Nathan Lipsky, student at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, writes in:
Take it from experience, do not sit back and wait thinking that his man has your best interests in mind. Trust me, he does not. A recurring joke in my school is that he is out to destroy the Jewish faith, one day school at a time. He turned my school from a melting pot of Jewish culture mixing together all different types of Jews from all different backgrounds, to know a money driven failing school. The only reason why I am still at the school is because I am in it for my friends and just to finish out because I only have 2 more years.
I first heard this man speak my 6th grade year in the Library at my school. He talked about how he used to be such a bad kid, and almost flunked out of school
and his time as a pro soccer player in Great Britain. I didn’t realize it at the time, but when I look back at it now, I realize he never answered a single question. He would always try to work his way through by bringing up a story from his youth which would, at least as it seemed, put his opinion into perspective for us. However, it did nothing. All he would do at any school wide meeting was answer questions with a snip from his autobiography. He always talked about how he was really there for us, and that he was our voice in the board room. He wasn’t, he had his own agenda and pushed it as hard as he could. No longer did we have a headmaster who would say “the kids know whats best” but now we had one who would say “we know whats best for the kids, and anyone who disagrees with us is wrong”. It was so sad to see a large bulk of my favorite teachers go in just 2 short years.
The hallways of the HBHA at certain times of the year would be jam-packed with alumni coming to see old teachers and to get a little peek back into the life at the HBHA. But now, alumni are all but disappeared, they never come around anymore. In fact, my school is having a major problem with fund-raising because most alumni have stopped giving money to my school. All of this can be traced back to the hiring of a one Adam Holden.
He turned my school into the nightmare Catholic boarding school, in a Jewish day school setting. The scariest part is he feels no remorse for what he has done. He feels proud, he is blinded by his own self pride that he can’t see all the wrong he is doing. If he is not stopped, the school you know wont be there tomorrow, and the day after that it will be nothing as it used to be.
So Hillel I leave with this, STAND UP. This website is a good start as well are the sit ins. But make threats of leaving, get media involved, call everyone you know to stand up. Everyone at the HBHA is there to help you. If you need anything just let us know. Good Luck, in your struggle against the evil of Adam Holden.
32 responses so far ↓
1 anonymous // Apr 20, 2007 at 6:37 am
Thank you for taking your time to provide us with this information.
It is these very posts that remind us that what we are doing is not in vain. Several of the students and parents associated with your school have unselfishly given of their time to inform us of these events. We are grateful to you and hope that others will heed the warning.
To those reading thsi website - - take heed. This is valuable information. These people do not know us and we do not know them. …..but they are fellow Jews who care and have evidently been victimized by the same force that currently reckons with our beloved school.
Take note!
2 Anonymous // Apr 20, 2007 at 7:50 am
Thank you parent. It touches me to see that Jews in one community try to protect Jews in another. This is the true Jewish spirit we try to instill in our children. This is the Jewish spirit that has allowed us to stay strong and not assimilate in the Diaspora for thousands of years.
Our school is already a casualty.
Just take a look at what’s happening. Never happened in Hillel history before; hopefully this will end and happen NEVER AGAIN.
3 anon // Apr 20, 2007 at 7:52 am
The Holden calamity is the responsibility of the board and its search committee: namely Ellis Sinyor and Judy Dach.
If any of what is in the Lipsky posting is true, why was it not discovered by the search committee.
Why on earth would board members (Dach) be quoted as saying “Adam Holden is Gods gift to Jewish education”. Would Judy send her kids to the NEW HILLEL? Unlikely.
We continue to have misguided leadership that brought to us Kohl, Druin, and now Holden.
Kohl is gone, but the Troika of Destruction has done their damage.
The administration is in its “Damage Control” mode.
Its up to the parents and board to get together to “control the damage” and rebuild the school.
4 Anonymous // Apr 20, 2007 at 7:53 am
Thank you to all of the writers from HBHA who’ve taken the time out of their own busy lives with nothing personal to gain to shed light on our situation.
We are deeply appreciative and indebted to you.
5 Anonymous // Apr 20, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Nathan,
It’s thanks to you for giving us and our alumni a heads up.
Armed with the information you have given us, we are prepared to do what is necessary.
We will not go down without a fight!
Thank you!
6 Anonymous // Apr 20, 2007 at 5:47 pm
“The hallways of the HBHA at certain times of the year would be jam-packed with alumni coming to see old teachers and to get a little peek back into the life at the HBHA. But now, alumni are all but disappeared, they never come around anymore. In fact, my school is having a major problem with fund-raising because most alumni have stopped giving money to my school. All of this can be traced back to the hiring of a one Adam Holden.”
I pray we never live to see this day.
7 Curious // Apr 21, 2007 at 10:05 am
Nathan, Do you know who Tymony Bonilla is? Our school hired him to be high school principal next year and we’ve heard he’s a friend of Adam Holden’s and also worked at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy. Any information provided is much appreciated.
8 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Tym Bonilla was my principal in middle school. He is a really good guy. Don’t put him on the same boat as Holden. Give him a chance. In my book, he actually left HBHA on a good note, as opposed to his future boss.
9 Response // Apr 24, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Tym Bonilla was the middle school principal at HBHA & left. He and Adam have been friends for a long time. Nathan, I commend you for having the guts to write this article. HBHA is not the same school it was in the past. The educators and administrators who loved and cared were dismissed as being “inadequate.” The truth is they were the glue that kept the school together and nutured the students with love and caring. HBHA had Jewish administrators always in the past. When Adam came it became a “joke” that if you were Jewish you probably would not qualify to remain at HBHA. Not funny but sad. Out of 6 admintrators only 1 was Jewish as Judaic Studies principal. He replaced or eliminated several local Rabbi’s who had been educators in the school for years. You are correct he does have a personal agenda.
Enough said you get the picture. It is not good.
Best of luck to you and your school.
10 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Thank you for your candor.
It’s important for us to know who is who and make sure people are not being considered merely because they are guilty by association. It is only slightly comforting to hear that Bonilla is not Holden since Holden now seems to be building a coalition of loyalty that may continue to squash room for dissenting viewpoints. That’s what’s scary here.
It appears our school’s board violated their own by-laws in appointing a non-Jewish Dean (aka Head of School) to oversee the affairs of a Jewish day school and to determine the agenda of a school that is entrusted with shaping the futures of 1277 future Jewish leaders. Scary.
PRAY FOR US KANSAS WHEN YOU ARE IN SHUL THIS SHABBOS.
Thank you for taking of your own personal time to keep us informed. We really appreciate it.
11 Aaron // Apr 24, 2007 at 3:15 pm
They have violated the spirit of the by-laws, but not the by-laws themselves. That is why Hillel has a “head of school” as opposed to a “dean.”
12 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 3:41 pm
Don’t kid yourself. This a game of semantics. Dean, Head of School, Headmaster are one and the same.
You can call a teacher an educator or an instructor. All of these words mean exactly the same thing. Therefore, they violated the actual by-laws.
13 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Easy enough to check out. The by-laws should be open documents. You are correct re: the semantics game. Does CAJE have any policy or does Jewish Federation re: this issue, or is it an individual school policy?
14 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Read Response’s comments (post #9), everyone, re: the disappearance of beloved teachers and administrators , the number of non-Jewish administrators, and the overall school environment. History is repeating itself….here and now.
15 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Someone needs to go look this up.
The new spin: The board is telling everyone that no such by-law ever existed.
We are living in a world that is straight out of Orwell’s 1984:
In other words, history is being erased and 2+2 =5.
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!
I also recall a rule about Principals being Shomer Shabbat.
Digger, we need you.
16 Nathan Lipsky // Apr 24, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Mr. Tym Bonilla is a great guy. He made my 6th and 7th grade years a bearable when I had to deal with everything Holden was doing. Treat that man well, because he is a friend. He may not do to much, but he is a honest good man. He will always brighten up your day with a smile and a wink. He is a good balance for Holden, thats why I think Holden keeps him around. Even teachers at my school still think he was great. We miss him at the HBHA, and I know he will do well at your school.
17 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Cool.
18 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Mr. H. was told a number of times (through the years) that he could never be principal because he is not Jewish. Certainly, if being Jewish is/was prequisite for principal, it most definitely would be (had been) for head of school.
It has been suggested that SACS may have copies of our by-laws…that part of accreditation includes confirmatiion of our adherence to our by-laws. And I suggest also that past copies are “around.”
19 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 9:21 pm
OR can by-laws be amended with a majority vote? Were ours?
20 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Mr. H is the Middle School Principal next year. It is strange that his request for high school (where he belongs) was not granted. Such a strange decision making process. Don’t know how to make heads or tails of it.
21 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I’ve heard that by-laws are supposed to be written in stone but there’s a famous saying: “rules were made to be broken”.
22 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:13 pm
To clarify my own post (#18): I meant absolutley no disrespect for Mr. H. He is professional, qualified, etc., and yes, Anonymous, he should be in the high school next year. As for the in-coming high school principal, the Kansas student speaks quite favorably of him.
But, this still leaves us with mostly non-Jewish administrators. This is a Jewish Day School. If the two men (Mr. H and Mr. Bonilla) are so good, great. But it would stand to reason that we would then have Jewish assistant princiapls.
23 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Right on!! I hope that happens. Keep Rabbi Kaplan on as assistant principal for the HS then.
24 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:29 pm
From what the majority of people are saying the biggest problems sound like Holden and Druin.
25 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Assistant principals have already been hired for high school and middle school– both not Jewish.
26 anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Again, I reiterate - the interim naming of Rabbi Kaplan - a qualified, Jewish, well respected administrator was merely a smoke screen for the hiring of the new NON-Jewish high school principal, who had already been hired (but not announced) prior to naming Rabbi Kaplan in the interim role.
Yes, poster #24, Rabbi Druin (no one really knows his role or purpose) and Dr. Holden appear to be the biggest issues.
This all can change with the hiring of a qualified Jewish dean (similar to a Rabbi Raab) and the removal of the current admin.
There appears to be much consensus on this from what is seen and heard from parents, faculty, and staff.
Again, the purpose of this is to save the school from the destruction and removal of qualified, well liked, devoted faculty members from the intimidation and in appropriate evaluation processes and other tactics meant to silence, scare and intimidate them.
The goal is to save the school from the dismantling of the traditional Torah and Jewish values under which the school was founded. This goal can only be achieved by hiring appropriate Jewish qualified personnel who share our values and understand the concept of a Jewish education rich in such values and traditions. These NON Jews do not understand and have no formal training to understand.
Additionally, Rabbi Druin does not have an understanding of our diverse Jewish community. It is quite different from the Secular school from which he served as a Judaic leader in South Africa. The population of that school was mainly NON- Jewish.
These are the issues at hand.
27 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 10:52 pm
To anonymous: Yes! Yes! And yes! but this takes us right back to the beginning….how?????
28 anonymous // Apr 24, 2007 at 11:07 pm
By continuing to bring these issues to the forefront, speaking to current parents and making them aware of this site and the situations facing the school. Embarking on this campaign now in advance of the JUNE 7th parent meeting that No one has been formally notified about so that all can go in with a united front.
This is how. We cannot go astray or become complacent as complacency does not affectuate change it delays it.
29 sara // Apr 24, 2007 at 11:38 pm
I am putting a great deal of trust in you…for the meeting that no one has been formally notified about but that apparently many will attend.
30 Solomon // Apr 25, 2007 at 3:37 am
what meeting June 7th?
31 Anonymous // Apr 25, 2007 at 7:49 am
June 7th is the Annual Board Meeting.
The secretary, Judy Dach, according to the By - laws is supposed to notify the Members (current parents) as to where and when.
Parents need to go in as a united front.
Additionally, word is starting to leak to parents about the situation.
However, it is incumbent upon each person reading the blog to tell at least 5 parents.
Many parents are not computer saavy and that’s why they’ve not been reading the blog.
START SPREADING THE WORD!!!!!!!!!!
32 Adam Holden Head of School Must Go // Jul 22, 2007 at 6:10 pm
oy vey
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