 35-70% OFF

Best Quality Manufacturers
at the Lowest Prices in
Michigan!

Ducar* Gals
The Lowest
Prices

• BROWN JORDAN
• HOMECREST
• WOODARD
• TROPITONE
• LLOYD-FLANDERS
• 0. W. LEE
• AND MORE!!

Labadie's Casual Furniture

5630 Hoover • Trenton •

1-800-310-5094

ll day long, the calls fil-
tered in from distraught
parents of nursery-school
students. And all Rena
Amit could say — in an unchar-
acteristically somber Scottish ac-
cent — was that she shared their
disappointment. "Yes, I know,"
she said disconsolately to one
caller last week, "it's all quite
shattering."
Fifteen years after Ms. Amit
arrived at the Workmen's Circle
nursery school in Oak Park and
molded it into an innovative cen-
ter of preschool education, she is
retiring as its director.
At 58, she said it was time to
pursue "other ambitions," per-
haps a book on educating young
children.
But disheartened as parents
are to see her go, their panic
stems from the sudden news
that this one-room schoolhouse,
whose teachers promote a sec-
ular Jewish education, will dis-
appear with her.
In a note sent to parents last
week, the school announced that
a search for Ms. Amit's succes-
sor had proven unsuccessful.
Several candidates had been of-
fered the post but, for various
reasons, had declined, the note
said.
With preschool programs
throughout the area already fill-
ing up for the fall, school officials
concluded that they had no
choice but to close the Work-
men's Circle school when class-
es end in June and urge parents
to look elsewhere.
The announcement struck like
a thunderbolt.
"I was devastated," said Mis-
sy Edery of Huntington Woods,
whose 3-year-old daughter Maya
attends the school on Coolidge

A

MORD

MAY 18, 1996

The
American
Legion

just south of 11 Mile Road.
"Maya had such a positive ex-
perience this year. She wakes up
every morning and asks me if to-
day will be a school day. She
loves it; it truly nurtures her."
The day of the announcement,
Ms. Edery said she hand-deliv-
ered a deposit check to another
preschool program, hoping it was
not too late to have Maya en-
rolled there for the fall.
"Most programs are already
full. I'm just waiting for the call,"
Ms. Edery said.
Frustration and panic also
washed over Sandra Schuster of
Oak Park, whose daughter Jes-
sica attends the school three
mornings a week and will not
take kindly to going elsewhere.
"We were really worried when
she started school in September
that she would be unable to sep-
arate," Ms. Schuster said. "All
last summer Jessica was begging
us not to leave her there and to
stay with her the whole time."
But two weeks into the school
year, Jessica, who turns 4 on
Saturday, "was pushing my hus-
band and me out the door, say-
ing, 'Go , go.' "
The school's four teachers
"were just so loving and so kind.
They really look at children as
people and they listen to them."
Among some parents, there
was a lingering suspicion last
week that the school's search
committee did not act with suf-
ficient urgency in replacing Ms.
Amit.
They also wondered if the
committee was flexible and cre-
ative in its attempt to woo
applicants with reservations
about the job's responsibilities
or salary, which was about
$25,000.

