Rumor has it that the teachers have been rehired. This may be a “victory” for us, but Hillel’s agenda — whatever it may be — will likely be promoted through other means. Do not think that this is the end. As much as we’ d love to be hopeful, the direction Hillel is taking is not one that will promote the learning of Judaic studies.
Rehired?!
March 23rd, 2007 · 21 Comments
Tags: Announcements
21 responses so far ↓
1 concerned student // Mar 23, 2007 at 6:41 pm
the fact that they were rehired->its not official and it hasnt been confirmed. and also i dont think it includes all of them. from what i hear, mrs.galitzer and mrs.heber are possibly being offered jobs again at hillel. i haven’t heard anything about lefkowitz or weiser. and, basically, if galitzer and heber did get rehired, we won a battle, NOT the war, and we still need to fight for lefko and weiser. the loss of rabbi lefkowitz will be devastating to the school, and will leave a ginormous gap in the student activities department, that will be almost impossible to mend.
2 admin // Mar 23, 2007 at 6:47 pm
After the outcry online (which we alumni have caught hold of), Hillel realized that it was going to be smashed by a pretty hard wave. They put up a temporary barrier by “reinstating” Mrs. Heber and Mrs. Galitzer. You are very right; there is more that needs to be done.
3 Concerned Citizen // Mar 24, 2007 at 12:17 pm
As of 2 pm Friday 3/24, Galitzer and Lefkowitz were re-hired. Heber was not (the most vocal of the 3) . Keep the mail flooding in!!!
President of the school is showing all letters to members of the board:
rafaruss@bellsouth.net
EVIL TRIUMPHS WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 Alex Mafdali // Mar 24, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Bring them back
5 Shlomo Bolts // Mar 24, 2007 at 8:35 pm
When I was a sophomore, there was a similar wave of firings involving the guidance department. Then, suddenly there was a new mission statement about “nurturing” students.
Looks like this is round 2.
Last time this happened, administrators seemed to have rode out the storm by talking to people invdividually. In short, they used the divide-and-conquer method. This time, that can’t happen.
This needs to be spoken about in a public hearing. There needs to be a school-wide assembly in which it is explained why the teachers were fired, and why now, and why all at once. Anything less, and the rehiring of the teachers (if this happened) would be no more than a temporary victory.
What on earth is with this “nurturing” bussiness anyways? Elementary schoolers need to be nurtured. But high schoolers need to be empowered, and need to learn to think and act for themselves. It is quite possible that all this talk of “nurturing” was just an attempt to disempower students.
Looks like the game is up. Good job, guys.
But do not stop when the teachers are rehired. During my time at Hillel, the school has experienced extraordinary turmoil at the highest levels. This begs the question: what, exactly, is going on behind closed doors? It is impossible that all the chaos of the past four years was “performance-related” due to “personnel reasons”.
Something else is going on. Students deserve to know what’s happening, and they deserve a say in what’s happening. It might be time for Hillel Student Council to do more than plan field trips and events…
6 Concerned Citizen // Mar 24, 2007 at 9:28 pm
In the last decade think of how much administrative turn over there has been…
In terms of h.s. principals: Dr. Levy is forced to resign and dies in his sleep of a heart attack a couple months later; the golden years are then followed by a “reign of terror”: Dr. Fein, Beverly Buncher, Chaye Kohl…
4 h.s. principals in 10 years.
Think of how many deans in the last decade: Finkelstein, Dennis, Bloom, Barbieri, and now Holden
5 Deans in 10 years.
Think of how many excellent administrators (Zakon, Bald, Gallup,etc. ) , guidance counselors (Cohen, Lieber, Enis,etc.), and teachers (Liebersfeld, Gorin, Marlow, Fishbein, Gallup,etc.) left the school in the last 10 years.
Many of these teachers mentioned above were recognized by the PTA after Student Surveys identified them as outstanding educators and awarded at a school ceremony.
Most of them left because they were either pushed out or tired of dealing with all of this nonsense–no matter what the official reason given was.
It seems that every new wave of administration targets and purges its own victims–especially, when the new dean –dubbed the “Axman” at his previous school– comes in and is not looking to recruit from within–(several Hillel veterans have currently applied for assistant principal and this dean has made no secret that he is looking to bring in one of his friends from elsewhere. Soon the school will be overrun with his cronies.)
Teachers have no protection as there is no teachers’ union. Any teacher who even breathes the word “union” can be instantly fired.
Teachers walk around in perpetual fear of stating what they really think. It doesn’t matter how many glowing letters from students or powerful parents they have in their files or portfolios. No one is safe.
Witness what just happened to Debbie Galitzer. When they let her go they told her that she did not fit in with their “vision”. Apparently, teaching Jewish children the history of the Jewish people does not fit into the “vision” of this new administration–
even though she was the Chairperson in charge of “vision” for the Jewish Social Studies Department only a year and a half ago for the school and helped them get their accreditation from SACS. How ironic.
Witness what happened to Debbie Heber who only 3 and a half years ago was honored by parents at a Hillel dinner…what changed in 3 years?
The administrative and teacher turn-over tells the whole story.
In successful establishments and institutions of learning there is very little turnover–certainly nothing close to what we’re seeing here.
Indeed something needs to be done. Quickly.
7 Former teacher // Mar 25, 2007 at 7:52 pm
The only thing worse ‘PR’ wise than firing popular teachers is rehiring them days later. The message: We don’t know what we are doing!”
8 admin // Mar 25, 2007 at 7:53 pm
No kidding. But I think the message “we don’t know what we are doing” was articulated pretty clearly when they fired the teachers to begin with.
9 Former teacher // Mar 25, 2007 at 10:36 pm
You missed my point. I believe that an organization has a right to establish its’ agenda and standards and then to select personel to advance that agenda. In turn, its’ community has the right to negotiate, protest, revolt, and even leave. But when you fire and rehire you are saying to the world we don’t have a clear agenda and we haven’t established our standards.
10 admin // Mar 25, 2007 at 10:51 pm
No, I see your point. And to a point, I agree. While an organization has the right to establish its own agenda and to select personnel to promote that agenda, I think that in Hillel’s case, they made the mistake when they first fired these teachers.
The difference is that Hillel fired two faculty members who had been at the school for over a decade. They were extremely well-liked and well-respected. They were terminated due to the fact that the direction that Hillel wants to take is not one that includes these teachers. However, this “direction” was never articulated to the Hillel community at large. Nobody knows this agenda. All they know is that teachers are being shafted for it.
I see nothing wrong with promoting an agenda that would not exclude these well-respected faculty members. There is absolutely nothing wrong with hiring personnel that would begin to advance whatever agenda Hillel is looking to promote. The problem — and this is where Hillel went wrong — was when they fired teachers to begin with. I think hiring new personnel is fine, as long as it doesn’t affect long-standing respected faculty members. I wouldn’t say “out with the old, in with the new.” Let them coexist, and eventually, the others — the ones that Hillel doesn’t want — will “die out.”
11 Concerned Citizen // Mar 26, 2007 at 1:38 am
When you fire, then re-hire, you say to the world: “We were wrong. We didn’t expect to get called on it, but now that we did, we don’t want to get sued.”
12 anonymous // Mar 28, 2007 at 11:53 pm
So let me understand. First, we kick people in the teeth and then we expected them to come back - - -you must be kidding. This is respect???? What could they be thinking????
Perhaps this is the catholic way?
13 Concerned Citizen // Mar 29, 2007 at 10:30 am
Let’s not insult Catholics. This is the Nazi way.
14 To Concerned Citizen // Mar 31, 2007 at 10:59 pm
You Idiot!
Do not make the Nazi way be insulting. Because I would have been truly fine with that. Verbal words do not kill millions. Every time that you reference something you disagree with and associate it with the Nazi way you actually make what they did seem less evil.
You disgrace the memory of millions with your words. Shame on you.
15 Concerned Citizen // Mar 31, 2007 at 11:05 pm
My apologies. Forgive me.
16 Concerned Citizen // Mar 31, 2007 at 11:12 pm
It is not the Nazi way. It is the Hillel Police State Totalitarian Way.
17 Concerned Citizen // Mar 31, 2007 at 11:25 pm
The name-calling seems to indicate that I’ve hit a raw nerve…the truth hurts.
18 Concerned Citizen // Apr 2, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Stalin was just as evil as Hitler and was ultimately responsible for an even greater number of murders.
19 Wealthow Anon the Bard // Apr 3, 2007 at 11:42 pm
I never heard about re-hires!
When was that?
Or was it just for some of us?
20 admin // Apr 4, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Wealthow: This is the most current answer to your question as far as I am aware.
21 Wealthow Anon the Bard // Apr 5, 2007 at 11:14 am
Thanks!
I am in truth not sanguine about any re-hire.
I am disappointed with the school’s concept, I believe it was 14 of us…
Just remember that Florida is a right to work state and that contracts signed always include the ‘termination at any time for any reason’ clause as there is no choice about that. It is a standard that I have seen every time I have changed jobs. I left the Public Schools so that I could actually teach and not need to police and even the public schools have that clause.
I had hoped that Hillel would be a good ‘home’ for years to come.
I am glad I was there. It was a wonderful experience, a blessing . The company of my students was terrific.
I feel that over all (despite the no-contract) my experience was positive!
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