Posted to Op-Ed on
by Anonymous

Op-Ed: Snow Days, Summer Days, What’s the Difference?

I would like to point out the hypocrisy of our school administrations. On dangerous snow days, our school administrators demonstrate caring and devotion for our children’s ongoing education by going on “Mesiras Nefesh” and keeping the schools open.

Each administrator feels he/she must prove something by keeping their school open.  After all, they care that much for our Kinderlach. That’s great!

However, in a few months, over the summer, all our schools will be shutting down for about three months! Our kids will be without any structure, without an education.

Hundreds of teenage boys and girls will be doing (only) G-d knows what for three “free/fry” months.  These three months are the source of all פְּרִיקַת עוֹל. The result of this three month “vacation” is devastating to the ongoing education of our children.

Where are the school administrations during the summer months? If they truly care for our children’s education, then why are our schools and yeshivas closed for three whole months!?

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93 Comments

  • r u for real?

    Ur worried about the summer? How about the basic education they are supposed to give their students the 10 months of the year?

    • Anonymous

      Also true. But one thing at a time.

      “How about the basic education they are supposed to give their students the 10 months of the year?”

      Although, I agree that the basic education can get better. I do also believe that it is a parents (father and mother) personal responsibility to fill in the gaps. Just because you send your children to school does not make your responsibility as an educator to your [own] children any lesser.
      Now, if you have the responsibility of providing for your family, then you can’t exactly teach your children several hours a day, everyday.
      Especially when you have more then one or five children.
      What you could do, assuming as a good Jew and Chossid you are doing some learning/Study yourselves is fill in the gaps.

      But if there is no school and the only learning your child is getting is from his working father or mother (which won’t be much), then we have a problem.

      Where the school fails, I will step up.
      But as a [working] parent, I need the school open. I need a partner.

      For example: This applies to all subject matters. If the school does succeed in teaching my child basic Chomesh and Rashi, then I can go deeper into the Parsha. i can teach my children a good Sicho or Medresh etc…

      Three months of nothing/Zero (no learning), is not helpful.

      A good student goes very bad in three months. Bad in learning and bad in behavior.

  • So True!

    Why not keep the children home when it is unsafe
    for them to travel to school.? Why isn’t there school
    the whole month of June, July, and September. Why
    not close school for the month of Av?

    • We've got that!

      Cheder Ohr Menachem, right here in Crown Heights, has school until right before Tisha B’Av, and then begins again around Rosh Chodesh Elul.

      (During the summer months, the learning goes until 2:00 and then there’s a great day camp program for the rest of the afternoon.)

      And the cheder usually runs an overnight camp program for 2-3 weeks, during Av, for those who want it, during summers that the Av break doesn’t coincide with the second session of the other existing overnight camps. Plus, for those who want day camp during Av, the cheder offers that, too.

      So it’s already happening….

    • Give me A break

      vacation, a break is a great thing, BUT not three months in the street. Especially, for teenage boys and girls who hang out the streets without any structure…. THIS is the main reason why they go off the DERECH.
      Most of the bochorim, aged mesiva and beis medrash, stay in the street. Very few land a job as a counselor or waiter, but the majority are without structure or plan. This leads them to alcohol… drugs… chilul shabbos.. You can clearly see (by viewing pictures of recent Lchaims) that a big majority of our bochorim dont have beards…the beginning to this is the three months of the summer…
      The Rebbe zt”l screamed and cried and wrote letters and answers about the HEFKAIRUS of closing of our Yeshivas for the three months of summer. AND NO ONE LISTENED TO THE REBBE….ALL his great big chassidim!!
      Today, we see that an entire generation does not know what it means to HACHANA (preparedness) to Rosh Hashana and the entire month of Tishrei. The empty summer months – brings the boys and girls to observe Tisha Baav-a day of mourning as a day to pass with watching videos , as is a minhag in many camps….And………
      In these three months they truly forget what they attempted to learn during YESHIVAS months…when the choice of what to do during the free months comes THE YETZER HORAH takes the lead

  • Chaim

    I agree 100%.

    Some will try to argue that we have camps etc…
    But the camps are NOT a solution.
    In fact, [two years ago] I didn’t recognize my Baroch Hashem good behaving, good learning son, within two weeks of day camp.

    Even sleep away is not a solution.

    In day camps what we basically have is 13-14 year old boys, watching/educating kids just a few years younger.

    And what do these 13-14 years of age do after 3-4pm when they are done their jobs?

    Sleep-away camps we have 17-18 years of age who are still trying to figure it out, or better yet, are just starting the journey of figuring themselves out, educating our children.

    Three whole months is totally ridicules. We should follow the system they have in Eretz Yisroel.

    Think about this:
    The only employment that has this much vacation is Teachers. Does this make sense? Our education (the most important) is shut down for three whole months?

  • 1bigcholent

    Maybe if we have snow during the summer, school will stay open? (Being Sarcastic).

    School and Yeshiva should stay open 12 months a year with a week or two (maybe three) of “vacation”.*

    There is no vacation from learning Torah.

  • The Rebbe zt"l

    The Rebbe zt”l wanted that our schools and Yeshivas stay open. Unfortunately, when it came to Chinuch or when it came to having influence on the administration, the Rebbe didn’t have any.

    He spoke and nobody listened.

    It’s not to late.

    • חילול השם

      The mashpiam of the Yeshivas -who always preach in farbregens that CHABAD LUBAVITCH is the TOP OF TOP, These same mashpiam should go to WIlliamsburg, Boro Park, Monsey , and even Lakewood to see how they run their Yeshivas in the summer months.
      They are always open to guide their talmidim- or in the city or in the whole yeshiva moves to the country air
      Lubavitch is the ONLY one who sends hundreds and thousands children to the street for three months and GO AROUND the world to MEKAREV one JEW -not that its not important
      BUT PLEASE …OUR children…SAVE THEM

    • author

      How would you have made this point (in a “positive” manner)?

      Saying this oped is negative does not change the facts.

      The fact is that three months out without a structure is devastating.

      Any so called negative writing, pales in comparison to the fact of the effects these three months have on our children.

      Besides, when it hurts, you scream.

  • Close'em Down

    I agree. Schools should be closed for 3 months in the summer as well as 3 months in the winter.

  • Open schools

    This whole idea of schools being closed in the summer is absurd, The amount of kids that room in ruin in the summer is way more that we bring back all year between all the good yeshiva’s together. It’s about time we wake up and start fixing the problem.

  • very well said!!!

    All administration’s care about their own pocket, from the biggest school in Crown Heights to the smallest from the best yeshiva out there to the………

  • Gelt

    They can barely pay teachers now you expect them to pay summer gelt? I don’t think so.

    • they pay

      They pay the teachers for 12 months a year. those paying tuition pay for 12 months a year.

      Why pay again for camp?

    • wrong

      teachers get paid for all 12 months
      and its not less and just divided for 12 months they get paid more then most jobs in the US

    • Camp Costs

      If parents paid for the three months of school what they pay for camp, the schools would have no trouble paying their staff.

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      Did you ever notice how many [young] teachers own homes.

      Baroch Hashem for them, but let’s not exaggerate their “low” income.

      They can work 12 months a years like the rest of us!

  • brave

    just give up would you!!
    were a lost case.
    the people that are in charge don’t belong there…
    it became a family business.

    its about time we just except it and give up.
    if you don’t like it AND YOU CANNOT OPEN YOUR OWN PLACE STOP MOANING AND GROANING…

    be happy to just be alive and thank hashem for your health.

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      You my friend sound like a dead fish floating down stream with the current.

      These post, these comments actually do make a difference.

      It’s called PLANTING SEEDS.
      You plant a seed/idea and like a seed you never see the results instantly, it takes time for it to grow.

      Everyday, seeds (ideas- good or bad) are being planted in your head, with or without your direct knowledge or awareness. It can be something you read (by passing), something you saw (by passing) or something you heard (by passing).

      What the author of this oped is doing, is planing a seed, with hopes that it sprouts into a tree.
      ____________________
      Doing a small act of goodness or kindness is like planting a seed. You never know what will come out of it.
      Don’t give up…Get to planting.

  • a student

    don’t you think the students need a break to !!!! we work very hard and this summer break ends so fast.

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      We are ALL students of life.
      There are no brakes in life.

      After 120, you can have your brake.

  • Anonymous

    This is so true! And especially for the boys yeshivas, mesivta, and bais medrash that sing the “we never close” song …so casually close down for three months without caring what the boys are doing or occupying themselves with!!! A real shame!

  • Chabad Lubavitch

    Here in Lubavitch ..where we are the top of the top..where the Rebbe spoke in favor of keeping yeshivas open…we should go to other chassidim and see how they keep their yeshivas open and no HEFKER time! No children hanging out in the street!

    • camp

      and it the bocherim that have school
      and camp is a solution

      imagine this your a kid so exited for summer to play go to camp have
      fun and your mother says your staying in school and agree with her nobody would

      anybody would be mad
      if you think theres no vacation for torah
      your right bus gan yisroel is chassidus torah learning class

    • hello

      of course vote with your wallets bec. yeshivas kayits is costing me the same amount i pay for tuition all year(4,000) so of course i am for yeshiva open till av.
      many are open,
      new york and montreal gotta learn to adapt this into their system.

  • The countrt (top) idiot

    Mr anonymous writer.
    Your an idiot. Plain and simple.
    If you’re trying to stir up some controversy hetr…its not gonna work cause your “article” is for a yerovom ben nevot.
    The schools weren’t open because of the school staff trying to show anything or prove any point. The schools were open because sun through Friday is a school day. Did you keep your business open to prove a point? Or to try and make a decent parnosoh? Did you go shopping on erev shabbos in the snow cause you had to? Or, you didn’t have to but you wanted to prove a point?
    The fact that there is a 3 month summer vacation is a different topic… but vs hakstu in kup about the schools being open to have me sir as nefesh? What about the ret of the country? Parents have to go to work. Kids goto school and life goes on.
    Du bist a narishe ingel ader a rov in dee shcunah.

    • Chaim

      1. whats with the name calling? Why so offended about an opinion?

      2. Can it be that you are from the schools administration?

      3. The author is not suggesting that school close for snow days. He is suggesting that the same motivation (assuming “it’s for the children), be considered during the summer.

      And yes, the schools are playing a PR game when it comes to school on snow days.
      And yes, the Mayor of the City of NY is doing the same thing, trying to prove himself.

      If they are not playing PR and truly care for the kids, then why close the schools for three whole months?

      For those “students” claiming students need a brake.

      A brake from what? Learning Torah? A brake from Being a Jew?

      You need a brake?
      Go read Tinach or other history of our past. Study other non mind stressing subjects.

  • just becasue school is open

    doesn’t mean you have to send your children on days when there’s horrible weather. Keep them home. No one’s forcing you to send them in.

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      Why are so many of are youths going off the Derech (the Jewish Path)?

      Don’t fool yourselves by blaming it on…
      1. Some Rabbies in the community who don’t get along. Or, not having a complete Beth Din.

      2. This Machlokes or that.

      3. were not relating to the young. It’s a new time etc…

      etc…etc…

      Here we have a clear answer.
      In Lubavitch the Chinuch stops for three months a year.

      Thousands of teenage girls and boy are free to roam* (*to go to different places without having a particular purpose or plan), for three whole months, without any accountability.

      Teenagers are at a crossroad at to what path they will take. Will it be right or left? Yeshiva or bum?

      With three months of “Free” time and nobody to direct them or with no structure to push them back on the path, what do you think they will chose?

  • ask them

    send this letter to the schools. re-word it so it comes across respectfully. i agree with you 100%, and I think that bringing it up on this forum will not accomplish anything and will just bring on loshon hora.

  • what in the world

    to #21 who are you if you were a student or teacher you would feel the hard work that we put in to school as a student or as a teacher don’t you think we need a break this is just sad

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      Three months brake?

      There are many many fields of employment that work much much harder. They don’t have three months off!

  • @12

    They pay the teachers over the summer anyway
    They pay them less throughout the year and just pay them the rest in the summer!!!!
    All the schools have money (even bais rivkah) they just don’t care to pay the teachers (if they thought it was important to have schools open all summer it would happen already this year)

    @ THE AUTHOR
    the schools have some type of daycamp for most of the summer

    • @ THE AUTHOR

      Day camps are not a solution.

      kids watching over kids.

      and those kids are free after 3.

      a commenter above already spoke about this above.

  • Bottom Line

    Whats the difference if we have or don’t have school on snow days.

    A better way of making this point is as follows:

    Why are our schools closed for three months a year?

    Period end of OpEd!!!

  • Real talk...

    You guys should first worry about your kid actually getting an education during the months that they are open, because it is on such a low standard in crown heights, it makes me sick… Then worry about the summer! The most important part of education is exercise of the mind on an individual level. Finding one’s self rather then being forced to be something else is where true yiddishkeit is found. Shame on you!
    It has long been known that yeshiva’s here are under dictatorial leadership, students do need a break, and again, if you actually have the audacity to mention the level of education and how chabad is on the top of it… guess again. The education given here is trash.

  • 100% true!! However,

    If the parents would give the money to the yeshiva, instead of to camps, I’m sure yeshivos would stay open. Parents give $3000 for 8 weeks, and then complain that they can’t pay $6000 for 9 months….

    The Rebbe tried plenty of times to keep yeshiva going through the summer. But lots of schools just cant afford it as it is, and parents are not going to pay more just because it’s open for another month

  • ch resident

    I agree about the long summer vacation and that is the main reason why I send my boys to cheder ohr menachem where they have school from rosh chodesh elul till tisha b’av. I wish there was a girls school like that so that I can send my girls there, Btw my boys DO NOT feel as if they r in school while everyone is on summer vacation as they have a very good program and they go on a lot of trips and they go to the park every day

  • Ridiculous point

    I have elementary age boys and they definitely need and deserve a break! And so do their teachers and principals! This is the time when my husband and I have to put the extra effort to be mechanech them, reminding them to daven in the morning, make brachos, bentch, say tehilim, etc. The hard working Rebbis and Morahs need 2 (it’s never been 3) months to re-energize and to come back fresh and ready to begin a new year.
    I want to take this time to publicly say what FANTASTIC Rebbis and Morahs Oholei Torah has and how thankful I am for it. They go above and beyond their call of duty and I am so happy for them that they can spend time with their families and relax for 2 months of the year!

  • students

    why not ask your son/daughter if they want to sit in a classroom for 12 months?!?!? are you crazy???? I personally can not wait for summer vacation. I think that Rebbes, Morahs and students all need a break from each other.

    • CHLEAKS.COM

      While I’m at asking my son/daughter if they want to sit in a classroom for 12 months, I’ll also ask them (give them the option of the following)…

      My dear children….

      1. Until what time do YOU think is fair to stay up until, 12am, 1am?

      2. How much time on the computer do you think is fair?

      3. What would you like to do with YOUR free time? Play with toys? Watch a Jewish or non-Jewish movie?

      4. Do YOU want to do homework?

      5. Would YOU want to eat desert before or after supper?
      Or maybe just eat the desert? Want doubles?

      On Shabbos…
      6. Do YOU want to come to Shul and Davven with me?

      7. Do YOU want to sit at the Shabbos table with the rest of the family or would you rather play instead?

      Etc…etc…

      Let’s just ask the kids what they think is good for them.

      Any teacher that’s not excited to go to work; that’s not excited to teach, should NOT be teaching.

      The kids won’t be excited about learning if the teacher has no interest.

      Any teacher that Justifies a 10 week vacation should not be teaching.

      This is all common sense.

  • Ch

    Winter time school is open to cover the 180 days or so needed for a school year .. So if you think school really cares in my opinion they do not .. Once they cover the mandatory school days they can close for the summer to save money on electric and whatever else

  • #13 isn't brave.

    you are bowing down to the “powers that be” (sic).
    Even in America, right here in New York, there are yeshivas where the entire yeshiva moves to the country – and continues regular seder – for a month, is closed for Menachem_Av and reopens by Rosh Chodesh Elul.Teachers get paid because YESHIVA TUITION IS CHEAPER THAN CAMP!! So all the parents who are paying for camp and bungalows can pay tuition instead and everyone will be happy. (p.s. including the kids, because they thrive with structure, and regress over the summer months even in the best camps)
    We have to take the yeshiva and girls’ school system back. Stop making America Underish.

  • Mistake

    I like what number six said
    Also maybe if we’d have two week vacations every two months it we’d work better…

  • Annoyed Student

    Give me a break! What, you think students don’t work hard all year? Summer is just a free-for-all? Let me tell you something, we work really hard in the summer and we try to inspire kids, but we need a break from stiff structure! Gosh, we’re human beings not drones! Stop insisting that we need to have school during the summer, because we can’t!!!!

  • really?

    oh stop! summer vacation has been around forever. all of a sudden its the schools fault about all that is going wrong with kids!!
    here lies the problem, Parents like you want the school to be a parent the kids and the schools want the parents to be the school.

    Parents need to take care of their kids and the school has to teach and stop putting that on the parents.

    It’s YOUR job supervise your children in the summer, YOU provide the structure

    • @ THE AUTHOR

      “oh stop! summer vacation has been around forever. all of a sudden its the schools fault about all that is going wrong with kids!!”

      1. You sound like a child who claims (when doing something wrong), “but everybody is doing/did it”.

      2. it’s not all of a sudden that everything is going wrong with our children. This is decades of damage.
      This is common sense. The Rebbe zt”l spoke about this.
      The facts speak for itself.

      “here lies the problem, Parents like you want the school to be a parent the kids and the schools want the parents to be the school.

      This “argument” does not come from Chochma, Bina and Daat.

      1. You don’t know me.

      2. I pay tuition with money I earned from work that I did. I pay someone to teach my child because as a provider for my family that is not possible to teach all my children full time.

      “It’s YOUR job supervise your children in the summer, YOU provide the structure”

      Here you prove my point and contradict yours.

      I do my job by sending my kids to school and providing them with an education/structure.
      I do my job (as best I I could…there’s always better) by following up with their learning and being an example of what a proud Jew and Chossid is.

      I will just say this:
      Schools can and should be teachoing Chochma, Bina and Daat (Knowledge etc…).

      Being a mensch, loving, caring, compassionate etc…etc… about fellow Jews and of Torah/Hashem, can only be taught at home. The best schools can’t teach to be a mensch.

  • it has been brought up

    But they wont change. It is a shame. I believe in a 6 weeks summer with only one month camp and one week brake in the winter, so the kids have some breathing space between sukkos and pesach.

  • Not all schools close in the summer

    At least one school that I know of – Cheder Ohr Menachem – is open during the summer, just like the Rebbe said it should be.

  • simple solution

    Move the Yeshivas up to the country. Other Chassidim do it. In Satmar, the girls stay with their classes & go to the same camp en masse.

    Elementary is a different story, but if the kids are in day camp all summer, with some learning & some recreation, it will amount to the same thing.

    As a teacher, yes, we need a break, but 10 weeks is too long even for us. 6 is enough even for a decent trip overseas. But since Hanhalas can’t pay us for the weeks we teach right now, how would they pay us for extra weeks? A conundrum, indeed!

  • wonderful.

    Excellent piece. 100% True. I would gladly pay more tuition for summer months run in a consistent way.

  • open a new school

    Why don’t you open a new school, leave it open during the summer and close it during snow days, you will then be in the administrations shoes and you will be able to set an example of how a school should run.

  • Irony

    I think the tone of this article is flippiant and counterproductive, but the truth is, school being open during snowy days in the winter and being closed in the summer does tie into the same fundamental problem… Schools stay open in the winter because even though they are private schools, they receive a certain amount of government subsidy, and want to keep their status as a ‘school’, which means they need to be in session for a minimum number of days during the school year. The same thing goes with summer – they close because they are NOT required to be open. What’s the point? For all of our talk about the importance of NOT doing things like the goyim, we’ve modeled one of our most important systems after their clearly dysfunctional one.

    Fortunately, we remain imminently capable of changing this standard. Unfortunately, we’re still a long way from taking this kind of initiative on behalf of our community. (If you’ll allow me a moment of bitterness, considering how much more we dress and act like goyim these days, I suppose I should not be surprised that we raise our kids like them, too…). That said, we should all support our community engaging in these types of discussions and trying to find productive answers to these difficult questions facing today’s Lubavitchers.

    Ad mosai!

  • Unemployed

    Anyone that’s fighting for school to be closed is an unemployed stat at home parent that has nothing to do other then complain on Facebook or something. Did you ever hear of parents got g to work?? Every parent that does wants a school day! It’s safe ! This whole day off came from large cities that was impossible to get to school!!
    U worried about ur children’s chinuch in the summer ?? Then you teach them how to behave when not in yeshiva! That’s your responsibility don’t blame the system for everything!

  • 45 yr in the hood,

    this is so true and so sad
    so much lost time from school ——to camp
    and then from camp ——to school

  • Regression

    What about the fact that talmidim without much learning regress in basic skills every summer and yeshivos have to start with catchup every Elul?

  • Solution...

    Just do what they do in England – only have a 1 month vacation in the summer, and a few more small vacations during the year!!
    What they do in usa is stupid – i don’t think i would manage 3 months doing nothing! 1 month is plenty!!!

  • learning

    i disagrrrreeeeeeeeeeeee a 10000000000000000000%
    you know what make a school and adverdise open all summer you will end up with no kids in your school

    to the people that agree with this person

    shame on you

    • @ THE AUTHOR

      Please explain:

      1. Why do you Disagree?

      “to the people that agree with this person shame on you”.

      Please explain this one as well.

      Why should a parent be ashamed for wanting his child in school learning, instead of being “free” for three months?

  • Pops

    I disagree. My kids come back from camp invigorated with chayos and enthusiasm. Our local cheder goes through part of the summer and it is not productive. The teachers and kids are burnt out. My kids have gone to CGI montreal and they come back with an enthusiasm and a greater sense of what it is to be a lubavitcher. The counselors and campers maintain a connection for years to come. My son gets occassional phone call before a yomtov etc.. from his counselors from 3 and 4 years ago. He has never received a call from a teacher or rebbe.

    • Chaim

      Hay, your kid had a great time, your kid get’s a chayos for Torah etc…

      Let’s sacrifice hundreds (thousands over the years) of children’s education because a few (a handful) will be ok with it.

      How many young children get to go to camp?
      How many young teenagers get to work in camp?

      The loss is not worth the gain.

  • Nobody

    Well, we can start with a basic point of education. When you want to get someone to change their policies, starting a letter with “I would like to point out the hypocrisy of [your target]” is simply not going to change anything.

    I’m glad I could be of service to your education. That should be worth at least a snow day right there, if you apply it in life.

    • Chaim

      You can’t please everybody.

      One can not make a speach or write an article or oped without offending someone. This is an impossible task.

      Regarding your argument.
      I would love to see someone make that argument in real life. It would go something like this…

      School administration: ” for decades we were thinking of changing our policy, it even past our minds for a
      fleeting moment when the Rebbe zt”l spoke about it many years ago, BUT now, now that some anonymous person wrote an oped and used some offensive language, all thoughts of changing our policy are off the table. We are offended wa wa wa”.

  • mrs elirone

    o wow i agree sooo much with the writer of this article!
    i was going to submit such an article to the schools a while back..there should be small break-thurs-mon several times a year, one month of summer and life would be simpler and less stressed for studnets/children, and more affordable for parents

  • ........

    im shocked that none of you would even consider your own childs needs of a break, you people were all in school at some piont in your life would you want to sit in a desk for 12 months straight and no vacation?!

    • Chaim

      Nobody here made such an argument of let’s not having any brake.

      The complaint is to much brake…three whole months.

      Amd yes, as someone who was a kid in school and a bocher in yeshiva, i can testify that this so called vacation is detrimental to ones Chinuch. As the author wrote above…. this is the source of it all.

      Now i have my own children, whom i love and care for. I see how the summer changes them from good to not so good. And this is with me (a working father) doing his best to make sure they learn and davven…but this is not enoght.
      Our camps have children watching children.

      I also refer you to what the Lubavitcher Rebbe said about thia “brake”.

    • COTS

      …”but the call of the shofer helped some people”.

      let’s all remember that when cots was exposed, there were plenty amongst us who ( unfortunately attended and) tried to justify it after it was exposed.

      Would it be so far fetched to suggest that those same people are the same people scared to death about a suggestion to keep our schools open?

      For g-ds sake, what is the author of this op-ed asking for? To do all we can to save our children!!!!

  • Anonymous

    It’s not like that. You get a bit more than a month for the summer and half terms throughout the year…

  • Anonymous

    Parents pay for camps and summer programs way more than they pay for tuition…so money is not the issue… They give that money to schools and wallaa schools can pay their teachers!!

  • here in Chicago

    The Cheder for the boys goes through tisha bav. The summer schedule is not as intense but it’s still a healthy structure and maintaining the learning. They have about six weeks off. I think that’s perfect and healthy, both physically and spiritually. Maybe one day they’ll do it for the girls. In the meantime at least we have a good day camp to send our kids to.

  • Think about the kids

    I’m an 8th grader and I KNOW I need the break! How about instead of keeping school open, work on opening new camps where there is more of a focus on learning? Half the girls in my class are upset because there is no space in camp. Maybe some of those are the ones you are talking about with ‘no structure’. It’s obviously NOT their fault. Also, I’m happy with the snow days…. Public school had too much so they are going to have to stay open on saturday. We get when it’s really bad weather, and that’s fine with me, that way we won’t end late/start early. Everyone needs a break. Maybe there can be an optional ‘school’ in the summer but definitely not real class. Stop fighting that we should ‘keep school’. Maybe work on the schools to get better… If I had better teachers (some are amazing actually) then I wouldn’t mind having an extra week or two-but no more than that. I’m guessing all of you who are for keeping school opened never went through the school system, because if you did, you would understand why we need the break.
    (I’ll let other people comment now… ;) )

  • CH mom

    I agree with the author’s opinion. It’s very difficult to pay Yeshiva tuition all year, then have to come up with thousands more for a good summer camp. Very sad when people don’t listen to the Rebbe.

  • Why are school open during a snow storm?

    Schools remain open during a snow storm to offer parents free babysitting of their children.

    Most of the normal parents keep their kids home, so only a few nebech students attend. No actual learning takes place – just babysitting.

    And why not? The parents can’t handle spending a full day with the kids, it is too hard on the parents, so the school offers this service, that the teachers will babysit for you.

    As a teacher, my heart breaks for these unwanted children who were forced to come to school. They know that the parents don’t want them (at home). They also know that nearly everyone else in their class, all the normal kids, stayed home. Nebech they feel like such losers.

    Parents, think of the message you give your kids when you send them to school during a storm. Yes, the school will accept your children and the teachers will be there for them – but you are destroying your kids!

  • @ THE AUTHOR

    Its not right and not fair what you write.
    This was diffently not what my intention was when writing the above op-ed.

    I myself sent my kids to school and i love them dearly.

    Again, making a blanket comment like that is not fair and correct.

    Like they say in Hebrew, yesh v’yesh. There are and there are.

    If i had to walk my children (several blocks) to school i would do it.

    My oped was questioning the motivation of the adminastration, not the parents.

  • I benefited tons from summer camp

    Many children thrive in a good summer camp, and gain alot in Avodas Hashem. Maybe there needs to be scholarships or new affordable camps and for those who do better in school, maybe it should start by being extended in a more exciting program with rewards, trips, no homework, as an option for parents.

    Did the Rebbe not visit overnight camps and give Sichos when they came back?