Q & A: Pre-school By-Law Amendment

In this post, I'll addressed the FAQs (frequently asked questions) about the board-proposed pre-school by-law amendment.

Q. Were any pre-school parents on the board that proposed this amendment?

A. Four current pre-school parents sit on the Board of Trustees, as well as 10 former pre-school parents.

Q. Why weren't pre-school parents included in last year's parent survey?

A. The parent survey was a national survey conducted by Measuring Success through PEJE: the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education. The survey was for day school parents of students in Grades K-12 only.

Q. Will financial assistance be given to non-Jewish pre-school families?

A. B'nai Shalom does not offer financial assistance for any pre-school family - Jewish or non-Jewish.

Q. Did B'nai Shalom lose money with Madoff?

A. No. BSDS did not have any investments with Madoff.

Q. Will the teacher/student ratios change?

A. No. Student/teacher ratios are already well below state recommendations.

Q. Music and art were cut this year from pre-school. What will happen next year?

A. The art program remains the same as in previous years with pre-K children working with the art specialist in her classroom. The other children are too small for the stools in the art room and have art in their classrooms with their regular teachers. Schedules will be re-arranged so that the music specialist will be teaching in pre-school next fall.

Q. Will the pre-school curriculum be affected by this proposal?

A. No. The pre-school curriculum, including Jewish life cycle and holidays, will remain the same.

Q. What if a non-Jewish family wants to continue in kindergarten?

A. The current proposal is for pre-school admissions alone.

Q. How will B'nai Shalom monitor kashrut?

A. The school kashrut policy will not change.

Q. Will the mission of the school stay the same?

A. Yes - unequivocably.

Goals and Vision (excerpts from remarks on Jan. 13)

Thank you for coming this evening. Your presence reflects your passion and love for B'nai Shalom - our community's day school.

The overarching goal of the Board of Trustees is to assure that a viable, dynamic Jewish day school will continue to flourish in Greensboro, North Carolina, just as it has for the past 39 years.

Next year, we will celebrate the end of our first 40 years!

I want to tell you how sorry I am about the angst this issue has caused for some of you. In retrospect, we would have envisioned a different process - one that had a meeting like this one prior to the board vote. What happened ended generating mistrust and rumors. We hope that one of the outcomes of tonight's meeting is to design a way that this will not happen again.

I envision B'nai Shalom's graduates - and there will be many - as products of a school of rigorous academic achievement, supported by values and character education based on Judaism's legal and ethical source texts. Our graduates will deeply identify with Jewish religious tradition through shared Hebrew language and a community of Jewish culture. Thanks to this rich background, they will be solidly grounded in their ethical views and moral commitments, and likely to achieve contentment and success in their professions and family lives. They will feel a strong sense of belonging in their school, their communities and their culture.

The shared experience of a "B'nai Shalom education" will stay with them always. When they reach high school and college, they will feel strongly connected to their fellow alumni as well as other day school graduates. In their adult communities, they will become leaders in the Jewish arena as well as active in local causes. They will continue to love and support the State of Israel. In short, they will achieve academic excellence and internalize moral values in order to reach full potential as learners, thinkers and leaders.

By Law Amendment: Background Information

Last night's forum to discuss the board-proposed by-law amendment was attended by over 50 participants, including 22 pre-school parents, 16 trustees and 12 faculty and staff. Facilitators Susan Pinsker and Sue Simmons outlined the objectives of the meeting, set ground rules and established roles before presenting the agenda.

The history of the board process was presented at the meeting. Highlights are noted below:

• The issue of non-Jewish children at B'nai Shalom is not a new topic. In the 70's and 80's, a few non-Jewish children were enrolled at school and some continued throughout the program. Current parents who are also alumni of BSDS remember non-Jewish children in their classes. The school was very small at this time.


• From 2005-2007, the board studied this issue and appointed an ad hoc task force, chaired by Jeff Segal and populated by (then) current (Jewish and non-Jewish) parents, alumni parents, board members and donors.


• The ad-hoc committee researched Jewish day schools in the U.S., Europe and South Africa and conducted a national survey to which over 30 school responded.


• A number of Jewish day schools do admit non-Jewish children in pre-school and beyond.


• After many meetings of spirited discussion, the ad-hoc committee could not come to a consensus and recommended that the board table the discussion.


• In 2008, the board voted to allow children of non-Jewish staff and faculty to attend BSDS Pre-school. This was an experimental move and not a proposal to amend the school by-laws. The experiment was reviewed in May, 2009 and the board agreed to continue for another year.


• The current issue has been in active board discussion since 2008, fueled by parent inquiries, non-Jewish children at Camp Little Star and Indigo Star, parent interest in diversity and financial benefits to the school budget.


• On December 4, 2009, the board recommended to amend the by-laws to admit non-Jewish children to B'nai Shalom's pre-school on a space-available basis.