I am writing to inform you of the complex challenges that our Torah School faces. I want you all to understand that we will face some difficult choices, and that there must be compromises on all fronts. I want everyone to be aware that the Torah School Board is diligently working to make reasonable decisions, even while we understand that these decisions will not please everyone.
1. Teachers: We are mainly a Shabbat-based school, and thus any traditionally practicing Jewish teachers who do not drive or cut or write on Shabbat will not teach in our school. Because we want our school to run through the duration of our services, so that parents can attend services, we have a single session of Torah School. Thus we have two sections of many grades, and we need two teachers where other religious schools might have one teacher teaching two shifts. And many of you know that we actively recruit congregants to teach in the school, but on Shabbat it means a choice between attending services, which so many of us enjoy, or teaching. And of course the same problem with recruiting teachers goes for substitute teachers as well.
Some of the proposed solutions to our difficulties recruiting teachers are: move the school to Sundays; split into an early and late session utilizing the same teachers; or require that one parent in each Torah School family teach at some point during their child's school years. We already have moved to utilizing some mature teens and college students as lead teachers (not just aides), when we need to fill positions and when we believe the young people are sufficiently mature.
Moving the school to Sunday would radically change the character of our community, which is uniquely Shabbat-based. Many synagogues have Sunday school, and their Shabbat attendance suffers. Our community is proud to be so vibrant and lively on Shabbat, and many visitors comment on this.
2. Space: We are utilizing all of our rooms on Shabbat, in general to their full capacity. We have a need for several large spaces for services and music, which combines the sections of a grade. When we have family education programs on Saturday morning we have to displace either classes or music. And our numbers are growing. This has required that we place both 6th and 7th grades on Sunday. Families who have a child in class on Sunday and another on Saturday often feel that they have no family time over a weekend.
The Torah School Board has considered: The use of Carderock Elementary School, but too much time would be lost in transferring kids there from Adat Shalom, and there are safety issues, as well as the difficulty of monitoring two sites; a trailer would be too expensive and aesthetically problematic; the Mt. Hermon church has no appropriate space. We have also looked at several different solutions that would involve programming during the service but not over the full span of 9:45 to 12:15. We could then have two shifts, helping with both space and teacher recruitment. But it means that children would not be occupied during the entire service. For some of the older grades, we've considered moving toward a "retreat-style" education program: more intensity with less frequent meetings, and we are planning to institute this in some of our grades. It has drawbacks as well, both curricular and social, as well as staffing, but it's certainly worth some experimentation to see how it may work for us.
3. Youth programming: The Reconstructionist movement is beginning to build a youth movement, but it is a nascent movement. Thus we need our own resources and programming for our post B'nai Mitzvah youth. We are attempting to build a program for this age group, but it is new and untried.
4. Diversity of expectations: We celebrate the diversity of our community. However, when it comes to education it means that we have some families that want intensive Jewish education for their children with serious study and great depth, and some that want more Jewish cultural activities, and some that want more Hebrew, and some that want more Tikkun Olam. While we are trying to give several options, we don't have the resources to provide all of these programs at Adat Shalom. So we keep trying different things, to see what works.
Why am I writing all of this to you? Several reasons.
You should think about teaching or substitute teaching! Yes, you, who has never done it before! We will give you resources, help and encouragement. If you can't, think of who you may know that can. Give us referrals! Parents must understand that some of our teachers will be young, and some will be inexperienced. Help them grow.
Parents in the Torah School and all community members need to think carefully and let us know how you feel about Sunday vs. Shabbat-based school. Any unique ideas about use of the space would be welcomed.
We have a new Education Director who has many creative ideas. We need to give her some time and encourage her efforts to transform our school. We all need to realize that she comes into a school with challenges not of her making, and we must be patient and participatory in resolving these challenges.
Finally, if you have strong opinions about any of these issues, volunteer for the Torah School Board. It is our job to set policy for the school, and make decisions that will affect the development of the school and our community.
L'shalom,
Loren Amdursky
Chair, Torah School Board