Keeping the “Streets” Out

By COLlive staff

What can Chabad schools and educational institutions realistically do to create an atmosphere which fosters Kedusha in the daily environment and even spills over to the home?

This was a question raised at a planning meeting of the annual Chinuch Kinusim, the summer conferences for Chabad educators, and it engaged the committee in heated discussion.

One principal put it this way, “What can we do to keep the “street” out of our schools? Everyone understands that this is one of the greatest challenges of our times but few practical plans have been developed.”

Dr. Shlomo Zimmerman, a psychologist who works with Chabad families, has teamed up with a committee headed by Rabbi Zalman Goldstein, a principal in Oholei Torah boys school in Crown Heights, to focus on this issue.

Together, they have been developing a presentation to be delivered at the two upcoming Kinus HaMechanchos-women’s conference and Kinus HaMechanchim-men’s conference, organized by the Chinuch Office of Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch.

Speaking about the preparation work, Dr. Zimmerman said he will not so much call attention to the obvious but rather focus on “a meaningful approach to the creation of an environment of “Kedusha” within schools and strategies for mechanchim and mechanchos to follow.”

“There are preventative measures which can and must be taken in homes and at schools,” he states.

When asked if he believes that it is even possible to develop a general approach which gives direction to schools and teachers, Rabbi Nochem Kaplan , director of the Merkos Chinuch Office, candidly said that he didn’t know.

“But I believe that it is the obligation of all institutions and mechanchim to explore every possibility,” said Rabbi Kaplan, who served as president of the National Council for Private School Accreditation.

Dr. Zimmerman’s approach is that schools need to address the needs of the “whole child.”

“A school must see itself responsible for not only the student’s intellectual needs – and yeshivas and day schools not only the spiritual needs – but also the emotional needs of all children,” he said.

“This necessitates the creation of a positive and emotionally nurturing environment. It involves modeling positive behaviors and listening,” Zimmerman added and said he plans to discuss the process, the steps and markers which lead to the atmosphere of Kedusha which should prevail in a school.

The 2012 Kinus HaMechanchos-women’s conference will take place at the DOLCE, Norwalk in Connecticut on Monday and Tuesday 12-13 Tammuz, July 2-3. The 2012 Kinus HaMechanchim will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Danbury, Connecticut, on 26-27 Tammuz, July 16-17. Registration is open at ChinuchOffice.org