The goal of this site is to expose a recurring theme at The Ben Lipson Hillel Community High School in North Miami Beach, Florida. Every few years, the careers of quality educators and staff members are being continuously challenged with what appears to be premature employment dismissals. Teachers and guidance counselors, many of whom were extremely influential in the growth of students’ lives at Hillel, are being told that they are not entitled to renew their employment contracts for the succeeding academic year. While this would make sense for a relatively new teacher who may not have met minimum requirements, that is hardly the case for many of these victims, as the majority of the affected individuals have been employed by Hillel for over a decade.
This website is being started by a student who has long since graduated from Hillel. Still, having spent half of my life at Hillel and many with the affected individuals, this website is being established in support of these staff members and teachers. While the livelihoods of these teachers are at risk, we — and the future generations at Hillel — are all victims.
44 responses so far ↓
1 shira // Mar 23, 2007 at 10:49 am
You should create an online petition and have people sign it!
2 admin // Mar 23, 2007 at 10:52 am
You bet I will. This is just the beginning.
3 Alan Salinas // Mar 23, 2007 at 1:07 pm
i thnk the teachers are cool, keep them in hillel
4 Alex Mafdali // Mar 23, 2007 at 1:17 pm
i agree
5 Alex Mafdali // Mar 23, 2007 at 1:17 pm
I love Yemen
6 Yonatan Missika // Mar 23, 2007 at 1:18 pm
i agree with alan
7 Ross Webber // Mar 23, 2007 at 1:20 pm
“Save the teachers” D Weezy on the track
8 admin // Mar 25, 2007 at 2:53 am
Eran was at Hillel when I was around, as was Larry Beame. Before him was Naftali Ben-Ami. Yeah, those were the days.
The thing is that these teachers have already proven to be a credit to the school. They don’t need to prove themselves further. There is another agenda being promoted at Hillel.
9 Lillie // Mar 25, 2007 at 7:04 am
My mom had a similair ring of firings at her work, and she had to explain to the boss why each employee, individually added to the workplace. My mom, in the process discovered that the new boss only cared about keping the company afloat, money wise, Dr. Holden has a certain agenda, and we ned to dig in and discover what it is. Btw all the people at my mom’s work were rehired!!
10 Gabriel Ammar // Mar 26, 2007 at 10:28 am
i think that this website is awesome. all of you who are supporting are very good people and hopefully with alot of help and if we are consistent we will get them back.
–red
11 Nechama Maler Goldberg // Mar 26, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Wow, Mr. Ben Ami. I remember him. So many good ones gone… What a shame. Kudos to you Admin… If you ever find a need to gather the collective influence of the alumni, count me in.
I just dare Hillel to try and contact us for alumni donations now.
12 Ale Klachko // Mar 26, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Thank you for doing this. It’s a great way for us to show our support and to be informed, especially those of us who no longer go to Hillel.
13 Ariella Bitton // Mar 26, 2007 at 6:17 pm
This website is really awesome, we all love these teachers who are being “let-go” dearly and we have to find any way possible to get them back for years to come!
14 Steven // Mar 26, 2007 at 8:38 pm
This web site is amazing. As a student of Hillel for the past 13 years I am so disappointed in the way someone can come in a destroy our family like this. Hillel is a family and every person in that school is another family member dear to all our hearts. I remember a school where I looked forward to coming each and everyday not dreading the thought of some new change coming. The administration should ask the students what we think considering we are the ones who learn from these amazing educators not them. I don’t understand how anyone can just come in and want to make our school another country day. If I wanted to be at country day I would be there. Hillel is my home and always will and none of us should take this lightly. Fight back and show the administration that we wont stand silently as they take away the place that bonds thousands of people. If they think this is going to attract new students I hope they know they are very wrong because by high school every student decided where they go not their parents and I’m sure once everyone hears all of this they wont even considering going to a place that takes everything away from you.
I hope this gets resolved very quickly because I know that I would never be as spiritual or at all remotely Jewish if it was from the teaching of those amazing teachers that the school doesn’t see fit to teach me anymore. We need to stand up and tell everyone that we wont let this go and we will make a difference.
Best wishes and I congratulate the person who made this site. This is for all the students who remember the home we come from and not this new “school” they want to force us into.
Sincerely,
Steven Stanimirovic
15 shhhhhhhhhhh // Mar 26, 2007 at 9:06 pm
i miss senior lounge dayssssss AND nasty pizza on fridays and mrs apple make up lessons… thats true hillel :o)
is she still there?
can someone post a list of all the teachs that got fired?
16 '05 Middle School alumni // Apr 1, 2007 at 1:34 am
i used to go to hillel in middle school. yeah i played some ball but deffintilty the teachers made it the best. Cant hate on the teachers. keep them in school. I remember when the coaches were threatened, this would’ve ruined sports for the kids. Everyone loves the coaches and everyone loves the teachers.
‘09
17 Kansas City // Apr 1, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Dr. Holden was previously at my school in Kansas City. He did the same thing at our school by firing teachers. The students and some parents were furious. Our best math teacher, fired, our gym teacher, fired, and many other fine teachers in our school. This is an amazing website to speak out against the person who is doing this. Thank you for all you are doing!
Signed,
Annomous Studen From The Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy
18 jew // Apr 15, 2007 at 5:19 pm
shame on you
the school is going down
what is mr m(mizel) doing in school? disterbuting baloons?
or is it beacouse he is a relative of the koslovskies who runns the school?
sent him home and u can save $40,000 a year
19 jew // Apr 15, 2007 at 5:20 pm
and how come u spent so much on holdens office?
tghis money (including his salery could have been used for education stuff
20 Concerned about the Friday Message // Apr 20, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Why is Rabbi Druin so concerned about “lashon hara?” His own conduct has made him a target of the so-called “evil tongue.” If he was actuallyconcerned about the best interests of the entire Hillel community, rather than his own agenda, he would not be the subject of “lashon hara” and gossip would not be the subject of the first rotating column [The Friday Message] among “our leadership.”
21 Anonymous // Apr 20, 2007 at 6:29 pm
IT’S TIME FOR DRUIN TO STEP DOWN ALREADY AS HE HAS BEEN ASKED TO DO!
WHY DOESN’T HE GET THE MESSAGE?
NOBODY WANTS HIM HERE.
22 Ross Weber // May 16, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Rabbi Druin even more so than Doctor Holden needs to either step down or be fired. As another fellow Jew he knows and must agree with us when it comes to the improtance of family and the family we have here that is being destroyed. Why hasn’t he stepped up and done anything to hep fix the situtation that has escelated out of controll.
23 Another Teacher // May 16, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Rabbi Druin: You are not wanted here. Don’t you have any self respect?
Why would you want to stay in a place where no one respects you?
As soon as your contract is up, you’re out of here…Hasta La Vista baby….
Do you really want to wait that long to go knowing that everyone wishes you would step down gracefully already? There are current board members who also wish you would just leave of your own volition.
What is it going to take to get you to go? A formal invitation?
24 anonymous // May 16, 2007 at 1:50 pm
It is going to take a direct action by the board to remove these individuals and pay out their contracts. That is how it is done.
Honestly, the Head of School’s contract does not have to be paid out due to the violation of state statute Chapter 817 subsection 817.567.
25 Anonymous // May 16, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Rabbi Druin is on his way out. I suggest he leaves now while he still can go with his dignity intact.
As for the Head of School, if and when the new board gets voted in, I’m sure that an attorney will tell the new leaders how to break this contract legally.
Where is Mr. Holden now? If he is wise, he’s lining up another position as we speak.
These 2 are on their way out. The faster they face reality, the easier it will be for them ultimately.
We have a lot riding on regime change. Please tell every parent you know to show up to vote on June 6th.
This vote determines the future of our school.
Parents and teachers must spread the word! We are in this together. No one can do it alone.
26 anonymous // May 16, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Funny, has anyone told him that?
I don’t think he knows! Someone should let him know.
…and the other one should go right along with him.
27 Anonymous // May 18, 2007 at 12:54 pm
What qualified Rabbi Druin to fire others? I believe he doesn’t even have a college degree! What a joke!
28 anonymous // May 18, 2007 at 2:41 pm
funny!
29 Anonymous // Sep 2, 2007 at 1:21 am
As a former parent of a former academy student, I can tell you that Adam Holden should be fired. Before Hyman Brand Academy in Kansas City, Adam Holden was a principal at a Catholic high school. They did not think very highly of him either. Perhaps it is not very Jewish to speak negatively, but when it concerns children, we must!
30 Anonymous // Sep 2, 2007 at 9:37 am
#27 - Do they teach you to fire people in college? What does firing someone have to do with a college degree? Plenty of people with degrees are jokes.
31 Anonymous // Sep 2, 2007 at 10:15 am
#27 is suggesting that Rabbi Druin has no right to fire teachers because since he has no college degree, he has no business assessing teachers who are more credentialed in every possible way than he is.
Do you get it now #30????????????
32 Anonymous // Sep 2, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Credentials don’t make a good teacher or business person. Experience does. I’m not saying Rabbi Druin has the experience but don’t knock him if he doesn’t have a college degree.
Many people have degrees and spent 4 years drinking beer.
33 Anonymous // Sep 2, 2007 at 1:00 pm
True. But at the very least, have the degree. It’s no guarantee at all but it is a pre-requisite for the position Rabbi Druin holds as evaluator of teachers. Face facts. No reputable school in the country hires a head of school who never went to college.
The Rabbis of Jewish day schools across the country often have BOTH smicha AND PHD’s.
That’s when you’re at a school of excellence, of course.
Degrees coupled with appropriate experience and a staff who likes them. Those are the missing ingredients here.
34 Jeremiah // Sep 2, 2007 at 4:30 pm
True, anon #33.
Most people in college do not waste their time like you suggest #32 but exceptions have been known. ;^}
35 Anonymous // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:35 am
If you dont like Hillel than leave!
36 Jeremiah // Oct 6, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Anonymous // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:35 am
If you dont like Hillel than leave!
We object to the lack of qualifications in the Administration not to the school itself. It was crazy what they did, dropping, I heard something like 35 or more staff and teachers!
37 Anonymous // Oct 6, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Seems on this blog most people don’t like Hillel. Plus people seem to lament that the school is less Jewish, but people post on this blog on Yom Tov and Shabbat.
38 Anon // Oct 7, 2007 at 12:25 am
teachers who aren’t jewish?????
39 Juno // Oct 7, 2007 at 9:30 am
It is Sunday, really really observant Christians (Southern Baptists, Roman Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists, Presbyterians, Greek Orthodox, and so on) do not post on Sunday and sometimes not on Saturday either unless they are really really motivated to try to help correct a serious problem. The view from this end of the pond is that Hillel has a seriously horrible problem in that the powers that be fired people for no legitimate reason. Any post is offered in support of the solution of the problem and is not meant to cause costernation nor to give the impression of sinning becuase it is read to be in support of a good cause, the Sabbath being made for man not man made for the Sabbath. Some of us will post on Sunday or Saturday just for that reason.
We stand with you in complete support.
40 Anonymous // Oct 7, 2007 at 9:48 am
I thought we were past the firing issue. I thought the scheduling problems is the current issue.
41 Juno // Oct 7, 2007 at 10:06 am
Well, yes, that also.
It is especially difficult if you are not allowed breaks as mandated by the employment laws. You must catch them in the act of not allowing the breaks.
Two halves of the same coin.
42 Anonymous // Oct 7, 2007 at 12:27 pm
If it’s against employment laws, why aren’t the people who are effected complain to the proper authorities?
43 Juno // Oct 7, 2007 at 12:52 pm
Good question.
44 anon // Oct 7, 2008 at 3:19 pm
“35 Anonymous // Oct 5, 2007 at 9:35 am
If you dont like Hillel than leave!”
try ‘then’ leave. res ispa.
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