Parents Fighting School Sale, Demographics

At least 60 parents have banded together in protest of the Shulamith administration’s decision to sell the girls school and focus its attention on its Long Island branch. Michael Datikash

At least 60 parents have banded together in protest of the Shulamith administration’s decision to sell the girls school and focus its attention on its Long Island branch. Michael Datikash

by Carolyn Slutsky
Staff Writer

‘Rivka Schwartz” does not know where she would educate her daughters if not for Shulamith School for Girls, the first Orthodox school for girls in the nation, which has been located in Brooklyn since 1930.

But Schwartz may be facing a dilemma when Shulamith sells its building, as is being planned by the school’s administration, and potentially closes its doors for good.

“There aren’t any options; there is no school like Shulamith in Brooklyn,” said Schwartz of the school her daughters attend and where she herself went. (Neither Schwartz nor any other parent contacted for this story permitted their name to be used, for fear of retribution by school officials.)

“All these children will have no school,” Schwartz continued. “There’s no all-girls

school that marches in the Israeli parade and gives children the education that we require.”
In an effort to hold on to what they see as a unique school — Orthodox but Zionist, religiously fervent but engaged with the wider, secular world — Shulamith parents are fighting the proposed sale of the Brooklyn campus. They have hired an attorney and are exploring the possibility of a lawsuit.

The fight over Shulamith points to the changing character of Midwood’s Jewish community as it is being pulled to the right religiously and as Sephardic Jews increasingly buy up real estate in the area. And it is emblematic of other struggles within Orthodoxy pitting centrists against more right-leaning elements.

Shulamith has a long history in Brooklyn, first in the Borough Park section and later in Midwood. Eight years ago, the administration opened a branch on Long Island in response to what it saw as a growing centrist community there that would benefit from the school’s religious Zionist perspective.

The Long Island branch has been the school’s main focus of late, as spelled out in a letter from Rabbi Moshe Zwick, the school’s executive director, to parents last week.
“The Board came to the painful, if inevitable, conclusion that the school’s primary future efforts need to be focused on Long Island in order for the school to survive and, indeed, flourish. As most of you are aware, this will involve the sale of the Brooklyn campus,” said the letter.

Now, says Rabbi Zwick, the population in Brooklyn has undergone a demographic shift, and there is not a viable community left to fill the school’s desks.

“Our enrollment has been very poor,” he told The Jewish Week. “We’re dropping like flies because in Brooklyn demographics are such that the people who want a Shulamith education are not there.” Rabbi Zwick said the school’s enrollment in 1992 was 1,076. Today, he says, there are 544 students in nursery through high school.
Rabbi Abraham Lieberman, head of Jewish studies at Shulamith in Brooklyn, gave weight to the argument around population shift.

“Demographics have changed tremendously. The Modern Orthodox community in Brooklyn is not what it once was; it’s more a yeshiva world. Flatbush has now moved more to the right and most of our constituency is in Long Island and Teaneck. Some are still here but not enough to make a big impact,” said Rabbi Lieberman.

Still, he added, rumors that the school will close entirely are unfounded.

“Closing the school in Brooklyn is not an issue. They might move to a different location, but too much is invested here and too many people care about this Brooklyn school for it to close.”

Many of the parents who don’t buy the numbers presented by Rabbi Zwick have banded together and hired an attorney, Robert Tolchin of Jaroslawicz & Jaros, LLC. At least 60 parents have so far signed authorizations for Tolchin to represent them. The parents’ group is considering a lawsuit against the school, which they say has not been transparent in the proposed sale of the building, election of board members and general school issues.
“They’re trying to use the excuse of not being viable, but we have 364 children from nursery to eighth grade,” said Schwartz. “Who decides what viable is? To us, every Jewish child is viable.”

Tolchin described the controversy at the school to be “a railroading of the normal process,” with parents given no say and left in the dark as to major financial and philosophical decisions regarding the school’s future. He said that the school has been operated recklessly as far as tuition is concerned, with no endowment or formal scholarship process and a pay-as-you-can policy for those who cannot afford full tuition. Parents added that no fundraising has been undertaken to try to help keep the school afloat and that requests to review the school’s bylaws have been ignored.

“Zwick has the power to ... undermine the school — turn away new students, stop paying good teachers so they leave, create a fait accompli by being sneaky and underhanded — and that’s something we’re very concerned about,” said Tolchin.

Rabbi Zwick denied these charges, stating that he has brought “voucher” programs to the school to offset tuition and has made it a priority to accept all children regardless of ability to pay, a situation he admitted has landed the school in a deficit of more than $1 million.
In a letter sent to Rabbi Zwick earlier this month by the attorney and obtained by The Jewish Week, the parents wrote, “This is a community school, not private property. The people most impacted by your actions are the parents and the students, and they should be involved in plans for the school’s future — not actively excluded, with all decisions taken mysteriously and in secret.”

Rabbi Kenneth Auman, rabbi of Young Israel of Flatbush, confirmed that neighborhood demographics are changing but said that a decision on a community school’s future should be made by the community. He added that parents have paid money toward a building fund and that “it doesn’t appear to me to be morally correct to take community money and unilaterally transfer it to somewhere else.”

The school’s building — originally the site of Vitagraph Studios and now a complex that includes a state-of-the-art health club and other amenities — is now under contract to be sold. Tolchin and several parents said rumors abound that the buyer is a board member, a charge Rabbi Zwick vehemently denied, though he did note that the property would be sold for around $20 million. The money will largely go toward buying and renovating a new building in Inwood in the Five Towns that will house the Long Island branch, currently scattered in three separate locations, under one roof.

“The bottom line is, if you’re responsible for my child’s education, you should tell me what you’re planning to do with my child when you decide to close this building,” said a parent who asked for anonymity.

From the perspective of Long Island parents, the move is mixed. One mother, who attended the school in Brooklyn as a girl and now has a daughter enrolled in the Long Island branch, said she is sad, but not surprised, to see the Brooklyn branch closing.
“Shulamith had a niche for a long time, but a lot of the population in Brooklyn is more to the right and the school has lost a lot of its appeal,” she said. “I’m happy that they’re going to set up shop here and make [the Long Island school] the flagship place. ... I want them to succeed, and if this is where it’s going to succeed, that’s where it’s going to be.”
Rabbi Zwick predicted that the school’s enrollment in Brooklyn would continue to decline and that he and his board had to move the main operation elsewhere.

“The parents don’t mean anything bad, the ones who don’t want us to sell, but there’s no future here,” he said.

Schwartz feels differently.

“We feel that every moment Rabbi Zwick is sitting there he’s making bad decisions that are causing our demise,” said Schwartz. “For us this is not an honor thing, we’re not interested in being big board members, but we’re looking to get our own board in so we can make decisions for our children’s future.”

E-mail: Carolyn@jewishweek.org

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