Five-year-old Kayla Turnof, here with her parents, Aaron and Stacy, says she has fun playing on the bus ride to the Schechter school in West Orange.
Photo by Elaine Durbach
October 16, 2008
When it was announced this past spring that the Cranford lower school campus of Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union was closing and that the students would be offered places in the West Orange school, one of the objections was the cost of busing.
The cost per child was set at $3,500. To alleviate that, the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey made available a stipend of $1,500 for each child making that ride. About half the 47 children who transferred have taken up that offer.
Federation executive vice president Stanley Stone said the offer reflects the federation’s commitment to Jewish education and to providing the community with as many choices as possible.
For many of the families affected, paying for bus transportation “could have meant a real financial hardship,” he said. “We didn’t want any of them to decide against continuing at Schechter because of that one factor.”
Andrea Gelber, a Cranford resident whose younger son, 10-year-old Ben, made the switch to West Orange, said the grant was enormously welcome.
“Every year, we have to reevaluate the pros and cons of sending Ben to Jewish day school, and whether the cost is justified,” she said. “That stipend made a big difference.”
Like the other Cranford parents, she and her husband had to decide whether or not to transfer Ben to a local public school — a move their older son had chosen when he started middle school — or go with the switch.
“We didn’t ask Ben outright; this is the kind of decision parents have to decide. But we looked for signals from him,” she said. “He was really happy with his class — they were a nice mix and everyone got along. Only two of those kids are with him in his fifth- grade class now, but he seems happy.”
The time spent on the bus was another possible deterrent for parents. While middle and high school students from the area were already going by bus to West Orange, some parents were reluctant to subject younger kids to a rush-hour ride of 12 miles or more.
The parents decided against individual pickups of the students — who are from towns throughout the area. Instead, there are two pick-up and drop-off points in Westfield — one at Temple Emanu-El on East Broad Street, and one outside a private home.
That procedure “shortened the time to about half an hour” on the bus, Gelber said. “That’s more or less how long it would take if I was to drive Ben myself.”
Kayla Turnof, dealing with a star-covered eye-patch intended to strengthen her left eye, was very upbeat about her bus ride from Westfield to West Orange. The kindergarten student said she can’t tell time yet, so she doesn’t know how long the trip actually takes, but it doesn’t feel too long because “we play all the time.” Her parents, Aaron and Stacy Turnof, said they had already decided to send her to the West Orange Schechter school before the federation announced its stipend for bus riders, but that it was very welcome.
“Not actually seeing the kids at school each day the way we would have in Cranford makes it harder to tell,” Kayla’s father said, “but she seems quite happy to go on the bus and with the school.”
Making friends
Schechter’s West Orange lower school added a few more classes, but students who were there all along say it feels pretty much the same. For the transfer kids, there have been pros and cons: busier corridors and a lot more unfamiliar people — but also more people to befriend.
Gloria Kron, principal of the school, said that last spring the Cranford students had several opportunities to visit their counterparts at the West Orange campus. They also sang with them at a couple of community events in the combined Lower School Choir.
“This year in September our school-wide theme was ‘Schechterlicious,’” she wrote, in answer to e-mailed questions about the transition. “We decorated a large bulletin board with cooking utensils looking for friendship recipes. Students posted what they each did to foster friendships between old friends and new ones.
“The students have blended beautifully in the classrooms, during lunch, and during recess,” she said. “Play dates are being arranged and birthday parties are including both old and new friends.”
As for the bus, Kron said the former Cranford students have gotten used to taking it. “We had an all-school lesson on bus safety and older students are keeping an eye on the younger ones.”
A number of the teachers also came over from the Cranford campus, resulting in a few more familiar faces for the children. Kron said they always had the same curriculum at both campuses, and the teachers had been attending the same professional development sessions. There were, however, some adjustments. There was only one class per grade level at Cranford, she pointed out, and now former Cranford teachers enjoy interactions with colleagues at their grade level.
“The bustling atmosphere and busy lunch, recess, and dismissal took the teachers a little time to get used to,” she said, “but the veteran West Orange teachers have been extremely welcoming and helpful to the new teachers.”
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