Important Lessons
Couple challenges Farmington Schools' commitment to Holocaust education.
DIANA LIEBERMAN
Special to the Jewish News
A
Farmington Hills couple has volunteered to
fund field trips to the Holocaust Memorial
Center for 10th-grade students throughout the
Farmington Public Schools (FPS).
In an e-mail to Jerry Fouchey, curriculum director
for the 12,000-student district, Bob and Linda Stulberg
last week offered to subsidize the estimated $3,200
needed to bring students from Farmington, North
Farmington and Harrison high schools to the newly
built center.
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Linda Stulberg characterized the district's level of par-
ticipation, in Holocaust studies activities "troubling."
The last straw for the Stulbergs was the announce-
ment that budget problems would preVent the
Farmington Public Schools from funding trips to the
HMC, which officially opens its new Farmington Hills
location June 22 on the west side of Orchard Lake
Road, north of 12 Mile. Although tours of the center
are free of charge, Fouchey estimated the cost of busing
at $3,200.
"When the district's budget was healthy, it did NOT
send busloads of students to the Holocaust Center over
the years, then only a few miles away in West
Bloomfield, as did thousands of public, private and
parochial classes from near and far," Linda Stulberg
wrote.
"Now that Farmington Hills is home to this
renowned museum, one would assume that FPS,
which prides itself on diversity initiatives, would take
advantage of this monument to the lessons of man's
greatest inhumanity to man. Regrettably, FPS has not'
yet made Holocaust education a priority."
The Stulbergs say they have been revisiting the issue
with the district over the last few years.
"We passionately believe that education is key to
snuffing out hatred and bigotry," said Linda Stulberg,
the daughter of a Holocaust survivor: "We feel com-
pelled to speak out — not enough people spoke out to
Countywide
Holocaust Education
In Oakland County, Birmingham is a front-runner
in Holocaust education with a designated Holocaust
Studies course.
The Berkley School District has frequent units in
high school social studies and English courses as well
as speakers and special projects, said district
spokesperson Gwen Ahearn. Last year, the district
added the topic to its sixth-grade social studies cur-
riculum.
The district is very involved in programs with the
save my family from incineration in the
death camps and 11 million others from
senseless slaughter. No district that truly
cares about teaching tolerance can't afford
not to go. "
District Response
FPS Superintendent Dr. C. Robert
Maxfield said the district is fully prepared
to incorporate the many resources of the
HMC into social studies curricula.
"I certainly object to the notion that we
don't understand what a great resource the
Maxfield
Holocaust Center is," he said.
•
Farmington students have toured the
HMC, Fouchey said. He did not have a record of the
dates of past visits, saying that field trips were the
responsibility of individual schools.
"My personal opinion is that we should have stu-
dents go there two or three times over the course of
their school career because the lesson is so valuable,"
Fouchey said. "I can't begin to articulate the impact of
the HMC ... My expectation of teachers teaching the
10th-grade U.S. history course that deals with the
World War II era is that they'll use the center as a
resource —.- it's in our own backyard and it's absolutely
right to do so."
Fouchey also said the district has "ensured that all
social studies staff at the secondary level have access to
a copy of Life Unworthy of Life [a locally produced
Holocaust curriculum used nationwide] as a teaching
resource."
On June 17, about 25 FPS teachers and administra-
tors participated in a daylong teacher-training event at
the HMC. Sponsored by the Oakland Professional
Development Consortium, a program of the Oakland
Intermediate School District (ISD), the event brought
together teachers and administrators from seven
Oakland County school districts.
"Farmington Schools was actually instrumental in
Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit, and
two clubs — Students Against Intolerance at the
high school level and STARS (Students Taking a
Right Stand) at the middle school level — plan
school-wide projects.
However, even Berkley does not fund field trips to
the HMC, Ahearn said. "We don't fund any field
trips," she explained. "Driving has always been done
by parents."
In the Novi Community Schools, a new diversity
unit for 10th-graders includes anti-Semitism as a
topic, said Nancy Davis, that district's assistant
superintendent for academics. "We've already
reduced our field trips'by 50 percent and next year
putting this program together," said
Jackie Moas-Burke, the ISD's supervisor
for teacher development. "Jerry
Fouchey encouraged us to use this mar-
velous resource and was invaluable in
putting together a high-quality staff
development program."
Fouchey said, "We're committed to
moving forward [on Holocaust educa-
tion]. I don't have the records, but my
sense of it is there's need for more staff
training and that we could do a better
job."
In December, Dr. Maxfield and
Fouchey met with Rabbi Charles
Rosenzveig, HMS founder and execu-
tive director, to discuss ways the district could work
with the expanded Holocaust Center.
In a follow-up letter to Rabbi Rosenzweig that
month, Dr. Maxfield said the HMC "carl serve as the
catalyst for the development of new courses dealing
with the Holocaust and the International Institute of
the Righteous. We are intrigued by the thought of
developing a course built around an understanding of
what intolerance can lead to and what goodness can
accomplish."
Dr. Maxfield went on to suggest opportunities for
FPS students to volunteer at the Holocaust Center and
to use the facility for independent study. He also vol-
unteered the district's performing groups as potential
entertainment at HMC events.
"Of course, it's a good idea for 10th-graders to visit
the Holocaust Center," Dr. Maxfield said.
In response, the Stulbergs said, "We are pleased that
the district is responding to our concerns and is consid-
ering our offer to underwrite transportation so that all
10th-grade students will have the opportunity to visit
the Holocaust Memorial Center. We're also delighted
to see the district is now committed to moving forward
on establishing Holocaust curriculum." ❑
we will begin charging a fee," Davis said. "School
financing in Lansing is just not keeping up with
costs."
Students in the West Bloomfield School District
pay for numerous supplies and all field trips, said
Assistant Superintendent Dr. JoAnn Andrees. 'All
field trips are optional, but nearly all students go,"
she said. "If a person ever can't go for financial rea-
sons, we underwrite them."
In West Bloomfield, Holocaust education is part
of the history curriculum in 11th grade, Dr. Andrees
said. If a student qualifies, the district will also pay
enrollment fees for the Holocaust course offered
by the Michigan Jewish Institute. ❑
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