Seattle, WA — As Chabad centers open in smaller towns, Jewish awareness grows. But what happens when parents want to take the next step and immerse their children in a Jewish day school environment. Do they need to move away and give up the lifestyle they love?
More and more often the answer is no.
Chabad School Embraces Multiage Classroom Model
Seattle, WA — As Chabad centers open in smaller towns, Jewish awareness grows. But what happens when parents want to take the next step and immerse their children in a Jewish day school environment. Do they need to move away and give up the lifestyle they love?
More and more often the answer is no.
Chabad continues to push the envelope of the possible. While large Chabad schools are important education providers in major cities, Chabad centers increasingly sustain schools in communities most would consider too small for any Jewish education beyond the afternoon, Sunday school models. They shoulder huge financial burdens to cater to a tiny student body. To create a scholastic environment that satisfies parents, state education standards and students, some Chabad schools embrace the multiage classroom model, combining children from several grades into one group.
With 80 students, preschool through tenth, Menachem Mendel Seattle Cheder Day School combines several grades, depending on the ebb and flow of student numbers. Though journals, academic studies, special curricula are available for multiage classrooms, MMSC wanted to go a step further to “give the teachers tools to reach each learner from day one and across the years in a cohesive, consistent fashion,” said principal Rabbi Yisroel Charytan. The school applied for and won an opportunity grant from the Samis Foundation to embark on a comprehensive study that will help MMSC “create an approach tailored for our school that says, ‘This is who we are.’ ‘This is how our learning environment functions best.’”
Initially approached for one year of funding, Samis Foundation offered two years to MMSC. The extended period will allow ample time for reflection, the kind needed to make lasting changes, according to grants director Rabbi Rob Toren. Since 1994, Samis Foundation, named for founder Samuel Israel, has granted over $20 million to organizations that enhance the quality and continuity of Jewish life in Washington State. Multiage classrooms hark “back to the days of the cheder in Europe and the one-room schoolhouses of the colonial period,” said Rabbi Toren. “We are interested in seeing the school deal with the challenges it presents” using a modern approach. The school is now in the process of choosing an educational consultant who will lay out a road map for change.
Article Continued (Lubavitch.com)
