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Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Second letter from Board of Trustees to the Shalhevet Community

This story is part of the coverage that was named 2010 Multimedia Story of the Year by the National Scholastic Press Association and American Society of News Editors.

April 30, 2010

MESSAGE TO THE SHALHEVET COMMUNITY

Shalhevet High School was founded in 1992 to fill a clear need in the Los Angeles Jewish Community: the need for a  co-educational, Zionistic,  Modern Orthodox school which would excel at providing both a college preparatory curriculum and strong Judaic studies.  Central to the school’s philosophy was the development of a Just Community, based on the work of Lawrence Kohlberg, as well as the use of moral dilemmas and cognitive dissonance to foster moral development.

The success of the high school program was recognized and embraced by the community, so much so that there were subsequent requests to add a Middle School, Elementary School, and ultimately an Early Childhood Center (ECC).   The Board supported the development of these schools, and provided resources to provide for their growth and development.

During the 2009-10 academic year, the Board commissioned an outside consulting firm, Measuring Success, to perform a detailed evaluation of the school, using the quantitative performance tools and models that they have developed for evaluating private schools.  Based on this review, the Board made the difficult decision to close the Middle and Elementary Schools, as well as the Early Childhood Center.  In conjunction with the closure of these schools, the administration has worked diligently with the affected students, their families, and the teachers to minimize the trauma of this transition, and to facilitate placement into other schools.

Rabbi Elchanan Weinbach, who came to Shalhevet as Head of School at the beginning of the 2008-09 academic year, has announced that he will be leaving for personal reasons, to pursue other opportunities on the east coast, where he will be closer to his extended family.  We would like to thank him for his dedicated service to Shalhevet over these past 2 years, and wish him hatzlachah as he pursues these other opportunities.

We must now focus on ensuring that Shalhevet High School continues to thrive during this restructuring, and that our students perceive no interruption in their education, nor in the environment that makes the Shalhevet experience so unique.  The Board feels truly blessed to have a committed faculty, administration, and parent body who are already working together on many levels to ensure a smooth transition.  On a community level, we are forming a Rabbinic Advisory Committee that we can rely on not only for halachic issues, but also for educational issues, to complement the tremendous talents of our Judaic faculty.

We are pleased to announce that Board leadership remains strong for the 2010-11 academic year, with Mr. Larry Gill becoming President of the Board, and Ms. Esther Feder assuming the role of Chairman of the Board.  Under their guidance, a Head of School Search Committee will be formed to identify the next leader for our treasured school.

We would like to thank our dedicated faculty and administration, to whom we have entrusted the education of our children, and without whom nothing would be possible.  We also wish to thank the entire community, for being our partners in ensuring the continued success of Shalhevet.  May we have the merit to go from strength to strength.

Respectfully yours,

Board of Directors

Shalhevet School

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