Community Magazine September 2003

This story is not unique. Dozens of com- munity children, not accepted into the school where they spent their elementary years, endure months of fretful uncertainty over their future. For a 13-year-old, the experience of rejection, separation from friends, and fruitless searches for a new school can be emotionally traumatic and a grave self-esteem killer. If they fail to excel during their upper-elementary years—they could be left with no place to go come September. With acceptance rates as low as 30% at some community schools, a grade below 85 could mean academic turmoil. The community is burgeoning and our schools just don’t have room. “When you have one space and two students,” one administrator commented, “who do you take? Do you take the one with the 90 aver- age or the 70 average?” Although most schools offer priority to their own eighth- graders, with the abundance of applications that each school receives, some have been revealed to accept top students from other institutions and shut out some of their own “average” students. Parents though, con- tend that a yeshiva education, shouldn’t be a commodity that can be subject to the sim- ple rules of supply-and-demand—souls are at stake. A CHILD’S PLIGHT Joey*, a bright but unmotivated student at a well established—although not prima- rily Sephardic school, maintained a C- average during his elementary years. Although a school psychologist recognized the boy’s potential to succeed if motivated, he was lost in the sea of a large classroom, and eventually moved to a weaker class where the lack of challenge exacerbated the situation. Joey’s parents did not believe the move was the solution, but the school psychologist promised them that it would help the child perform, and assured them that she would be “checking up” on the boy’s progress. Overwhelmed by a shuffle of duties, these “check-ups” never took place, and Joey’s grades never improved. Unstable situations with the teaching staff 24 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE s xc M idwood?...Madison?” the sweet-looking eighth grade yeshiva girl deliberated, “There are no other options left. — our own school didn’t accept us.” “And after that,” her friend added, “none of the other Yeshiva high schools will take us either.” B Y : V I C T O R I A M ATA L O N NOT Back-to- School Unless you’re an above-average student, 8th grade may be the end of your yeshiva education. “