Staff Notebook

Academy Welcomes
Its First Students

The Jewish Academy of Metropolitan
Detroit, a new day high school in
West Bloomfield, opened on Aug. 28.
The enrollment stood at 51 students
as of Wednesday, Sept. 6, including 19
girls and 13 boys in ninth grade, and
nine girls and 10 boys in 10th grade.
An additional enrollment or two is
still possible, said a school official.
Following are students and their
grades for the JAMD inaugural year:
Deborah Anstandig, 10; Vadim
Avshalumov, 10; Ruslan Avshalumov,
9; Ari Barak, 9; Jeremy Baruch, 9;
Sarah Blinderman, 10; Pele Browner,
10; Ashley Byer, 10; Ari Carmen, 10;
Meredith Cohen, 10; Josh Diskin, 9;
Asher Dunn, 9; Shirah Farber, 9;
Amira Gaba, 9; Jason Garden, 10;
Adam Gardin, 10; Fallon Garfield-
Turner, 9; Pammy Gene, 9; Shira
Glogower, 9; Ilana Goldberg, 10;
Daniel Gonik, 10; Adam Greenbaum,
10; Jonathon Guyer, 9.
Also, Shira Heisler, 9; Abigail
Helman, 9; Rachel Hoffenblum, 9; -
Adam Horowitz, 10; Mandi Isaac, 9;
Frayda Kresch, 10; Michael
Kroopnick, 9; David Kurzmann, 9;
Rachel Lachover, 9; Nathan Lada, 9;
Aaron Levine, 10; Miriam Liebman,
9; Ariella Lis, 9; Ilyse Mark, 9; Ari

AKIVA

from page 7

the number of boys, Teger explained.
"By ninth grade, it was felt — and I
purposely say that in the passive — that
it would be to the girls' advantage to
move them up or down a grade," he said.
By the time the administration had
a clear idea of 2000-01 enrollments, it
became evident that last year's ninth
grade of four boys would diminish to
three students.
"Then two said good-bye, and the
third felt he had no choice," Teger
said. "The bottom line is, we all do
what we feel is the best for our kids."
Two of the young men who left
Akivis 10th grade transferred to the
Jewish Academy of Metropolitan
Detroit (JAMD) in West Bloomfield
and the third to the Roeper School, a
private school in Birmingham. Last
year's fourth student was the son of
Akiva's former principal, Rabbi Karmi
Gross, who moved with his family to
Los Angeles.
One newly enrolled student was the
appropriate age for the class. However,

9/8
2000

10

Mendelson, 9; Nicki
Milgrom, 9; Ilana
Parker, 9; Elektra
Petrucci, 9; Ian
Robinson, 9; Eric
Rosenbaum, 9; Sarah
Sallen, 9; Aaron Schaer,
9; Lauren Schanes, 9;
Molli Spalter, 10; Keren
Stiebel, 9; Donielle
Traurig, 10; Jordan
Weiss, 10; and Ella
Zarkh, 10.
— Diana Lieberman

of Jewish Federation
activities in 1981, serv-
ing in various commit-
tee posts. He was elect-
ed president in 1996,
after having served as
vice president and
treasurer.
A pediatric ophthal-
molooist Dr. Giles
serves as chief of oph-
thalmology at
Children's Hospital of
Michigan and is a clini-
Dr. Conrad Giles
cal professor of oph-
thalmology at the
Wayne State University School of
Medicine in Detroit.
— Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Dr. Conrad Giles
Co-Leads UJC

Elchanan Theological Seminary of
New York and from Ner Israel Yeshiva
College of Toronto, Canada. He holds
a doctorate in ministry from the
Chicago Theological Seminary, having
completed a dissertation on topics in
medical ethics.
The rabbi has served congregations
in Toronto, Chicago, Fort Wayne and
Aurora, Ill.
An open house to welcome Rabbi
Markowitz will take place Sunday,
Sept. 10, at the synagogue at 2300
Center Ave., Bay City. For informa-
tion, call (517) 893-7811.
— Shelli Liebman Dorfman

War Veterans
Monument Restored

Dr. Conrad Giles has been named vice
chair of the United Jewish
Communities, the national federation
umbrella organization.
Dr. Giles is former president of the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit and recipient of its Fred M.
Butzel Memorial Award and has
chaired the Federation executive com-
mittee. He was president of the
Michigan Jewish Conference, the
statewide organization of federations;
and regional chairman and national
vice chairman of the United Jewish
Appeal.
Dr. Giles became active in Council

New Rabbi
In Bay City

Rabbi Harvey Markowitz began serv-
ing as rabbi of Temple Beth Israel: The
Saginaw Valley Congregation for
Conservative Judaism on Aug. 1, suc-
ceeding Rabbi Robert Scott, who
retired at the end of July. Temple Beth
Israel is a new congregation formed by
the merger of Temple Israel of Bay
City and Temple B'nai Israel of
Saginaw.
Rabbi Markowitz received ordina-
tion from Yeshiva University's

The Farmington War Veterans
Memorial in Farmington is once again
legible, shiny and clean after receiving
a gift of rebronzing from Otto Dube,
owner, and Bob Henderson, vice presi-
dent of the Eternal Clean Monument
Company in Farmington Hills.
Dube says Henderson, a decorated
veteran of the Vietnam war, was
approached by representatives of the
Veterans of Foreign War complaining
of a green rust that made some of the
writing on the four plaques of the
seven-foot-tall granite monument
illegible.

he had just immigrated to the United
States and was placed in ninth grade,
at the choice of his parents and the
school, to help overcome the boy's lan-
guage deficiencies.
Both Teger and Rabbi Tsaidi said
they would have run the class for only
three students, even though it would
have meant losing money.
"I spoke to the parents to see what
we could do," Rabbi Tsaidi said.
"They are still members of the school.
Each one was very active. I said, 'You
do what you think best.'
"This is my job to fix," he added.

can bounce back from this situation.
"It can certainly be done, with
appropriate professional and lay lead-
ership," she said.
Isaacs' suggestions include "conduct-
ing exit interviews for departing fami-
lies, developing a very fine track record
of student achievement, keeping par-
ents and community happy, and having
somebody come in from the outside to
evaluate the school" — all of which
Akiva has either done or intends to do.
Among the 10th-graders to leave
Akiva this year was Max Halperin of
Southfield, who now attends Roeper.
Eli and Julie Halperin, his parents,
chaired the school's annual meeting
last May. Held at Congregation B'nai
Moshe, it attracted about 500 Akiva
supporters.
"Having the class just sort of dissi-
pate like that was a strange set of cir-
cumstances. For reasons beyond our
control, it became too small to have a
class," Eli Halperin said. "We still have
two younger children in the school. If
there was any way it could be built up
so they could have an llth grade, we

would send him."
Tenth-grader Adam Greenbaum,
son of Akiva's immediate past presi-
dent Michael Greenbaum of
Southfield, transferred to the JAMD.
His father said they were undecided
about what to do if Akiva is able to
mount a viable 11th grade next year.
"We are approaching this one year
at a time," Michael Greenbaum said.
Loewenthal said part of the prob-
lem has to do with numbers in gener-
al. With a school the size of Akiva, he
said, when you lose a few, "you're in
trouble. Sometimes, you can combine
classes, but that's not always ideal."
In Akiva's lower school, many class-
es have more than one section per
grade, he said, adding that this bump
in enrollment would likely continue as
these children progress through the
grades.
Board member Dan Mendelson of
West Bloomfield said Akiva's biggest task
right now is to generate enthusiasm.
'And the way to generate that
enthusiasm," he said, "is to provide
the very best education possible." ❑

A National View

Dr. Leora Isaacs of the New York-
based Jewish Education Service of
North America said situations such as
Akiva's, where a class has no students
for a specific year, are not unique in
Jewish day schools.
Isaacs, director of research and eval-
uation for JESNA's Mandell L.
Berman Jewish Heritage Center for
Research and Evaluation, said schools

