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Hebrew High assures parents that school has a future
by NJJN Staff
The Central Hebrew High School will be offering a new once-a-week program next fall for post-bat and bar mitzva teenagers in addition to its twice-weekly sessions.
The announcement came as the Jewish Education Association of MetroWest NJ and the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ took steps to reassure families it has no intention of closing the school.
In a letter to parents, JEA president Shelley Levine and Sam Kahnowitz, chair of its CHHS committee, said “both the JEA and UJC remain committed to providing a quality high school experience for teens in our community.”
The JEA continues what it calls a “strategic planning program to determine how best to deliver Jewish education and identity services in our community.”
The agency is in the process of reviewing recommendations by TBF Consultants of Potomac, Md., that would restructure and perhaps replace the JEA and some of its programs. The consultant’s work was commissioned by the board of the UJC, whose allocations make up slightly more than 50 percent of the JEA’s $2 million annual operating budget.
In the letter, Kahnowitz and Levine noted that “the first phase of the strategic planning process specifically identified teens as a critical focus” of MetroWest educational programs.
“During the past year, we determined that new approaches to educational and administrative programming were appropriate,” said the letter. “To that end, the JHS board supported the development of a new one day a week option.”
The letter promised parents that the JEA “will continue to evaluate, upgrade, and, where appropriate, intensify the quality of curricular offerings.”
There are two groups of students who attend Central Hebrew High School twice a week; one group meets at the Joseph Kushner Academy in Livingston, the other attends classes at the Lautenberg Family JCC Aidekman Family Campus. The program serves more than 200 students from 12 synagogues.
For further information, call the JEA at 973-929-2976.
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