20 | AUGUST 20 • 2020 

A

s Jewish preschools in Metro Detroit 
prepare to open for in-person learn-
ing, early childhood center directors 
are asking themselves a lot of questions: 
How will they communicate new safety 
protocol to parents? What happens if a stu-
dent or teacher gets sick? What kind of per-
sonal protective equipment is needed? Where 
will students put their coats and backpacks? 
Do they need school nurses? 
These are some challenges facing ECC 
directors this fall, said Lisa Seigmann, senior 
director of development, innovation, collab-
oration and education at the JCC. She’
s been 
assisting a group of 12 ECC directors from 
community Jewish preschools as they work to 
figure out how to open safely this fall. 
All 12 schools in the group have decided to 
begin the school year with in-person classes, 
Seigmann told the Jewish News. But there will 
be some key differences in how the schools 
look this year. 
For example, at the JCC’
s own preschool, 
“we’
re going to err on the side of safety, so 
there’
ll be wearing of masks and cleaning of 
rooms, we’
ll have smaller class sizes, social 
distancing — all to create as safe an environ-
ment for children as we can,
” said JCC COO 
Jeff Lasday. 

JCC’
s preschool won’
t have early drop-off 
or late pick-up options because students will 
be staying in their classroom “pods” for the 
entire day to limit the number of people who 
are interacting with each other. 
Temple Israel’
s Susan and Rabbi Harold 
Loss Early Childhood Center will also use the 
pod model. Parents will be required to com-
plete a health screening of their children each 
morning and drop them off outside building, 
where temperatures will be taken, according 
to Julie Levy, the ECC director. 
At Ganeinu, the Jewish Montessori school 
affiliated with Chabad of Farmington Hills, 
COVID-19 will bring new learning expe-
riences for students, too. Director Chaya 
Bergstein said teachers will sanitize the class-
room at the end of each day, but students 
will also learn to wipe down their toys before 
putting them back on the shelf. 
“It will be an educational process for them 
— that they understand that when they put 
away some of the materials, they have to clean 
it for the next person,
” Bergstein told the JN. 
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an exec-
utive order earlier this month requiring 
children over the age of 2 to wear masks on 
school buses and children over the age of 4 to 
be masked in all indoor common spaces and 

hallways. Forest Wolfe, who has just begun 
a new role as Temple Beth El’
s ECC director, 
said the kids at Temple Beth El’
s week-long 
camp from Aug. 10-14 didn’
t have a problem 
keeping their masks on. 
“One of the things people are always scared 
about with this age group is that the mask 
wearing is going to be so difficult,
” Wolfe said. 
“But they’
ve been great with it.
”
While many public school districts in the 
Metro Detroit area will begin the school year 
fully online, ECC directors say the needs of 
younger students are different. 
“The things that we could do over remote 
were the ABCs and the 123s — the academ-
ics,
” said Robin Pappas, director of Hillel Day 
School’
s ECC. Hillel switched to virtual learn-
ing in March. “But what we can’
t do when 
we’
re not in person is the ‘
I love you’
 and the 
caring and the socializing.
” 
In-person Jewish preschool is important 
for building a child’
s Jewish identity, too, 
Bergstein said. 
“In the school,they are connecting with 
Jewish rituals and Jewish knowledge and 
Jewish learning, ,
” she said. “They take it to 
heart, and build their Jewish future on it.
” 
Directors know that a lot can change 
between now and the first day of school. 
Pappas said most of Hillel ECC’
s teachers 
plan to come back in the fall, but “I can say 
something today and tomorrow can be totally 
different.
” 
Not all parents are comfortable sending 
their children back to preschool, either, but 
Erin Budisak is excited for her 4-year-old 
daughter Ali to return to Temple Beth El’
s 
preschool this fall. The virtual programming 
Temple Beth El put on for students in the 
spring was hard for Ali, Budisak said.
“When temple said they were going to try 
to offer this opportunity, I talked it over with 
our pediatrician and as a family. We’
re like, 
you know what? We feel like everything in 
COVID is a calculated risk, and this is one 
that’
s worth taking for her developmentally.
” 
Directors just want to provide a safe envi-
ronment for their young students like Ali. 
“I want these children back and I can’
t 
wait. I feel like we plan and we plan and we 
plan until the children are here,
” Pappas said. 
“Then we can take a breath of relief and feel 
like ‘
oh my gosh, this is what we are meant to 
do. This is who we are, and this is where we 
need to be.
’
” 

ECC directors have been meeting to discuss how to 
safely open preschools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

back to school

COURTESY CHAYA BERGSTEIN

Ganeinu’
s 
preschool

Jewish Preschools Prepare 
for In-Person Fall Classes

