MJHS to Attract More Students to Jewish Education
Thursday, November 17, 2005
NEW JEWISH HIGH SCHOOL TO ATTRACT MORE STUDENTS TO FORMAL JEWISH EDUCATION
Initial Kickoff Meeting Draws Parent Interest and Excitement
Memphis, TN (11/17/05) -- Recently, two-dozen parents gathered at the home of Jan and Andy Groveman for a presentation and focus group to learn more about a new Jewish high school that is scheduled to open in Memphis during the Fall 2006 semester. The Memphis Jewish High School (MJHS) will be a coeducational school that integrates an intensive Jewish Studies program with a rigorous college preparatory curriculum. The school’s mission is to strive for the finest Jewish Studies program and General Studies program in the region.
Memphis is very fortunate in that we have approximately 400 students who attend formal Jewish day schools from pre-K through 12th grade. Only a very small percentage of Memphis Jewish teenagers attend a Jewish high school in the community. According to Andy Groveman, “It is our goal, along with that of the other founders of MJHS, to change those statistics by creating an institution which meets the needs and concerns of our prospective student and parent bodies. We want parents to feel confident that it is in their child's best interest to be engaged in formal Jewish education.” The founders of this new Jewish high school believe a co-ed, dual track educational system will be the best model to attain a transformation in thinking in our community about the merits of formal Jewish high school education. MJHS’s curriculum will be designed to accommodate and challenge both students that have had previous studies in Jewish texts, as well as those students who have had no formal Jewish educational background. The curriculum and co-curricular program will equip the students with the necessary knowledge and passion to be active participants in the continuum of Jewish history with a commitment to their community, their faith, their people and to the centrality of Israel to the Jewish people.
For the Jewish studies curriculum, the school will work in collaboration with Rabbi Kenneth Brander, Dean of the Center for the Jewish Future, and its constituent agency, the Association of Modern Day Schools (AMODS) of Yeshiva University, Ohr Torah Stone Institutions founded by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin who is also Chief Rabbi of Efrat and Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, principal of the Ramaz School in New York.
The school has engaged top notch educators on its General Studies Advisory Council including Dr. Helene Cohen, with a doctorate from Harvard University in Administration, Planning and Social Policy and the founding Dean of the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, a highly successful new Jewish high school and Mr. Don Coffey, former principal of White Station High School. From the reactions at the initial kick-off meeting, it is clear that a co-ed, modern orthodox Jewish high school in the community is going to be well-received by many segments of the Jewish community. Being able to offer the finest general studies curriculum and Jewish studies curriculum in a co-ed environment will allow each incoming high school student to have an enriching learning environment.
“There was an overwhelming consensus from those parents in attendance that the concept was exciting, appropriate, and timely,” said Mark Wender, a founder and parent of a current eighth grader.
Jack Belz, one of MJHS’s founders, was especially impressed by MJHS’s statement that “academic excellence is the standard by which the dual curriculum will be judged.”
Over the years, there has been significant discussion about the need for an alternative Jewish high school in Memphis. There is a feeling that significantly more students would attend a Jewish high school if there were more than one option in the Memphis area. When asked about the Feinstone Yeshiva of the South, Andy Groveman said that the current Yeshiva serves a specific niche in the community and is doing a competent job. Groveman stated this new high school will cater to a different niche with a much broader reach in the Memphis Jewish community. Memphis has a very dynamic and diverse community with a synagogue affiliation rate of over 85% that encompasses four orthodox congregations, one conservative, and one reform congregation. The high caliber of the General Studies and Judaic curriculum of MJHS will provide an exciting opportunity to bring more children into formal Jewish education.
Between now and the end of the year, the MJHS will be holding meetings for interested parents. For more information contact Andy Groveman at 901.260.7278.
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