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Calling All Students and Alumni

June 5th, 2007 · 20 Comments

Just received this:

Tomorrow from 6:30-7:30 PM, students and alumni will be demonstrating 4 change! We want to show that a vast majority of Hillel students, past and present, support the Hillel4Change slate. We don’t need a board member to know which way the wind blows! Follow OUR footsteps to the future…

For more info, please contact FollowOurFootsteps@yahoo.com

Tags: Voices

20 responses so far ↓

  • 1 A veteran Hillel teacher // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:35 pm

    We have always been proud of you– even more proud now!!!!! Thank-you!!!!!!!!

  • 2 anonymous // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:36 pm

    This is what it’s all about!!

  • 3 Another Teacher // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:39 pm

    HaKarat Ha Tov, an ultimate Torah value

  • 4 Mindy // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:46 pm

    Well, we know Avi Frier is not permitted to go inside, but it certainly looks like he will have one heck of a good story —-covering the 6:30-7:30 demonstration.

  • 5 Avi Frier // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:48 pm

    I will be there, camera and recorder in hand, ready to report on the meeting, the rally, and whatever else may happen Wednesday night.

    I hope that with the strength many of you have found as a result of the recent discussions, you will have the courage to walk right up to me and speak your piece “on the record”.

    And if not, I still understand.

    But remember, my primary goal is fairness and balance; when I speak to the board and administration, naturally they are quoted by name. In contrast (for obvious reasons), not so with faculty members. If we could change that, it would make the reporting that much more balanced.

    See what you can do!

    Either way, at the very least, I hope you’ll come over and say hello.

  • 6 Anonymous // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:54 pm

    I’m sure he’ll be there with bells on.

    Let’s hope that most of our alumni have returned to Miami for the summer.

    I fear many may be out of town.

  • 7 Anonymous // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:55 pm

    TEACHERS:

    PLEASE WALK ABOUT TO AVI AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF.

    THIS IS A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY.

    HE WILL PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY.

  • 8 Mindy // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:56 pm

    One more thought I just had…..the current board still has time to negotiate with the New
    Slate. What other messages do they need……..

    Current Board: Think about it. Think about beginning to mend our beloved school.

  • 9 Anonymous // Jun 5, 2007 at 11:56 pm

    that’s a pipe dream

  • 10 A veteran Hillel teacher // Jun 6, 2007 at 1:03 am

    An addendum to my own post (#1). I am proud to have been your teacher!

  • 11 Another Teacher // Jun 6, 2007 at 7:30 am

    I agree Veteran Teacher.

    Hillel Students like this make me sssssssssooooooo PROUD !

  • 12 hillel teacher // Jun 6, 2007 at 9:09 am

    Look, I am really sorry to see the awful situation we’re in right now, but do the members of the board (whose positions are being challenged) understand that Dr. Holden CAUSED this mess? I’m around the school every day and I have yet to meet one single faculty member in the school who loves Dr. Holden’s interpersonal “people” skills or management style (to use those terms loosely). Does the board know that teachers are repeatedly insulted, bullied and treated like children - that their professionalism and expertise are routinely ignored? If forced to continue to work under these circumstances, many teachers will find positions elsewhere (if they can). Where do they think they’ll find teachers (good ones or great ones) to replace them? And I don’t mean only in Jewish studies… what about math, science, English, history!? Do the individual Board members who have been losing sleep over this rift, and spending hours telephoning and spreading half-truths understand that Dr. Holden and his administrative cult are at the root of the problem? Can they continue to blame a few parents — who want to fix things– for their sleepless nights when the blame belongs elsewhere? Regardless of how this vote goes, the anger, fear and stress will not go away until the cause is removed, neutralized or re-educated. Until the splinter is out, first aid isn’t going to help the wound!

  • 13 Akiva Cohen // Jun 6, 2007 at 9:20 am

    Wish I was in Miami for this. Good luck

  • 14 Aaron // Jun 6, 2007 at 10:26 am

    As do I.

  • 15 Anon // Jun 6, 2007 at 10:58 am

    Wishing The New Slate lots of good luck. You deserve to win. Parent’s make sure you vote for the New Slate it will make a difference in your CHILDREN EDUCATION. ALSO IT WILL HELP TEACHER’S. This is the only way HILLEL DAY SCHOOL WILL BE A GOOD SCHOOL ONLY IF YOU GET ALL TO VOTE FOR THE NEW SLATE. YOU WILL SEE A CHANGE. GIVE THE NEW SLATE THE CHANCE . TO MANY YEARS OF THE SAME FAMLIES BEING ON THE BOARD. WE NEED NEW IDEAS AND A BETTER SCHOOL. LAST CHANCE TO SAVE THIS SCHOOL.GO TO THE WEBSITE HILLEL4CHANGE.ORG .YOU WON’T BE SORRY YOU PICKED THE NEW SLATE.

  • 16 Mindy // Jun 6, 2007 at 11:38 am

    Mr. Frier, I certainly understand that a journalist’s “primary goal is fairness and balance.” But, with all due respect, it seems a formidable task to be fair and balanced about a group that has been anything but.

  • 17 Avi Frier // Jun 6, 2007 at 2:22 pm

    It’s not my place to judge them, nor is it my place to punish them for any lack of fairness of which they may be guilty.

  • 18 It is difficult // Jun 6, 2007 at 5:00 pm

    I have been feeling kind of down of late. Sigh…I have to find a new position for the Fall (and hopefully stay if that one is good, for a long time).
    To: hillel teacher // Jun 6, 2007 at 9:09 am I am sure we talk, but you know, even if all goes through like we want, I do not anticipate being asked to stay on.
    I merely am praying for a good place, much like here, where I can really teach.
    I did tell one of my students the other day that I was giving him and the whole class back to the parents because I cannot afford that much college tuition. He laughed! It was a nice trade the joke moment. I will miss that…

  • 19 Aaron // Jun 6, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    I know you’ll be missed.

  • 20 Anonymous // Jun 7, 2007 at 12:16 am

    I was at the meeting tonight. From Rabbi Druin’s “D’var Torah” which set a contentious and divisive tone to Rafa and Gil’s speeches which were anything but unifying and helpful toward mending our school, the meeting was a sad reflection on our leadership. The Board is intended to represent the school–not view themselves as an independent working body. To believe they are entitled to their positions and accuse anyone who seeks to oppose them as acting against the interests of the school is demeaning and and antithetical to the values we try to teach our children. I was ashamed of the officers and those running for the board who were nominated by the nominating committee. They showed absolutely no sense of democracy or fair dealing.
    They took credit for “transparency” and progress being made over the past few years when in fact, the transparency and change was forced upon many of them during the last period of upheaval at the school. Hillel finally managed to get audited financial statements only with the removal and minimizing of control of certain past board members and former employees. This school will not survive as a community Jewish Day School. It will become a school for Jewish children and worse, a school of mediocrity. The credit for any progress is not because of this board. It is because of the efforts of past members, current members who fight against the majority, and those who had the courage to stick their necks out to run against the “popular” nominees tonight.

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