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Multi-Grade from page 10

YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL MODEL UNITED NATIONS

YUNMUN

Students surround administrator Kathy Sklar at this year's Yeshiva University
National Model United Nations program in New York.

"The school creates committed, produc-
tive, educated Jews, regardless of where
they learn, but the facility needs to be
updated. We shoehorned a school into a
1960s synagogue building. But we made it
work. When we ran out of space, we added
classrooms in the lower level [in 2008]."
In recent years, an Akiva group has met
with architects. "There are a lot of inef-
ficiencies, an older infrastructure and roof,
single-pane windows, outdated HVAC, a
lot of wasted space and parking doesn't
flow well" Sherizen said. "We are research-
ing various options to either add on to
the current building and make the school
function better, or start new construction
on the same location.
"Rabbi Klugerman provided the educa-
tional needs assessment for the physical
building, and I am involved with architects
and contractors:'
No official fundraising campaign is in
place for this plan but Sherizen said, "We
would do it right now if there was funding"
Plans are underway for construction of
a new, more secure main entrance with a
guard station, with the help of Federation
and private funding.
"Federation would be very pleased to
work with Akiva on its plans for expan-
sion or new construction" said Jeff Lasday,
director of Federation's Alliance for
Jewish Education. "With its recent leader-
ship changes and development of a new
school strategic plan, Akiva is focused on
providing its students with an excellent
education that will meet the needs of 21st-
century learners:'

Costs
Current Akiva tuition ranges from $8,850
for kindergarteners to $14,250 for high
schoolers. Each family also contributes to
a building fund annually.
Tuition does not cover the expense of
educating the student body.

12

August 22 • 2013

"Akiva partners with Southfield Public
Schools to offer rigor, challenge and
variety in our curriculum and keep costs
down as much as possible" Klugerman
said. "The Shared Services is unique to
the state of Michigan and the partnership
is for non-core subjects such as PE, art,
music, AP courses for grades 1-12.
"We have some very nice and generous
donors" Klugerman said. "Federation also.
"Our focus is to raise teacher salaries
and increase teacher training" he said.
This year's allocation of funds from
Federation is $440,344.

Connecting To Israel

Akiva's connection to Israel includes pro-
gramming led by young Israeli women
who provide tutoring services and infor-
mal education programming on Israel as
part of Sherut Leumi (alternative volun-
tary national service in Israel).
The program runs in conjunction with
Bnei Akiva, an organization that provides
religious Zionist education and programs
for Jewish youth and families. Many Akiva
students are involved in leadership and
membership roles in Bnei Akiva's youth
groups.
The school hosts Israeli couples, who
come to Akiva with their children for two-
to three-year time blocks. They serve as
Israeli educators, holding classes and run-
ning Israel-related programs for the school
and the community.
"We also are introducing
a new program, the
Steinsaltz Ambassadors,
in a partnership with
Adat Shalom Synagogue
and Wayne State Hillel
to bring two bachurim
[young men] trained by
Elena
Rabbi Steinsaltz's
Greenbaum
Yeshiva to work in Akiva
and the two institutions" Klugerman said.

"They bring a different caliber of engage-
ment with Judaism and Israel."
Akiva students are exposed to Hebrew
language immersion and nearly 100 per-
cent of Akiva graduates spend their post-
high school year in a yeshivah or seminary
in Israel before college.
Elana Greenbaum of Southfield, a 2013
Akiva graduate, arrived in Israel in early
August for a year's study at Migdal Oz.
"Having been at Akiva from nursery to
graduation, I have not only grown to be
a mature, educated religious Zionist, but
I have also seen Akiva grow and flour-
ish" Elana said. "Being surrounded by
Israelis has properly prepared me for this
year and, under the guidance of Rabbi
Klugerman, the educational structure of
the school has improved immensely. It is
no cliche that Akiva is a family because it
truly is like a second home to all that walk
through its doors"
Elana's family has longtime Akiva
involvement.
"Five generations of my family have
been closely affiliated with the school,
and we have started our third generation
of students" said Elana's father, Joseph
Greenbaum, who attended Akiva along
with his siblings. His brother Michael
graduated in the first Akiva class in 1974.
Their grandfather, David I. Berris, was a
school founder.
"He was one of its first presidents, and
one of the members of a small group
whose leadership, vision, drive and perse-
verance led to the formation of Detroit's
first — and still only — Orthodox, reli-
gious, Zionist Jewish day school.
"My father, David Greenbaum, served on
the board and other committees for many
years, and my uncle, Herb Speiser, served as
school president in the early '70s."
A past-president himself, Joseph's broth-
er Michael served four terms in the posi-
tion. The two are the only pair of brothers
as well as the only Akiva alumni to serve
as Akiva presidents.
All of their children also attended or
still are students at the school.
"The most universally agreed upon pos-
itive feedback from school parents is that
the school and its member families feel
like one big family" Greenbaum said.
"The school accomplishes this by creat-
ing a warm environment and teaching and
cultivating the Torah values of leadership,
kindness and respect for one another that
we all want perfused in our children.
"The students also often comment that
they feel like one big family, with the high
schoolers getting to know the younger stu-
dents and serving as their role models and
`big brothers and sisters' because they are
all on one campus and in one building:'

Strategic Plans
"Last May, we had a consultant from ISM
[Delaware-based Independent School
Management] — who consult with private

schools across the
world to help find
their path — come to
Akiva and meet with
our board members
for 10 hours over three
consecutive days" said
Dan Mendelson, school
Dan
president and an Akiva
Mendelson
parent.
"Jeff Lasday, Federation's Alliance for
Jewish Education director, also attended.
"The consultant presented results of a
series of secure surveys previously com-
pleted by the Akiva community, and we
worked on turning them into a master
plan. We narrowed them down to 16 key
initiatives that are critical and of high
value on the strategic plan toward a goal
of improving the school"
Committees have been formed for
each of the areas, including develop-
ment, facilities, finance, head of school
support, marketing and trustees.
With the new committees already
meeting, Mendelson looks further ahead
in the strategic plan he says was begun by
immediate past president, Seth Korelitz.
"Akiva is now in our 50th year, and we
look toward a celebration with the com-
munity in the spring" Mendelson said.
"Not just a celebration of the school and
the education it provides, but also of its
place in the community.
"From a strategic planning standpoint,
the most important thing I can do is
build bridges to the community. We wel-
come the community into our programs
and celebrations and to our twice-daily
minyan at Akiva.
"We celebrate modern Orthodoxy and
Zionism — our love for Israel — as inte-
gral parts of who we are as a school and
as individuals and in how it is incor-
porated into our shuls and camps and
lives" Mendelson said.
"We have just sent more than 20 of
our high school graduates to study for
a year in Israel. At the same time, we
are rooted in the good works of the
Detroit community, and we will see
that our graduates visit our Federation's
Partnership Region in the Central
Galilee.
"My strategic plan is to strengthen the
school and, as it gets stronger, to turn
around, with our eyes facing out, to con-
nect to the community"

❑

For more on Akiva Hebrew Day
School, contact Jordana Wolfson at
Jordana.wolfson@akiva.org or (248)
386-1625, ext. 222.
To contribute to the Lead the
Way campaign, contact Sidney
Katz at (248) 761-0215 or sidney.
katz@yahoo.com , or go to akiva.org .
Donations made by Aug. 31 will be
matched by an anonymous donor.

