18 | SEPTEMBER 3 • 2020 Jews in the D Farber Delays Start of School Two teachers have tested positive for COVID-19. SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER T he scheduled Aug. 24 start of school at Farber Hebrew Day School – Yeshivat Akiva came and went after parents were notified that the first day of class- es would be both postponed and include major modifications. In a duo of emails, sent Aug. 20 and 21, a new plan was outlined to replace the previously slated hybrid in-school and virtual curric- ulum. Instead, school began Monday, Aug. 31, with ECC, kindergarten and first grade students attending in-person classes — as originally set — and grades two through 12 moving into a virtual schedule. Reassessment of the situation will be ongoing but is expected to continue until after Sukkot, which ends the evening of Friday, Oct. 9. The determination was made by the school’ s exec- utive committee, headed by Farber parent and president Dr. Ora Singer, who signed the letters to parents along with head of school Dr. Joshua Levisohn. A Farber teacher tested positive for COVID-19 last week, after faculty and staff testing was done on Monday, Aug. 17, three days before the announcement of school opening changes was made. The spouse of the teach- er who tested positive for COVID also tested positive — and is also a Farber teach- er. The family has been in quarantine since the original positive test and has not been in the Farber building. Following the positive COVID-19 case, Farber said it followed state and medical guidance. “The health depart- ment was promptly notified, the building was properly cleaned, and contact tracing was conducted in accordance with current best practices, ” they said in an email. Farber executives said the positive tests did not prompt the delay of the school’ s open- ing or the addition of virtual learning. Rather, the delay announcement followed a three-day teacher-orientation, attended by 80 faculty and staff members. According to Levisohn, “Unlike office buildings or other places of work, schools are large, interactive, buzzing organisms. Seeing faculty and staff interact inside of the building made it clear it will take time to adjust to our new reality and to the new protocols. “To ensure everyone’ s safe- ty, we felt it was necessary to conduct a staged opening rather than a single introduc- tion of most of the children to school, and with that in mind, we made the extremely difficult, even heart-wrench- ing decision to change plans even at the very late date, ” he added. According to an email sent to parents, the school plans to offer some virtual, small group learning for the lower grades as well as “regular opportunities for these stu- dents to coalesce in safe envi- ronments, primarily outdoors to build relationships and provide social stimulus. ” Levisohn added, “The pan- demic has caused all of us to remain as flexible as possible, as the reality, the medical guidance, the state guide- lines and the data all seem to change on a daily basis. We are committed to providing the very best education pos- sible to our children while remaining steadfast in our attempts to keep students, faculty and their families safe. ” An Aug. 24 town hall Zoom meeting to address concerns and questions was attended by more than 100 Farber parents, staff members and students. Dr. Joshua Levisohn Yeshivas Darchai Torah Provides In-Person Instruction SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER Yeshivas Darchei Torah, an Orthodox day school in Southfield, is holding in-person classes for its 496 students. Classes for boys in first through eighth grade began on Aug. 27. Girls classes and all preschool started Sept. 2. According to Rabbi Yehudah Amsel, the school’ s director of community relations, Yeshivas Darchai Torah is prepared to offer virtual instruction but no fami- lies have requested that option. He said that the school used sophisticated teleconferencing to provide remote learning when all schools closed in March. Amsel added that Darchei Torah is work- ing with the governor’ s guidelines for schools to avoid transmission of COVID-19. Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Oak Park, the largest private Orthodox Jewish day school in the state, has also finalized its instruction plans for the fall semester, but school officials told the JN they “have decided not to release the docu- ment for public consumption.”