Hebrew Charter School Sought in Atlanta
Education Briefs
Day Schools Play Super Role
The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta raised $402,428 during its Super Sunday phonathon Oct. 18, and some of the credit goes to the day school community.
The daylong calling session was hosted by the Davis Academy, and day schools were significant suppliers of manpower. Torah Day School, for example, had nearly 50 parents, staff, board members, and seventh- and eighth-graders helping out.
Altogether, Federation said more than 200 volunteers contributed more than 600 hours Sunday. The group placed more than 16,000 phone calls and brought in 680 new gifts.
Hebrew Charter School Sought in Atlanta
The Hebrew Charter School Center, a national organization that has helped launch nine dual-language public charter schools around the country, is eying Midtown Atlanta for such a Hebrew-English school.
“Atlanta’s diverse population, vibrant communities and historical significance in America make it an ideal location for a Hebrew charter school,” Jon Rosenberg, the president and CEO of New York-based HCSC, said in an announcement Tuesday, Oct. 20. “We are looking at cities throughout the country that will make good homes for the kind of high-quality, diverse, dual-language schools we work to launch, and Atlanta fits that bill perfectly.”
The organization wants to open a charter school in the fall of 2017 in the Grady High School cluster, meaning such areas as Ansley Park, Atlantic Station, Virginia-Highland and Morningside. The school would be part of the Atlanta Public Schools.
But that goal depends on finding local support for the school.
“Our experience in other cities since we began opening schools six years ago has shown us what works well, and that, specifically, is having a strong team of local parents and community leaders working with us to make it happen,” Rosenberg said. “We would like for anyone interested in partnering with us to make this school happen to reach out to us.”
You can contact HCSC at info@hebrewcharters.org or 212-792-6234.
Like all HCSC schools, the Atlanta charter would teach Modern Hebrew, provide a rigorous academic program, serve a diverse student population, and emphasize the importance of civic responsibilities as Americans and as global citizens.
The organization’s first school, the Hebrew Language Academy in Brooklyn, opened in 2009 and recently tested well against community and peer schools in New York. The second school, Hatikvah International Academy in New Jersey, also tested well against peer schools.
Both of those schools have expanded from elementary school to include middle school.
HCSC schools use a partial immersion model, spokesman Morris Ardoin explained. Hebrew instruction is scheduled for an hour per day. All classes have general studies and Hebrew studies teachers, and those teaching teams work together to enhance science and social studies with Hebrew. Israel studies are part of social studies to anchor the teaching of Modern Hebrew to the country that speaks it. Music and art also are enhanced with Hebrew.
The teaching method is the proficiency approach, which starts with oral language and moves to written language.
Hawks Land at Epstein
With the Atlanta Hawks’ opening night a week away, coaches took over the PE classes at the Epstein School for two days, Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 19 and 20.
The coaches appeared in memory of former Epstein PE teacher Julie Love, who was 27 when she was abducted and murdered after running out of gas in Atlanta in 1988.
Epstein is the only Jewish day school in Atlanta to be recognized as an Official Atlanta Hawks School and one of only seven schools in the state.
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