A Southfield native wins plaudits as principal
•
•
of an Orthodox high school in Chicago.

ALLISON KAPLAN
Special to the Jewish News

Chicago

hoshanah Bechhofer was
runnning a meeting with
10th-graders at Hanna
Sacks Bais Yaakov High
School in Chicago, listening to stu-
dent complaints.
The dress code and other rules at
the Orthodox Jewish day school for
girls were "bringing out differences,"
one student said, making life corn-
plicated and often uncomfortable.
But then another student suggested
that if they all worked harder to

Allison Kaplan is a writer in Chicago.

7/16
1999

14 Detroit Jewish News

cited her school as an example of
respect other opinions, tensions
national excellence.
might subside.
Bechhofer enjoys challenge.
The exchange delighted Bechhofer,
When she was named three years
because the students had learned a les-
ago as Hanna Sacks' director of gener-
son that she holds dear, the value of
al studies, some parents told her a girl
diversity
should only take chemistry if she is a
Teaching diversity can be tricky —
math whiz. Calculus
especially at a general-
wasn't
even offered.
Above: "I want the girls to make
ly traditional
"It gave me the fight-
Orthodox school. But the most of themselves, whether
ing spirit,"
that is in academia, emotional
Bechhofer, a
Bechhofer said with
Southfield native and stamina or religious beliefi. I
a smile.
want
them
to
come
out
strong."
graduate of Akiva
Two
years later —
Hebrew Day School,
she
was
named
principal
after she was
has proved a successful magician for
first
hired
—
two-thirds
of
the seniors
the institution, helping to make it a
take calculus. Science is required all
model not just for Jewish schools but
four years of high school. Scholastic
for private schools nationally. Earlier
Appitude Test scores are climbing and
this year, U.S. News & World Report

more than three-quarters of the gradu-
ates go on to college.
Bechhofer, 34, grew up in
Southfield, the oldest of four children
in an Orthodox family. Her father,
Burt Schreiber, teaches mathematics at
Wayne State University; her mother,
Rita, is managing editor of a manufac-
turing magazine.
The Schreibers sent Bechhofer, her
sisters and brother to Akiva from
kindergarten through high school; sheer
graduated in 1980.
"I loved learning Torah," Bechhofer
said of her high school years. "I had a
hunch I wanted to teach Torah."
The principal, who recently gave
birth to her sixth child, is still deter-
mined to complete a doctorate in