Insight
Ideas & Issues
Taking Attendance
Remember
When • • •
From the pages of the Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.
Census shows day schools becoming increasingly popular.
JULIE WIENER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New York
A
even has begun to chisel away at the
longtime American Jewish support of
public schools and opposition to
school vouchers, as people search for
ways to finance day school education.
Among the findings of the new study:
• Enrollment in Conservative,
Reform and nondenominational
schools has grown by 25 percent in
the past decade, with the sharpest
increase — almost 50 percent — at
fter years of anecdotal reports
about new schools and
across-the-board enrollment
increases, Jewish day schools
have finally stood up to be counted.
The results from the most compre-
hensive census ever conducted of
American day schools
generally confirm the
community's estimates of
the past decade —
185,000 students in pre-
kindergarten through
12th grade attend 670
institutions, an increase of
approximately 25,000 stu-
dents from a decade ago.
The day school census,
commissioned by the
New York-based Avi Chai
Foundation, is intended
to assess . the world of day
schools and provide a
benchmark so that future
changes can be tracked. •
"If American Jewry is
investing more in day
schools than anything else,
then you have to know
what the story is," said
Marvin Schick, an educa-
tional consultant and pres-
ident of the Rabbi Jacob
Joseph Schools in Staten
Island, N.Y., who
authored the study.
Day schools, which
At Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Southfield, Yakov Selman
offer secular and Judaic
receives classroom instruction from aide Aaron Schon.
studies under one roof,
Both
are from Oak Park.
have become an almost
magical concept in Jewish
communal life in recent yea rs.
the high school level. Although liberal
Federations, philanthropists and
high schools are rapidly growing —
even national organizations that in the
with several schools in the planning
past rarely discussed day schools —
stages and an association recently cre-
including the Jewish Council on
ated to address these schools' needs —
Public Affairs and the American
they currently enroll only 2,200 stu-
Jewish Committee — are now cheer-
dents nationwide.
leading the schools' success at stem-
• Eighty percent of all day school
ming the tide of assimilation.
enrollment is in Orthodox schools, a
The love affair with day schools
number that is expected to remain
steady — despite growth in liberal day
schools — because of the high birth
rate in Orthodox families.
• Orthodox schools range in out-
look from "Yeshiva-world" and
Chasidic to modern Orthodox, with
the more fervently Orthodox schools
accounting for the largest enrollment.
• Enrollment is greatest in the
lower grades and diminishes over
time. Nonetheless, the curve is flatten-
ing, as more day school stu-
E dents choose to remain at
4-1 least through eighth grade.
• Nearly two-thirds of all
day school enrollment is in
P. New York and New Jersey.
The other states with sizeable
numbers of children attend-
ing Jewish day schools are
California, Florida, Illinois
and Maryland.
• Nearly 40 percent of all
day schools enroll feWer than
100 students. However, the
overwhelming majority of day
school students — 93 percent
— attend larger institutions.
• Occupancy rates range
from 80 to 96 percent in day
schools, indicating that — if
enrollment continues to
increase — there will be a need
for new or expanded facilities.
Leora Isaacs, director of
research and evaluation at the
Jewish Education Service of
North America, which issued a
report last summer urging
greater funding for day schools,
said she was "really happy that
the findings were not so surpris-
ing. They're very consistent with
the less precise and less sys-
tematic data we'd had before."
She praised the census for reaching
previously undercounted schools,
mainly fervently Orthodox institu-
tions, and said the census would be
useful for communities that are evalu-
ating allocation and education needs.
However, the next census will be
more important, she said, because
"then we will be able to track growth
and change."
o
❑
A physician who was treating an
injured person became the sole known
Jewish victim of the turbulence rock-
ing the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan.
Steve Weberman was named
director of merchandising for
Beauty and Beads, a chain of spe-
cialty stores featuring beauty sup-
plies and fashion accessories.
For the first time since
Prohibition, fraternities at the
University of Michigan did not serve
alcohol during Rush Week activities.
American journalist Bill Moyers
was awarded a prize at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem for his film
on the Nes Amim commune in
northern Israel. -
Israel's inflation rate rose to 111.4
percent, the largest in its history.
Charles M. Gordon was named
executive director of the B'nai B'rith
Council of Metropolitan Detroit.
Alei0 MA4nitAlws›.
An interfaith committee was
formed in Chicago to seek a means
to end the decline in the number of
priests, ministers and rabbis.
A dynamite explosion severely
damaged a Jewish school in Beirut.
Henry H. Platt was reelected
president of the Detroit Men's
ORT Chapter.
•
Homemade Nazi uniforms and -
banners were found in the home of
a 14-year-old "fuehrer" of a Detroit
teenage Nazi club.
Two Arabs from northern Israel
were found guilty of working for
the Lebanese intelligence service
and were sentenced to 12 and seven
years in prison.
mwaikkwANwiR
vgkt
es‘zekavvak,a,=,'
William Hordes, a local Zionist
leader, addressed Mizrachi of Detroit
about his recent trip to Israel.
Israel's first Arab judge is Sheikh
Taher Tabari, magistrate for the
Nazareth district.
— Compiled by Sy Manello,
Editorial Assistant
TN
1 /2 8
2000
29