An anonymous individual has written the following, with the emphasis below as mine.
What is the goal in all this?
To oust the current administration?
To bring in the IRS?
To lose SACS accreditation?
None of this can happen anytime soon and no one wants to hurt the school.
It seems from reading the comments, that the greatest frustration comes from a lack of communication and accountability. Dr Holden, with the Board’s approval, has made significant changes without clarifying the rational or long term goals. If Dr Holden’s background demonstrated a pattern of building outstanding schools, Judaic or otherwise, the Board’s support would be warranted. Had the Board hired a head of school from Ramaz, Yeshiva of Flatbush or Pinecrest, we would have faith in his actions, even if they were odd. But Dr Holden came from a relatively brief position in a small, Midwest school. The lack of experience coupled with questionable behavior, such as losing the Androns, make many concerned about the direction of the school.
This blog came about because of a lack of confidence in the head of school and the board. The reaction from the board to an alternate slate was vile- many of the members who attacked anyone who dared oppose them were the first to complain when they were on the other side of the fence. Openness, honesty, and transparency- everyone wants it but no one in control ever wants to provide it.
So what is the objective? In my opinion, this blog should provide a channel of communication that will enable teachers, staff, students, parents, alumni and interested community members a voice. This voice will grow in intensity and will become a force in the school. More parents will read what is written hear and eventually more will question. Spin works in a vacuum. This blog will prove to be the anti-spin. So keep writing, listening and caring with respect and derech eretz to all.
21 responses so far ↓
1 Someone // Jul 31, 2007 at 9:43 pm
That’s good, but not enough. The Board spins faster than we anti-spin. We need outreach.
2 Aaron // Aug 1, 2007 at 8:47 am
I’m going to guess that things will probably slow down on this site for a few weeks… But I look forward to seeing what people post AFTER school re-opens.
3 Anonymous // Aug 1, 2007 at 11:00 am
The objectives are well-stated.
After school re-opens there will be a need for channels of communication to remain open and a means to ensure transparency now lacking.
People are on vacation now.
Expect more posts in a few weeks.
4 anonymous // Aug 1, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Things will begin to pick up as we get closer to school. Teachers are due back on August 13th. We will then know who is and is NOT returning.
This is sure to be most telling as things appear to be changing daily.
Once back in school, hopefully strategies can be developed to assist the teachers in positively engaging and rectifying any issues that may present themselves.
It is very important that information be fed to this site. Teachers should post - - anonymously and NOT from their school computers.
5 Jeremiah // Aug 5, 2007 at 9:36 am
Just saw it in the paper: a Hillel ad for teachers: English, Drama, Chemistry….
6 Student // Aug 13, 2007 at 2:28 am
This website has to stop. Three of my very dear friends left Hillel this year because of the BAD publicity the school was getting from the website. The parents saw this website, were DISGUSTED at the bashing of the school and its headmaster (religion should not make a difference- how many Jews are going into education these days?) and pulled their kids out. These kids now attend Michael Krop. Why? The website. The kids now have to start over and begin a new life at High School. Several new teachers also refused to teach here because of the Alum’s bashing.
Thanks =)
7 Anon // Aug 13, 2007 at 7:33 am
Student, if the Hillel board would fix their problems, then there would be no reason for this website to exist.
So don’t fault the website. Fault the people who made it come to this point.
8 anonymous // Aug 13, 2007 at 8:18 am
Parents don’t pull their children out of a school due to bad publicity. They pulled them out because they lost faith in the education and changes the school has undertaken.
Parents pull their kids out because it is not a good learning environment when teachers are bullied and threatended through a hostile environment.
Parents DO what is in the best interest of their children.
This is what the board should understand! The website is NOT to blame - - it is a catalyst for positive constructive change.
9 another student // Aug 13, 2007 at 4:42 pm
i agree with the first student, though i think they could have worded it better.
i hate what’s going on at the school. i truly dislike the current administration, and am thanking god that i only have a few years left. but i have family and friends that, unfortunately, still have quite some time left for them. i don’t think that what is happening is benefitting the school at all.
i think that michael andron’s departure just may have officially killed the school.
i think that it’s ridiculous that the high school assistant principal is only about 6 years older than some of the seniors.
i never liked holden.
i think something should be done.
but i don’t think that this is the solution.
i choose not to look at this website. this is the first time i’ve commented, and the only about the 5th time i’ve been bothered to look. i’m appalled by the things that people - teachers, students, board members, alumni alike - will say, as long as their identity is concealed. i don’t think that this website has ANY good effect on the situaiton at the school. i think the IDEA is absolutely wonderful, a way for students alumni and teachers to communicate and get ideas out on how to fix this. but a public forum is not the answer.
i don’t believe that this is within the parameters of jewish laws. it reeks of “lashon hara”.
but worse, word gets out. people from other schools hear that there’s a nice big website all about bashing hillel. oh cool, they say. let’s look at it and laugh at the fact that hillel is falling apart while hebrew academy is continuing with their steady, but SUBTLE, downhill.
that’s not right.
i think the worst thing hillel needs right now is this.
please- i know that the majority of people posting have been alumni. but now current students are speaking up, so please, listen.
you all complain that the administration doesn’t listen to you. or that the administration or the board is shooting down everything you say. so please don’t do that to us.
we go to hillel. we’re there every day. every day for 8 hours, some of us even more. i’m sorry, and i know that most of you are adults so you probably won’t agree with what i’m going to say, but hear me out. we have more of a chance than you to ’save hillel’. we’re there all the time. we’re not away at college. we can schedule meetings with administration. we can run for student government positions, to have direct connections with the people up there. and we are.
listen.
i’m not a student politician yet. but i think i can say that i’m speaking for a very big part of the current student body when i say this.
we truly aprpeciate the help. i love the fact that you care this much about us. nothing upsets me more than alumni who, though they graduated but a year ago, could care less about how things are by us, who used to be their friends. so, really, you guys are great, but bashing hillel is not helping us at all. i mean,i think for some people, not everyone, but some people, their intentions have become muddled. i mean, why save hillel if not for the teachers and us, the students? who else are you saving it for? so completely ignoring what current students are telling you, might be a mistake.
i don’t want to step out of line here, but i’d like to ask everyone out there, that before you post a nasty comment saying the school’s gone to hell, stop and ask yourself “is this helping the people that need the help there right now?”
the realtiy probably is, that dr.holden has maybe set eyes upon this website once.
i don’t think you’re helping the situation, and i think you may even be making things worse for us. what, things aren’t bad enough for us at school? we need our out-of-school friends coming up to us saying, “hey. i heard your school has crashed and burned and been resurrected without a soul. hahaha.” ?
really?
think about who you’re doing this for.
and if you really think what you’re about to post is going to help and not harm, and if you’re an alumni who doesn’t think they have anything to jeopardize, why not just put your name out there?
you’ll find that you’re capable of saying alot less when people know who you are.
so, as a final word, you’re probably thinking, “well. here’s a hypocrite. telling us to put our names out when she’s posting under the name of ’student’”
well no. i am a student. and i do have something to jeopardize. i never know who’s reading this. going into my most important year of highschool, i don’t need problems because my name was found on the ‘anti-hillel website’.
thank you for your time.
10 Anonymous // Aug 13, 2007 at 6:00 pm
Student post #6
“(religion should not make a difference- how many Jews are going into education these days?)”
If religion doesn’t make a difference to you, why are you at Hillel?
11 Insider // Aug 13, 2007 at 6:15 pm
i have to say it’s refreshing to hear a voice that is not often heard on this site.
But there are a few facts that need clarity.
“please- i know that the majority of people posting have been alumni. but now current students are speaking up, so please, listen.”
This is incorrect. The majority of people posting here are teachers.
“we go to hillel. we’re there every day. every day for 8 hours, some of us even more.”
teachers go to hillel for a lot longer than 8 hours. consider the awkwardness of that situation.
“we’re there all the time. we’re not away at college. we can schedule meetings with administration. we can run for student government positions, to have direct connections with the people up there. and we are.”
even board members cannot convince their own of the problems within Hillel. One-third of parents tried to change Hillel in June — in vain. So how could you possibly do it?
I know Mr. H and Mr. M have been very receptive to student concerns, but they cannot singlehandedely change a thing, and neither can holden, which fits in nicely with this next point you make:
“the realtiy probably is, that dr.holden has maybe set eyes upon this website once.”
the only reason why that would matter is if Holden is the only lawmaker at Hillel. there are board members and parents and people with money who could do a lot more.
12 anonymous // Aug 13, 2007 at 6:43 pm
To all recent posters, there are many other posters to this website - - many of them parents! Not just teachers - - and, as parents and teachers we have a vested interest in this school, the education it provides and the environment in which it provides it.
The site is NOT for the purposes of bashing the school but to bring light to the atrocities taking place in the school.
If you read the front page - - - it speaks volumes to the positive nature in which the individuals associating with this site would like to progress.
What has been said, is done - - we are looking to the future for positive strides and to rebuild HILLEL to what it used to be - - -for our children, our teachers and our community.
We want to SAVE HILLEL - - NOT destroy it!
13 Shlomo Bolts // Aug 13, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Alright, I originally promised myself no more major posts on this website–I figured it was pretty much over–but students like the one above give me hope, and are always worth engaging.
Hi there, this is Shlomo Bolts, class of ‘06. Sup.
First of all, I think the student is dead-on when he laments what some people will say when cloaked behind anonymity. While it is true that conveying certain information requires anonymity, I have long been disappointed by the acidity of the venom on this site. I understand it, I share your rage, I know what you fight for–but we can and should do better.
But ultimately, I strongly disagree that publicizing the catastrophe is damaging to the school. Compare our situation to an individual with HIV/AIDS. This is a highly stigmatizing disease, and admitting that he has it will cause an instant drop in prestige. But if he refuses to admit his illness, he can not get the treatment he needs–he will die because the greatest danger comes not from outside but from within.
Likewise, the biggest danger to Hillel is not from us, but from the cancer that has taken root at the top. It is decisions made at the highest levels that caused some of the best teachers at Hillel to depart.
I also disagree that we are “capable of saying a lot less when people know who you are”. In my book, the very measure of courage is to speak out when you have something to lose.
14 Anonymous // Aug 13, 2007 at 7:11 pm
Well said
15 Anonymous // Aug 13, 2007 at 7:24 pm
” if you’re an alumni who doesn’t think they have anything to jeopardize, why not just put your name out there?
you’ll find that you’re capable of saying alot less when people know who you are.”
the alumni are the only ones on this site who have the luxury of posting their names without fear of repercussion.
The posters are mainly teachers and parents.
It is refreshing to hear a new voice .
And yes sadly, this may very well be the case now:
“i think that michael andron’s departure just may have officially killed the school.”
If there’s any school left worth saving, maybe someone’s voice out there will be heard by the board.
“i never liked holden.
i think something should be done.
but i don’t think that this is the solution.”
I’d like to know what the solution is.
16 Aaron // Aug 13, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Student,
Let us examine your post line by line.
“This website has to stop.”
Here, you and I must disagree.
“Three of my very dear friends left Hillel this year because of the BAD publicity the school was getting from the website.”
So, if horrible things were happening, but it was not known to the public, then your friends would have stayed?
“The parents saw this website, were DISGUSTED at the bashing of the school and its headmaster (religion should not make a difference- how many Jews are going into education these days?) and pulled their kids out.”
Here I’m confused… The parents pulled the kids out because they were disgusted at the people who were “bashing” the school? Or is it possible they took this “bashing” to heard and removed their kids from an unsafe environment? As to how many Jewish are going into education these days? Quite a few. If Hillel were to offer higher wages and a more friendly work environment, there would be teacher’s and administrators flocking to work there.
“These kids now attend Michael Krop. Why? The website.”
These kids attend another school because their parents pulled them out. They pulled them out because of bad choices that were made by the headmaster and the board that were REFLECTED on this website.
“The kids now have to start over and begin a new life at High School.”
And the Androns have to start over again at the JCC…
“Several new teachers also refused to teach here because of the Alum’s bashing.”
If this is true then I am pleased to see that this website is doing its job! They have been warned about what Hillel has become and they have taken this warning to heart.
17 anonymous // Aug 13, 2007 at 9:47 pm
here here! well said!
18 Anonymous // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Student: “Several new teachers also refused to teach here because of the Alum’s bashing.”
Aaron: “If this is true then I am pleased to see that this website is doing its job! They have been warned about what Hillel has become and they have taken this warning to heart.”
Agreed!
This website offers a valuable public service to teachers who would have otherwise unknowingly walked into a minefield. Kol Ha Kavod. Teachers deserve better treatment.
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops.” –Henry Brooks Adams
The individual teacher is the decisive factor in the classroom; it’s the teacher who determines whether learning takes place or does not place.
Our teachers enter a noble profession with little support from anyone.
The last impediment they need is a board who throws obstacles in their path and places administrators over their heads that make everyone scared and miserable.
When the board does this, the entire school suffers.
Build community. Build community. Build community.
Quote by Hiam Ginot—“I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. My personal approach creates the climate. My daily mood makes the weather. As a teacher I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal”
It’s time for the board to regulate the climate to ensure that the atmosphere is comfortable once again — only then can teachers thrive and only then will students optimally flourish.
19 Good Wolf // Aug 14, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Agreed!
20 Anonymous // Sep 2, 2007 at 1:32 am
HBHA in Kansas City used to have over 350 students before Holden. After he left they barely had 200.
21 Anonymous // Sep 2, 2007 at 10:20 am
I’d like to know what the numbers are at Hillel for this year.
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