26 August 22 • 2019
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whose bus schedules are dictated by the
needs of an entire school district, FJA,
with no bus service, is freed from these
constraints.
Kantor added that the later start allows
for room in a student’
s schedule for
more electives and advanced placement
coursework throughout the day. More
than 90 students, including freshman,
enroll in AP courses, thus allowing
them to better pursue their passions and
sample what learning will be like at the
college level, Kantor said.
HILLEL DAY SCHOOL
Matching the renovations in recent years
on other parts of the school, Hillel Day
School in Farmington Hills on Aug. 27
will hold a grand opening and introduce
the community to its new 6,000-square-
foot early childhood center. The school’
s
ECC started 10 years ago with 69 stu-
dents. This year, it welcomes 173 stu-
dents. The K-8 program will have 401
students.
“We offer a values-based program
that builds self-confidence in young
children, and allows children to be
inquisitive, guided by experienced staff
that have been with us for 10 years,
” said
Hillel Director of Early Education Robin
Pappas.
“
Additionally, they are integrated into
the larger Hillel community from the
start. When you offer high-quality pro-
gramming, it serves a purpose and fills
a niche that young Jewish parents are
looking for. We give the Jewish and edu-
cational foundation that sets up young
children as lifelong learners. That’
s why
we’
re so excited to have more space now
to offer Hillel’
s program to more fami-
lies.
”
At the end of the last school year,
ECC teachers attended a seminar in
Italy to learn how to tap into the innate
knowledge-seeking, resilient qualities of
children to learn from nature and the
world around them.
Other teachers were trained in
“Responsive Classroom” methodologies
to sharpen skills in creating a better
classroom environment.
“Responsive Classroom will pro-
vide a community-based approach to
social-emotional learning across our
school, ultimately building even stronger
student-teacher relationships, improving
student engagement and motivation,
and providing tools and strategies to
enhance students’
abilities to critically
solve problems, effectively collaborate
and persevere through challenges,
” said
Melissa Michaelson, principal of Hillel
Day School.
After the departure of Head of
School Steve Freedman, following 16
years at his post, the school welcomes
Nathan “Naty” Katz as its interim head
administrator. Katz served as the exec-
utive director and head of school from
2008 to 2018 at Maimonides School in
Brookline, Mass., a preschool through
12th grade Jewish day school with 500
students.
YESHIVAH BETH YEHUDAH
The area’
s largest Jewish day school, with
a combined 2019-2020 student body of
1,050 children from preschool to high
school, awaits the completion of its new
girls’
Bais Yaakov K-8 building by spring
of 2020. The first floor of the building
will be 53,333 square feet (an increase
from the current 45,875 square feet). The
building will stretch from 10 Mile Road
to I-696. The addition of a second story
of about 35,000 square feet will bring the
total square footage to approximately
90,000.
The building will include 24 class-
rooms, two cafeterias (one for ele-
mentary and one for middle school), a
gymnasium, a library, computer labs and
a science lab. Eighty-six parking spaces
will be constructed along the Church
Road side of the building.
The site plan also says Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah may build a third-floor addi-
tion after five to 10 years.
Bais Yaakov students for at least the
first half of the school year will continue
to attend classes at the Glenn Schoenhals
school, a former Southfield public ele-
mentary school on Lincoln Road that
closed in 2016. Yeshiva Beth Yehudah
used the Schoenhals facility to house
its boys’
school during construction
of its new building, which opened in
September 2017.
“
As construction projects go, delays
like this are expected,
” said YBY Dean
Rabbi Yitzchok Grossbard. “We were
very fortunate to have available to us
the Schoenhals school and our girls are
faring well there. We were lucky it is only
a block away from our main campus
and that we did not have to utilize trailer
classrooms as we await the opening of
our new girls’
school.
”
FARBER HEBREW DAY SCHOOL
This year, Farber Hebrew Day School
enters year two of a three-year accred-
itation process with the Independent
School Association of the Central States
(ISACS). If it is approved in the 2020-
2021 academic year, it will join the ranks
with other ISACS-accredited Jewish day
schools such as Hillel and Frankel Jewish
Academy.
ISACS accreditation standards are
developed for independent and private,
not public schools. The process involves
a peer review conducted by those who
understand the unique qualities of each
independent school and the contribu-
tions made by faculty and administra-
tors.
Unlike public schools, where school
improvement is measured by test scores,
the school’
s overall process involving
childhood growth and learning is exam-
ined instead.
Head of school Rabbi Scot Berman
explained that the ISACS accreditation
process is an undertaking that compels
all members of the school communi-
ty — from faculty and staff to students,
parents and alumni — to be reflective
on the practice of teaching to best deter-
back to school
FJA students work
on a STEM project.
Hillel student Jessica Lovy, seventh grade,
shows off basil plants in the greenhouse.
The Yeshivah Beth Yehudah girls K-8 building, scheduled for opening in spring 2020
on the Nancy Grosfeld Beth Jacob Campus
continued from page 24