Shulamith School for Girls
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| Established | 1930 |
|---|---|
| Type | Private elementary and secondary |
| Affiliation | Orthodox Jewish |
| Founder | Nacha Rivkin |
| Grades | PreK–12 |
| Location | 1277 E. 14th St., Brooklyn, New York, USA |
Shulamith School for Girls is a centrist Modern Orthodox Jewish, Middle States accredited[1] school currently located in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York, in the building that originally housed Vitagraph Studios.[2] It was founded in 1930 by Nacha Rivkin working with Rabbi M.G. Volk in Borough Park, Brooklyn. It was the first Orthodox Jewish elementary school for girls in North America.[3] From 1941, Judith Lieberman served as Hebrew principal and then as dean of Hebrew studies.
Shulamith currently serves students from preschool through twelfth grade. The high school opened in 1980 with Dr. Susan Katz as principal. She retired in 2007. As of 2007 the high school had 334 students and 27 teachers.[4]
The school also houses a gym, pool, auditorium, state of the art computer lab, chemistry and biology labs and the Yavneh Minyan in the pre-school lunchroom.
Shulamith opened a second elementary school branch, called Bnot Shulamith, on Long Island in 2000. In September 2007, the Brooklyn high school had a major change with the retirement of founding principal Dr. Susan Katz. Replaceing Dr. Katz was Rabbi Avraham Lieberman serving as the Hebrew principal and Penina Karp serving as the general studies principal.[5] As of the spring of 2008, the continued existence of the Brooklyn campus has been put into question.
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[edit] Educational Philosophy
Said Rabbi Lieberman:
| “ | Class will be conducted Ivrit b'Ivrit. Shulamith schools focus intensely on textual learning and skill development in Navi, halachah, and Chumash. It's important for our girls to be able to open a Tanach and learn independently. We intend to provide our girls with the educational, social, and emotional tools needed to succeed on any path.... [We're] placing great emphasis on hashkafa, midot tovot, bein adam l'chaveiro, derech eretz, ehrlichkeit and eidelkeit, and a frum outlook based on Torah and Shulchan Aruch.... Our graduates attend Ivy League universities ... and we're just as proud that our girls are accepted at every seminary in Israel.[5] | ” |
[edit] Battle for the Brooklyn Campus - Growing Allegations of Administrator Improprieties
In May 2008, after years of unconfirmed but ever expanding rumor, parents at the Shulamith School in Brooklyn found out that a sale of the Brooklyn campus was fully in the works and seemed to be directly tied to the purchase of a new campus in Long Island - with no plans for a new facility in Brooklyn. Attempts by parents at confirmation of the sale and questions about the future of the Brooklyn school were met with no response from the administration. The parents then began to organize - they held meetings and an attorney was retained to try to get answers and determine a course of action. The issue was simply why was the Brooklyn campus with over 700 students being sold to purchase a new campus in Long Island? The administration of Shulamith School has over the years since the inception of the Long Island school, done nothing to make Brooklyn parents feel that the school was going to be in their future. This in turn lead to a reduced enrollment as parents had to guess what school their daughters would attend. Recently a news article vaguely stated that "even after the building was sold Shulamith School would remain in its Brooklyn campus for two years." This was followed by an even more vague statement that "Shulamith School was in Brooklyn to stay" coupled with a statement that "there was not going to be a new building built in Brooklyn". The question Brooklyn parents were now faced with was how to reconcile these various statements by the Shulamith Administration.
A formal request by the organized parent group for Shulamith organizational documents (to determine the rights and responsibilities between parents, administrators and the board of the school) and financial accounts of the school (to determine the accuracy of administrator statements about the well being of the school) was met with flat refusal by the school administration. The sole extent of information provided was a photocopy of half of an article in the Jewish Star sent by the school's administration to the parents. The parent group has now filed papers in the New York Court to compel the administrators to release the information.
In the course of investigation, questions have arisen not only with respect to the validity of adminstrator statements about the school but also regarding a number of improprieties, some verging on criminal action -- whether administrators improperly diverted moneys belonging to the Brooklyn School, whether the planned purchase of the campus by a Board Member constitutes improper dealing, whether the Board and administrators conspired to hamper the viability of the school for the purpose of eliminating the Brooklyn Campus, whether individuals who did not actualy work for the school are or were listed on employment rolls and received a salary... whether even the initial establishment of the Long Island Branch was acomplished properly with respect to the School's charter -- All questions which await the compelled release of school records for full corroboration.
[edit] Extracurricular Activities
Shulamith participates in the Salute to Israel Parade and Chidon HaTanach. They also hold a Torah Bowl and stage a yearly music and dance production. The student newspaper, the Kaleidoscope, won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown in 1995.[6] The student literary magazine Serendipity won the National Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Award for Humor in 1997.[7] Students may attend the Bais Yaakov Convention. Shulamith also competes in an all-yeshiva league in basketball, volleyball and softball. Students also join academic teams such as model congress, debate and mock trial teams. The mock trial team was instituted in 1999 by Michelle Hagler (now a NYS admitted attorney) and Yocheved Kleinbart.
[edit] Notable Graduates
- Rochelle Shoretz was a former Law Clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She founded Sharsheret, "a national organization of cancer survivors dedicated to addressing the unique concerns of young Jewish women facing breast cancer."[8]
- Nancy Morgenstern worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. She was killed on 9/11 in the World Trade Center.[9][10][11]
[edit] References
- ^ Middle States Accreditation listing
- ^ The Vitaphone Project
- ^ Jewish Women's Archive on Nacha Rivkin
- ^ Private School Review
- ^ a b 5 Towns Jewish Times Vol. 7 No. 7
- ^ Columbia Scholastic Press Association 1995
- ^ Columbia Scholastic Press Association 1997
- ^ Sharsheret
- ^ Legacy.com memorial site
- ^ Legacy.com guestbook entry
- ^ Nancy Morgenstern Memorial website
