30 | AUGUST 17 • 2023

BACK TO SCHOOL

E

nrollment holds steady
at Detroit Metro’s
Jewish day schools
in West Bloomfield and
Farmington Hills.
Administrators say that
last spring they initially
received a few calls of inquiry
from public school families
following the diversity
assembly debacle that
occurred at Bloomfield Hills
High School. However, they
say few have transferred their
children into a day school
Jewish setting due to this
reason.
What’s most on the minds
and priorities of families and
students who wish to attend
a Jewish day school is the
desire to receive a high-quality
secular and Jewish education
in a smaller, nurturing Jewish
setting.

FRANKEL JEWISH
ACADEMY
At Frankel Jewish Academy,
where 37% of incoming
students are from public
schools, Head of School Rabbi
Azaryah Cohen
said motivation to
transfer to a Jewish
high school setting
must emanate
from the student.
“That desire
from the student is
just as important,
and maybe more so, than
the parents’ wishes to give
their child a solid Jewish
high school education as an
important component to their
Jewish identity,
” Cohen said.
“Ultimately, it’s the student that
makes the choice, and 95%
of the students who tour our
building and meet with the
faculty enroll.
”
This fall, FJA will welcome

approximately 150 students.
That breakdown includes 40
freshman, 30 sophomores,
30 juniors and 50 seniors. At
press time, administrators said
these numbers go up with
last-minute enrollees, or even
students who transfer up to
a month into the new school
year.
Last year, FJA graduated
25 students. According to the
school’s 2021-2022 annual
report, more than 60% of FJA
students in the 2021-2022
school year received tuition
financial aid, and graduating
seniors received $2.18 million
in scholarships for college.
Cohen said the school prides
itself on the long-lasting and
impactful connections its
faculty makes with its students.
One example of this is the
influence of mathematics
department chair and math and
physics teacher Eric Rapp.

Cohen said last
year, Rapp went
through a rigorous
application
process to earn
his certification to
teach at Lawrence
Tech. Part of the
application included getting a
letter of recommendation —
not from an adult, but a past
student.
“
A few years back, Rapp had
a physics student who is now
studying at the University of
Chicago,
” recalled Cohen. “In
a tale of turning the tables,
it is this student who wrote
his former teacher a letter of
recommendation. It is these
lasting relationships between
teachers and students who
become alumni that we attest to
the best attributes of getting an
education at Frankel.
”
This fall, FJA General
Studies Principal Erika Weiler

Frankel Jewish Academy and Hillel Day School look
forward to welcoming students back to class.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Eric Rapp

Back to School Time

Rabbi
Azaryah
Cohen

Frankel Jewish Academy
seniors visit Auschwitz
on their trip to Poland.