Shalhevet High School is a co-educational, college-preparatory, Modern Orthodox Jewish high school in Los Angeles, California. It is the only Modern Orthodox, co-educational Jewish day school in California. Boys and girls follow the same Judaic curriculum, including Talmud, in mixed classes, which is unusual for Orthodox Jewish high schools, and a full program of visual arts, music, drama and athletics is offered in addition to the dual curriculum of secular and Judaic studies. Co-founded in 1992 by Jerry Friedman, Ed. D., and Steve Bailey, Ph.D., the school's founding headmaster, Shalhevet developed a modified version of the Kohlberg-Gilligan "Just Community" template, which it hoped would become a national model for progressive education in an Orthodox Jewish setting. A fundamental principle is that moral development can be taught through the presentation of "moral dilemmas", which create in students cognitive dissonance that leads to moral growth; another is that a limited school democracy makes students stakeholders in the values the institution seeks to promote. Shalhevet has about 200 students in grades 8 - 12 as of 2010-11 and is led by interim Head of School Nathan Reynolds, formerly of Harvard-Westlake School. Reynolds, who had served as General Studies principal on two previous occasions, is the third headmaster, taking over from Rabbi Elchanan Weinbach, whose tenure lasted just two years following Dr. Friedman's retirement in spring 2008. Mr. Phu Tranchi is High School General Studies Principal, and Rabbi Ari Leubitz is principal of Judaic Studies. A less successful lower school that had opened in 2000 was closed at the end of the 2009-10 school year because it was draining resources from the high school.
In August 2011, Rabbi Ari Segal became headmaster. Rabbi Segal was head of school of the Robert M. Beren Academy of Houston.
Nineteen years old as of 2010-11, Shalhevet is unique because of its somewhat democratic nature and its emphasis on moral development, guided by Jewish values. The high school holds an hour-long, weekly, student-led Town Hall at which current events, school issues and other controversies are discussed. These meetings occasionally have outside speakers, such as U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), and have ranged over topics from Darfur and Tookie Williams to Kanye West's controversial music videos. Most discussions concern school-related issues, however, such as dress code, grade and exam policies, and student elections. A school constitution empowers an Agenda Committee, which sets the Town Hall agenda, manages elections, and oversees the other committees; a Student Activities Committee, responsible for pep rallies, movie nights and other social events; and a Fairness Committee, which adjudicates issues of fairness among the students and faculty. All committees have student, faculty and administrative representation.
In recent years the school has added a council-style Advisory system called Ma'agal Hakshava ("listening circle," in Hebrew), run by Dean of Students Roy Danovitch.
Shalhevet's debate teams, led by Mr. Christopher Buckley and Ms. Melanie Rainbow Berkey, have won many awards in Model Congress and Model UN events around the U.S., including awards as the best delegation at Penn Model Congress (2009–2010) and second best delegation at Princeton Model Congress. It has twice-yearly drama productions led by Ms. Emily Chase, a fall main stage production and a spring production consisting of one-act plays written and directed by students. Its 20-voice choir and small chamber orchestra led by Mrs. Joelle Keene perform secular and religious repertoire at school and community events as well as two concerts per year.
Shalhevet's award-winning news source is The Boiling Point, published seven times per year in print and on the web since April 2010 at www.shalhevetboilingpoint.com. It is written, edited, and laid out by students of the high school, with help from Mrs. Joelle Keene, the paper's faculty advisor. The paper went online in April 2010 and in November was awarded Multimedia Story of the Year by the National Scholastic Press Association, which has given various awards to the paper in the past. It has also won awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and Quill & Scroll International Honorary Journalism Society. Mrs. Keene serves on the National Board of Judges of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and leads workshops at its annual convention in New York every year.
Over the 17 years that Shalhevet has been in existence, the school's athletic teams have experienced much success. Shalhevet has men's and women's soccer and basketball teams, as well as baseball, softball and girls' volleyball teams. Roller skate hockey also had a short stint from 2000 through 2002. The Baseball team has been the most successful team in recent years including playoff berths in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009 including a run to the CIF Southern Section Semi-Final in 2005. The Boys' soccer team reached the playoffs most recently in 2006 and in 2009. Boys basketball reached the playoffs in 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2001, as well as in 2009, including a playoff win and a Tier IV Championship at the prestigious Red Sarachek Basketball Tournament held at Yeshiva University in New York. The Girls' basketball team has also performed well at the Hillel Tournament in Miami, bringing back a trophy every year.
Awards: Boys Basketball - All-League - Daniel Medioni (2000, 2001); Zev Wexler (1996, 1997). Boys Baseball - All-League - Eli Lutske (2001), Max Levavi (2002), Josh Pollick (2002), Matt Rosenbaum (2003), Gabe Miller (2005), Stephan Ohayon (2004,2005) (League MVP 2005), Jordan Denitz (2005), Louis Keene (2008), Daniel Bain (2008), Jonathan Garshofsky (2008), Saul Rothman (2009). Girls Softball- All-League- Penina Smith (2009), Lindsay Wess (2009)
Nathan Reynolds, former headmaster of Chadwick, Harvard High School and Westlake School for Girls. He was headmaster at Westlake for more than 20 years, continuing through its merger with Harvard into Harvard-Westlake. Most recently, Mr. Reynolds was president of the Ojai Foundation, a support group for public schools.
Rabbi Yitzhak Etshalom, author of "Between the Lines of the Bible" (Yashar Books), serves also on the faculties of the Yeshiva of Los Angeles and the Simon Wiesenthal Center as Associate Director of Project Next Step.
Coby Linder, the drummer of the alternative rock band Say Anything, is a graduate of the 2003 class.
Zvika Krieger, national political correspondent, The New Republic; former Middle East correspondent, Newsweek, is a graduate of the 2001 class.
Brett Lipman, Semi-Professional Soccer Player, Maccabi Beit Shemesh
Evey Rothstein, fashion designer, Evey Clothing.
Josh Liggett, fashion designer, BePrecious Clothing.