Save Hillel

More here.

This was sent to me as a PDF. If you did not read the newspaper, here’s your chance to do so: click here.

Avi, please advise us when the letters are published online so that I can direct readers to your website instead.

Someone already posted it, but I also got this emailed to me:

We are pleased to bring you the fourth edition of Hillel’s Blueprint to Excellence Update. We hope you are finding these updates helpful in staying informed of Hillel’s progress and happenings. As we’ve shared previously, important changes are underway at our school, and we believe the following is another accomplishment in our effort to further enhance Hillel’s ability to achieve excellence.

Hillel’s Board of Governors and Administration are currently focused on achieving two major goals:

* To provide a rich educational experience that incorporates best practices
* To ensure Jewish values and Judaic studies are infused throughout Hillel’s curriculum

To accomplish these goals, we have created a new leadership structure for Hillel, which will be applied schoolwide in every division (Upper School, Middle School and Lower School) for the

2007-2008 school year. Within this structure, each division has administrative leaders who share responsibilities for General Studies and Judaic Studies, and report to us both, Head of School and Associate Head of School-Judaic. Information about these educators follows.

* From Harvard University to Yeshiva University, every division’s administrative team is comprised of educational experts with esteemed credentials and experience.
* Most of next year’s administrative leaders have been promoted from within the Hillel family, and some new ones have joined us.
* The structure presents a solid solution to achieve a Board goal to advance the school during a nationwide shortage of Jewish educational leaders, simultaneously maintaining a parallel track to develop future Jewish educational leaders for Hillel and other Jewish schools nationally.

In addition, Hillel’s newly created Student Life division will be led by some of Hillel’s strongest, most admired educators who have served us well for many years. Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb will head this department. From classroom lessons to extracurricular activities, her team will create an atmosphere that will infuse every facet of our children’s education with Torah ideals. This division has been established to ensure uncompromising attention to the cultivation of Jewish values in every aspect of Hillel, from Lower School through Upper School and beyond.

If you have any questions, please always feel free to contact one of us or a member of the Board. You can reach us through the school at 305.931.2831 x126; Board members also are available at Board@hillel-nmb.net. We wish you a safe, relaxing summer.

Sincerely,

Dr. Adam Holden, Head of School
Rabbi Michael Druin, Associate Head of School-Judaic

HILLEL EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

2007 – 2008 / 5767 – 5768

We hope you will agree that this new structure greatly supports Hillel’s overall strategic plan, our Blueprint to Excellence. Thank you for your continued partnership as we move forward on our path to provide the finest Jewish education for our children.

Head of School: Dr. Adam Holden
Associate Head of School-Judaic: Rabbi Michael Druin

UPPER SCHOOL

Principal: Tym Bonilla
Principal, Student Life: Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb
Assistant Principal: Laura Ingoldsby

MIDDLE SCHOOL
Principal: Nick Hinrichsen
Assistant Principal: Gary Peirce
Assistant Principal, Student Life: Yossi Kastan

LOWER SCHOOL

Principal: Debra Abolafia
Assistant Principal, Grades 1-5: Rabbi Allen Saks
Assistant Principal, PKT-Kindergarten: Valerie Lustgarten
Assistant Principal, Student Life: Joshua Meisels

All new members of Hillel’s educational administrative team have advanced degrees in education. They all have taught the grade levels of their respective divisions and most have administrative experience in the same fields.

These administrators were hired through internal and national searches using the country’s major Jewish and secular placement outlets. We believe that this group of administrators represents the very best candidates across the nation and brings with them exceptional qualifications, ability and experience.

UPPER SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Grade 9 – Grade 12

PRINCIPAL: Tym Bonilla

With more than 12 years in education, Mr. Tym Bonilla brings with him eight years of experience in administration. He holds a bachelor’s degree in American and world history from Ottawa University and a master’s degree in educational administration from Washburn University; he also completed a Harvard University Educational Leadership course in educational vision.

Mr. Bonilla’s career began in the United States Marine Corps with active duty in the Persian Gulf War. As an educator, he has held leadership positions as a service learning director and as an adjunct professor at the graduate level of teacher training programs, communications and marketing.

Mr. Bonilla has principal and assistant principal experience at the upper, middle and lower school levels.

PRINCIPAL, STUDENT LIFE: Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb

Mrs. Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb has served Hillel since 1998 as middle school principal and Judaic Studies teacher. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and an advanced degree in Jewish studies at Machon Chana, a renowned Torah institute for women, where she subsequently served as school director.

She was also the principal of New York boarding school Bais Rochel Leah and co-director of the Chabad House of Pittsburgh, where she founded the Jewish Women’s University. Highlighting her innovative ideas in Jewish education, Mrs. Rosenberg-Gottlieb lectures internationally and writes about Jewish topics; she has made such media appearances as the “Oprah Winfrey Show.”

Through administrative, classroom and extracurricular activities, Mrs. Rosenberg-Gottlieb will focus on the spiritual aspects of Hillel’s student life. “Every soul is sent to this world with a special mission,” she said. “I feel I have been groomed for this work and will concentrate on the educational themes and projects that mean so much to me.”

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: Laura Ingoldsby

Ms. Laura Ingoldsby will apply to Hillel her successful teaching career in diverse classroom settings, ranging from inner-city to established independent schools. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington and Lee University and a master’s degree in school leadership from Harvard University.

Ms. Ingoldsby completed her graduate degree from Harvard while simultaneously completing a

400-hour principal internship at the Boston College High School. She also has special education experience from her roles as resident group leader and assistant director of the Atlantic Coast Special Education Services.

An accomplished athlete, Ms. Ingoldsby looks forward to expanding Hillel’s organized sports and athletics programs.

MIDDLE SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Grade 6 – Grade 8

PRINCIPAL: Nick Hinrichsen

Middle School will be led by Mr. Nick Hinrichsen, an educator who has been with Hillel for more than a decade and has served as high school assistant principal since 2004. Mr. Hinrichsen earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education from East Stroudsburg University, his master’s degree in educational psychology from Widener University and his educational specialist degree in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University; he is a candidate for his doctorate of education.

In his Hillel tenure, he has strengthened curriculum through the development of the Grade 8 Move Up Day program, new AP policies, an Upper School program of studies, a schoolwide judiciary committee, and the introduction of Hillel’s drug education program, including student screenings and DFYIT (Drug Free Youth In Town) in the Upper School and Middle School. Partnered with Dr. Holden, Mr. Hinrichsen has improved Hillel’s policies of discipline, attendance, grading and uniform/dress code.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: Gary Peirce

Mr. Gary Peirce is a middle school specialist who moved into education after a highly successful 15-year career in business. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Northwood University and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Missouri. In addition, Mr. Peirce completed educational leadership programs in gifted education at the College of William and Mary, and in curriculum mapping at Columbia University.

Prior to Hillel, he was the dean of student activities at the Pine School in Martin County; he has taught at the middle school level in both public and private schools. A colleague recently described Mr. Peirce as “one of the most effective educators that I have known in my 15 years of teaching.”

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, STUDENT LIFE: Yossi Kastan

Mr. Yossi Kastan is a Hillel graduate, currently earning a master’s degree in education at Nova Southeastern University and working on his rabbinic ordination. Until this year, Mr. Kastan worked with Hillel’s high school administration.

He has served in such roles as director of The Jewish Youth Education Council in Australia and as program director of the Young Israel of Monsey. He also teaches Jewish children in local public schools in a CAJE extracurricular program. Dedicated to the Middle School, Mr. Kastan will work with Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb to bring to life his passionate commitment to Jewish education, all while giving back to his alma mater by educating the next generation of Hillel alumni.

LOWER SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
PKT – Grade 5

PRINCIPAL: Debra Abolafia

With a 25-year career in education and administration, Ms. Debra Abolafia was Hillel’s principal of early childhood education last year. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Queens College and a master’s degree in special education from Hunter College.

Until she joined Hillel, Ms. Abolafia was the director of early learning programs at Nova Southeastern University’s Mailman Segal Institute and the principal of the Baudhuin School. There, she was responsible for the development, administration and supervision of all early childhood program directors and the professional development department’s academic, training and outreach programs. Her balance of education, administrative experience and relationships with Hillel families makes Ms. Abolafia the ideal fit for this new position.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, Grades 1 – 5: Rabbi Allen Saks

Rabbi Allen Saks has been a Hillel Judaic Studies teacher since 2003. At Yeshiva University, he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Jewish education and administration, as well as his rabbinic ordination.

Past roles include principal of the Rabbi David L. Silver Yeshiva Academy in Pennsylvania and principal of Canada’s Akiva Academy. Rabbi Saks’ teaching and administrative experience is diverse within lower and middle school grade levels.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, PKT – Kindergarten: Valerie Lustgarten

Mrs. Valerie Lustgarten has been a Hillel early childhood teacher since 2006. Her bachelor’s degree in preschool education and master’s degree in early childhood education are from Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas. In addition, she has a master’s degree in Montessori education from the Southern Montessori Institute.

Mrs. Lustgarten’s 19 years of experience in early childhood education have been spent as a master teacher, assistant principal and administrator in the United States and Venezuela.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL, STUDENT LIFE: Joshua Meisels

Since 1997, Mr. Joshua Meisels has served as Hillel’s director of Judaics and rebbe for Grades 1-6. A former Hillel student, he has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a master’s degree in education from Nova Southeastern University. He has developed programs at Hillel that integrate Jewish values with social-emotional learning and has great enthusiasm for Torah and spirituality.

Mr. Meisels will work with Frumma Rosenberg-Gottlieb to instill informal Torah learning and to strengthen a connection to the Jewish community in every student of the Lower School.

Hillel is a Jewish community day school structured to cultivate and inspire students’ interests and talents and to prepare them for college admission. By engaging students in meaningful cultural and religious experiences, Hillel strives to deepen their commitment to Judaism, the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Hillel is the second largest Jewish community day school in the nation.

An anonymous person writes in:

There is an ad in today’s Miami Herald for the following teacher positions at Hillel:

High School: Biology, Math, History
Middle School: Science, Social Studies
Elementary & Pre-School

Have we lost more teachers? Does anyone know if any teachers have quit lately?

Keith Brooks, an ’83 Hillel alum (I assume that was when Hillel only offered classes through 8th grade?), writes in:

As an early alumni(1983), pre-Jewish High School takeover, based on the postings in this site and the other one, I am at a loss to understand your perspective or even what the issue is beyond the norm of most institutions or even businesses.

You are upset because some teachers were let go and I totally understand it, although no one has said why they were let go? Salary, tenure, attitude, revolution? I read some teachers replies and am not surprised at how the school deals with them, businesses are much worse I have found.

And the administration, to be honest, was NOT great under Dr. Levy, at least when I was in school. But then perhaps we prefer the previous regime over the new ones. Is this one such an ogre? Deaf to parents ears, I think I have heard that about every school since I was a little kid.

Avi frier’s article shed no light on why the tumult at Hillel either and I know Avi and usually enjoy his writings.

Is the school becoming too religious or too secular? Is it trying to grow or trying to stop from shrinking (which might mean closing at some point)? Admittedly little info reached me while I was overseas or out of state and even this set of events only reached me this week.

It’s a shame to see a good school go down for a little while, most businesses suffer downtimes, but then I have seen what became of NMB also and pondered how long Hillel could stay there and be viable.

So those out there that fight the good fight, you can enlighten me perhaps?

The long-awaited article by Avi Frier has been published.

A grassroots campaign aimed at changing the direction of the Hillel Community Day School in North Miami Beach ended last week in what many considered to be a landslide defeat of the group dubbed “Hillel4Change.” The slate of officers originally proposed by the school’s Nominating Committee garnered an estimated 65% of the school membership’s vote to beat the slate of nine challengers, which comprised five current and two former Hillel parents, a former Hillel teacher, and a 2003 Hillel alumnus.

To read the remainder of the article, click here.

Shlomo Bolts writes in:

It took me a long while to get around to posting this. At first, I was too devastated by our defeat to post anything cogent. Then, I wanted to withdraw from the situation entirely, because it was too much for me—and then, I realized that for me to withdraw would be (perhaps!) exactly what the Board wanted.

True, we suffered a serious defeat last Wednesday. We could have gone home in a position of equal power with the Board, but instead we ended the day far from it. But one crushing electoral defeat should not obscure all the progress we have made. We went from 0% of the votes to 30% in less than a month. We showed that a substantial portion of the school shares our views.

We also have a lot more power than you think. Because it takes 50 families to call an open Board meeting, we have effective veto power over major decisions. As a result of our campaigning, we could easily get fifty. The Board knows this, and knows that if next April is like last April, they will be in for some awkward questions. The Board further knows that if it does something to catalyze another groundswell of opposition, it could lose the next election.

In the meantime, we need to remember that Hillel is a school—not a political battlefield. The voters have spoken. The election was decisive. A vast majority like the direction that (they think?) the school is going. We are a minority. So what are we going to do? Will we destroy Hillel in frustration?

Maybe that is an option if you don’t truly care about the school. You heard me. When I say I care about the school, I mean I care not only about my former teachers, but also about the many friends I still have in the school. But maybe I’m different from other people here. At times, some people here seem to be clawing in vain against the march of time, desperate to preserve some theoretical Hillel in their memories. Let me tell you, you are sacrificing real people, good friends of mine, for a Hillel that is long gone. Time passes, and Hillel must change with the times.

The election, to me at least, was not about whether or not Hillel changes. Rather, it was about whether or not Hillel changes against the vociferous opposition of a vast majority of CURRENT stakeholders. It is about whether CURRENT Hillel parents will get a say as the school drastically changes direction. I honestly believe that if most people knew the full implications of their vote, the alternate slate would have won. So, we need to educate parents. An educated individual won’t BUY propaganda. The relative ease with which the Board can get out information is less important when the timescale is months, not weeks. The Board knows this.

In the meantime, we need to stop some of the ugliest practices of this website. The calls for Holden to get the axe have to stop; we don’t need Holden to resign, we just need him to work by consensus. Besides, the Board should be our top priority now. Also, the borderline racism has to stop. We do not a need JEWISH administrators (a reverse-antisemitic notion). We need administrators that RESPECT JEWISH VALUES. The Board did not win because of a changeable, slobbering mass of “MANY MANY LATINS” that are easily fooled. Leave that sort of nativism to the Minutemen. It COULD be that the new influx of Latinos wants something legitimately different. They have a full right to that. Our goal is not to take away from them what they want. Our goal is to keep them, and all other parents and students, from getting fooled.

I’ll post more specific ideas sometime in the near future.

An “Older Alum” (who has submitted this anonymously) writes in:

I have to say that it’s a real shame the way things have gone at Hillel. Since way back when, when I had attended the school, there was always this joke about Hillel being a ”camp”. But now it seems to have gone beyond that. People are praising all these wonderful new changes. I have heard SO many stories. About how great the changes are. About how horrible the changes are.

Interestingly, it seem the wonderful changes are in the elementary school and the horrible ones are in the high school. There is such an imbalance between both… however it wouldn’t surprise me if the majority of the board members only have children in the elementary school right now. But that’s besides the point…

The point is, we alumni don’t count. How are we supposed to know what is going on when we have zero communication from the school? The fact of the matter is that we alumni… those who graduated from the school… those who actually understand the inner workings… have been completely shut out. Not ONE of the members of the Board, and please correct me if I am wrong, to my knowledge, actually attended and graduated from Hillel. I don’t remember recognizing any of the names on that slate as someone I went to school with many years ago (long ago enough that I do have kids of my own and have finished graduate school a few years ago). It would have been nice seeing Isaac on the board. Although he is young and fresh out of college, he surely offers a perspective that no one else on that board has.

I contacted the school asking to please provide us more information on what is going on. The alumni are interested in knowing what is wrong with the school that there is so much controversy. I received absolutely no response. This year, the class of 1997 held, what is believed to be, the first reunion the high school has ever had. The majority of those teachers in attendance were actually no longer part of the Hillel community. They showed up out of respect for their former students. Alumni only know one side of the story… and it’s a side that I am really compelled to believe. I would be interested in hearing the other side of the coin from someone who truly can compare Hillel’s past to its future. I don’t want to hear from parents that can only SPECULATE on what it was like in the past (which are the only people that I have heard from that state all of these changed are ”good”). How are they supposed to know what is ”better” when they really know little about the past?

There has been so much talk about Hillel ”trying” to establish an alumni relations network. If they were really, truly interested, they wouldn’t be trying… they would have something in place by now. The lack of interest in building a long-standing relationship is disturbing. What is the point of fighting so hard to ”build a community” when you forget about the people who will hopefully one day send their kids back to their alma mater??

Why is there no alumni representation on the board? Why is there no interest in hearing what those of us who actually went to the school know? Why are alumni not welcome at the annual board meeting (unless we donate lots of money… which some may consider doing if there were actually some relationship between alumni and the school… ironic?)?

Unfortunately, I don’t see a future for my family at Hillel. I have three alma maters… Hillel, my undergraduate school and my graduate school. Unfortunately, Hillel ranks at the bottom for me. It seems arrogant for people to think that they are the only option available for Jewish kids in the North Dade/South Broward area. If they are going to go the route of secularizing the school (which is partially what i have come to understand), there are plenty of better options out there. It is a shame to act as if those who helped build the school from the inside are not worthy of taking part because they currently do not have children in the school or donate money to the school.

It also amazes me how insecure some people can be. There are so many people fighting for the betterment of the school, yet there seem to be a select few that just CANNOT let go of the reigns. They have a choke hold on their positions and don’t want to ease up. We try and teach our kids to play nice, yet the ones who play dirtiest seem to always be the adults.

For the sake of the school’s future, I think people need to be willing to open up more and welcome others. And i mean this from all sides. Open up more and welcome new teachers, new administrators, new ”blood”. But at the same time, open up more and welcome the thoughts and ideas of those people who have a vested interest in the future of the school. Open up to fresh faces on the board. Open up to thoughts and ideas from those that have been around the block MANY times (which includes the great teachers on staff). And for those who are so possessive of their positions and unwilling to play nice… open up to the option of moving on and allowing others to share in the task of making Hillel better.

YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN
thoughts of an [anonymous] alumnus

It had to happen eventually. There’s a saying, “You can’t go home again” and that’s what some of our Alumni (me included) have tried to do. Many of us had spent twelve or more years at Hillel. We felt invested in the school. Personally, I had always wanted to send my eventual hypothetical children to Hillel. Others wanted to send their actual children to Hillel. This will probably not happen now. You can’t go home again.

It has been suggested that if only middle school and high school families were allowed to vote, the election would have gone the other way. I know many supporters of COG feel that way. However, when asked if that means we have to deal with the upper school differently, considering we know that the majority of those parents are discontented, the answer is “No, we have a mandate.” And the sad thing is, they do. You can’t go home again.

Every teacher who attended the election is in danger. Perhaps they won’t get fired, but I am sure they will be pressured to leave. Holden doesn’t have a choice at this point, and I don’t blame him. How can he run a school where he knows that the teacher aren’t beholden to him? (Forgive the pun.) Every new teacher and administrator he hires to replace a veteran will be a someone who won’t remember Dr. Levy or Mrs. Cole or Rabbi Raab or Mrs. Gorin or Rabbi Bald or Mr. Baltuch or Dr. Zakon or Mr Feilich or Rabbi Dr. Grant or the many others who came before them who helped build up the school. And it doesn’t matter because the school they built is dead. On the morning of June 6, my Hillel was near-dead corpse. We were trying to coax its soul back in, but it was too late or just impossible. That Hillel is dead and we can’t go home again.

A new Hillel is being built on the grave of the old. A different Hillel. I don’t know if its better. I do know that it is a Hillel that my parents would never have sent me to. I do know its a Hillel that I could not send my eventual hypothetical children. (In fact, I know that this new Hillel is a Hillel that some current members of the board who helped birth it would not have sent their already graduated to… but that is another topic for another time…)

And this Hillel will be haunted for a while- it will be haunted by the Ghost of Hillel That Was. But as every member of the old guard leaves, the ghost will become more and more transparent and eventually, it will become unnoticeable.

As suggested, upper school parents may try to get involved for some time, but six years from now, those parents will no longer have children in the school. And the parents who swept Holden’s board back into office will have their children in high school. Those children will have a different Hillel experience than I have had.

I’m curious- when those children grow up and go to college and then go start their lives and they see that a group of new parents are trying to changed Holden’s Hillel into something different… will they make a fuss? Will they put up a fight? Or will Holden’s Hillel teach them what mine could not, what life had to teach all of us alumni- You can’t go home again.

An anonymous individual sent this in:

The following information was provided subsequent to the meeting:

If you would like information about how to become involved as a Hillel volunteer or to learn about Hillel’s committees, please contact Board Members Michelle Amselem or Helena Broide at Board@hillel-nmb.net.

Some of Hillel’s committees and associations are listed below.
Strategic Planning Committee Budget & Finance Committee Audit Committee
Building & Land Committee Bylaws Committee Communications Committee
Technology Committee Development Committee Capital Campaign Committee
Annual Campaign Committee Ma’ayan Society Committee Poker Tournament Committee
Annual Event Committee HIP/PTA Alumni Association