By COLlive reporter
While to numbers of students in “out of town” schools, in general, is stagnant, Chabad schools continue to grow, a recent review has concluded.
Every fall, the Merkos Chinuch Office, a division of Merkos L’iyonei Chinuch in Brooklyn, NY, undertakes an extensive review of Chabad school for pragmatic and practical reasons.
Internally, the facts and figures which emerge help determine the kinds of services the schools will need, for agencies such as the National Accreditation Board of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch it is a requirement.
The umbrella agency of Private school accreditors, NCPSA, requires it as the US Department of Education uses those numbers in planning.
For the Merkos Chinuch Office, it is essential to have such facts as enrollment and graduation numbers, how many children go off to which high schools and mesivtas, and so on.
Of course, questionnaires are sent and resent, but ultimately most schools retire of personal call so it takes quite a while to compile more or less accurate figures, according to Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, director of the Chinuch Office. Mrs. Chaya Winner spent months at the job.
Some of the facts that have emerged this year; The exponential growth that early childhood centers experienced a decade ago has slowly ebbed. Chabad elementary schools continue to show strong growth. Witness the Jewish Education Center in North Miami Beach FL, which has grown to more than 1,500 students, from fewer than 1,000 in five years.
Cheder Chabad schools in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Kingston have all experienced steady growth. Smaller community schools such as Maimonides in Portland OR, Atlanta GA, Oxnard CA, and others are all solidifying and expanding.
A number of new Mesivtas which have and Limudei Chol option have opened in the last three years and they serve a demographic which has been ignored too long.
There are now more than 210 early childhood centers in the US and Canada, 160 of them are run independently of day schools. In the English-speaking world, the Chabad network of schools includes elementary schools 54 high schools and Mesivtas, 12 English-speaking seminaries and 13 yeshivas gedolas. They enroll more than 26,000 students.
someone should create an online directory of Chabad yeshivos and semminaries with descriptions of the school and its educational philosophy, who it would suit, who are the staff members, who to contact, etc.
A serious Bochur is obviously going to follow the Rebbe’s directive to not learn Limudei Chol. Only Chabad lite has lost the basic belief that money comes from Hashem and not from a high school diploma. Anyway the Rebbe wanted everyone to go on Shlichus which definitely doesn’t require a high school diploma.
Which Yeshiva’s cater to”good/serious” bochurm who want a place with a limuddei chol option?