Yeshivat He'Atid - Veering Away From its Founding Mission
It pains me to write this as one of the founders of the school, but I'm afraid that they have abandoned one of the key principles on which the school was founded.
Yeshivat He'Atid was started a decade ago by a dedicated group of parents who saw a need for a different type of Yeshiva Day School. The founding principles were threefold:
1) Affordability
2) Differentiated Learning
3) Sensitivity to Working Parents
Unfortunately, they seem to have forgotten that third principle and as a result I can no longer support their mission. From an e-mail sent on Friday:
The last day of Pesach vacation is Monday, April 5th. We will have a full Zoom schedule for April 6th and 7th, and return to our building for in-person learning on Thursday, April 8th.
This enables us to celebrate the second days of chag with our family and friends, and confirm that no one we were with develops any symptoms before returning to our building. Our goal is to minimize unnecessary quarantining of classes and grades that disrupt learning, inconvenience parents, and put us at risk of being flagged or shut down by the New Jersey Department of Health.
It's virtually impossible to rationalize two zoom days when ALL other schools are comfortable returning to in class learning. Even the ones that routinely torture their children out of fear, not facts. It's bad enough that Isru Chag is a day off when just about everyone else has to return to work. But here we have a chumrah (one that no other school deems necessary) squarely on the backs of hard-working parents! Not to mention the continued damage it is doing to the kids who have already missed many days of school, most of whom have been quarantined (unnecessarily) at least once.
Yeshivat He'Atid was founded with the philosophy that it would be sensitive and make decisions with working parents in mind. The fact that they have chosen to do something that hurts working parents shows that they have lost their way and abandoned a core tenet of their mission.
I quietly resigned from the board earlier this year in protest of the unnecessary and harmful Covid restrictions and large-scale quarantines that exist to this day. But since my name is closely tied to Yeshivat He'Atid, I need to make absolutely clear that I no longer support the direction in which the school is headed.
Never in a million years did I think that the school would resort to negating one of their core tenets. I sincerely hope that the leadership can right its course and return the school to its founding roots.
I hear you, but we know that several teachers wrote to the board when you were on it about the abusive environment. You were on the board when 1/3 of the teachers left. Nothing was done.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you should be surprised now that the same personality has turned against you.
I know because I was one of the ones who left. Greetings from Israel.
ReplyDeleteI loved being told the Israeli teachers are lazy compared to Americans - by Israeli! And then being told only upset because I am a women. Glad I left years ago.
DeleteI think you're confusing two distinct issues: covid precautions and being working parent oriented. The post chag closure is to address the former, not an undermining of the latter. I have yet to see any evidence they've moved away from a commitment to working parents. I get it, you have really intense opinions on covid19. But, candidly, you're allowing it to cloud your judgment. I used to appreciate your clarity of thought and visionary views on modern Jewish education.
ReplyDeleteIt's really disappointing to see where you've gone over the past year.
So please explain why NO OTHER SCHOOL is doing the same thing? Does He'Atid have super human knowledge that deems this necessary that nobody else has access to?
DeleteI'm not thrilled with the extra two days of Zoom either, but I'm also not unhappy with a little extra caution when it comes to an historic pandemic.
DeleteLord knows no one is going to follow cdc guidelines over Pesach. Even if it's a bad idea, and not particularly working parent focused, I just fail to see how this isolated incident warrants a condemnation of the entire school and its mission? Show me a pattern and then you'll have a point. Even then, though, as a parent who loves sending his kids to the school, as a member of the community who has been unshackled from the economic servitude that is traditional modern day school tuition, why such an extreme response? Use your influence to make changes. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
You think I didn't try to influence things from within? There is most definitely a pattern - I don't feel the need to air all the "dirty laundry". Suffice it to just say that this was the final straw for me.
ReplyDeleteThat's the difference between government social spending and private charity. The former is never held accountable and views their failures as a reason to double down and spend more money on their failed policies. Private charity is different. They can and should be held accountable by their donors and that is what I'm doing here.
It's possible I'm not paying close enough attention, but perhaps you missed a step - making the rest of us aware of these issues before walking away. Giving us an opportunity to effect "shareholder" change. I'm 100% in your corner in taking a market approach, but transparency of information is important (obviously within reason). Otherwise, it's all just back room dealings amongst the powerful few. The rest of us are left in the dark wondering why a big supporter walked away and what might have been done about it.
DeleteFair comment. I don't necessarily disagree. I wanted to avoid taking this step while there was still some hope for change. The leadership is choosing a different path. That's fine and is their right. But since my name is so closely tied to that of the school, I felt the need to publicly disassociate with them until/if they return back to their roots.
ReplyDeleteYavneh just announced remote learning full week after Pesach. YNJ has announced protocols that will effectively require a good percentage of its student body to remote. He'atid, ahead of the curve.
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious Scott! Using Yavneh as an example of whom to follow? They are the school the most guilty of torturing parents and kids for no good reason. I actually see it as validation that I'm correct.
DeleteSecondly, I've gotten several emails/texts from angry Yavneh parents asking me to blog about it again. I simply don't care enough anymore to do so.
"It's virtually impossible to rationalize two zoom days when ALL other schools are comfortable returning to in class learning" Not accurate. From a Yavneh email:
ReplyDeleteBased on this week’s announcement from the CDC, and information from our pre-Pesach survey, we are adjusting that approach and will return to school for remote learning from April 6 – April 9, resuming with in person instruction on April 12 for those students who are eligible (please refer to guidelines below.)
One thing all of this shows. When I wrote my first blog post "Sacrificing our kids on the alter of Covid", I was dead on when I said "And has anyone given any thought as to how we get out of this? What scenarios need to be met for life to go back to normal for our children? Nobody will say. A vaccine? We've had a flu vaccine for decades and 35,000 people on average still die every year from the flu in the US."
ReplyDeleteThe new standard is ZERO risk which is by definition impossible. We truly lack leadership here. Really sad...
There are many of us who have lost people quite dear to us due to COVID. Some have died; others are on ventilators or recovering from strokes, etc. Have you not had this experience? It is devastating. Halacha dictates that we try to curtail mortality associated with this virus. Two days of zoom school pales in comparison to the morbidity and mortality caused by the virus that many of us face every day.
ReplyDeleteSusan: I'm sorry to hear your pain. Of course I too know of many people who have been sick and/or died from Covid. But that has absolutely nothing to do with keeping kids on zoom. The chances of an asymptomatic child passing on the virus to an adult is close to zero. Yes, its not precisely zero but if we take that attitude, we really shouldn't so things like drive anymore. Your chances of making it successfully to your destination are not zero. In fact, on average 100 people a day die in car accidents in this country.
ReplyDeleteIf the standard is that we are aiming for RISK before we return to a normal life, then it's never going to happen.
Gershon, as to your comment that Yavneh is a bad example, I was simply disproving your theory that, and I quote, "NO OTHER SCHOOL is doing the same thing?" (emphasis not added).
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, Covid is sweeping through the school. Unprecedented numbers since the return to in-person learning in September. I don't think it takes a data scientist to draw the parallel between this outbreak and Purim. We got lucky with chaggim in the fall, mostly I suspect due to "covid fatigue" not yet having set in, plus there was no vaccine. I suspect people's conduct was very different with Purim ("I've had it with not seeing my family and friends and hey, there's a vaccine"). Pesach has the potential to ravage us. We're not there yet. I fail to see why folks insist on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Stay the damn course, suck it up, deal with it. We're in an historic pandemic - contrary to your silly comparison to seasonal flu. I applaud Heatid and Yavneh for immensely sensible precautions.
Again, the chances of an asymptomatic person passing on the disease is extremely low. That a scientific fact. With your approach, it’s ein l’davar sof. If everyone sat in their homes all day, there would also be less spread. Life is about making reasonable trade offs. This is jot one of them. By your standards, you should never get into a car again. How reckless! 100 people die every day on car accidents on American roads.
Delete- while I am not taking a side, using asymptomatic spread being rare- a true fact- as an argument that has anything to do with the school question makes me suspicious you don’t know what the word asymptomatic means. You seem to be saying that, due to this, kids without symptoms can’t spread because asymptomatic spread is rare. However the fact that someone doesn’t have symptoms at the moment does not mean they are currently asymptomatic. They could be presymptomatic. See my comments on terminology below. Again, as I say below, not taking a side. At the same time using the fact that asymptomatic spread is rare , again , a true fact, as a reason for schools seems to imply you don’t understand the terminology. I again stress not taking a side here. It’s just the asymptomatic stat has nothing to do with anything . See comments down below.
DeleteI will also throw out another thing into the mix no one has mentioned: long Covid. Even in kids it’s a solid percent of cases.
Deletehttps://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/962830/s1079-ons-update-on-long-covid-prevalence-estimate.pdf
See blue bar graph
Your statement that assumption spread is virtually non-existent is as odds with JAMA's January study which finds "approximately 59% of all transmission came from asymptomatic
ReplyDeletetransmission". Does that change any of your opinions?
That was just analytic modeling based on assumptions. No humans actually participated. In actual studies examining actual human outcomes it’s been shown that asymptotic/ pre symptomatic spread is rare and not Important to overall spread. Same for children (with or without symptoms).
DeleteJust to clarify, I think some people don’t fully the jargon.
ReplyDelete(And this does not prove either side it’s just a side note: )
There are two different things, “asymptomatic” and “presymptomatic”
Asymptomatic means never get symptoms. Presymptomatic is people who don’t have them yet and later do.
“Presymptomatic” spread is much more common than from people who end up “asymptomatic.”
This came up in the summer when some WHO person said “asymptomatic” spread was rare and it was a whole to-do, because people didn’t realize that, yes, “asymptomatic spread is rare.” https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200609/who-clairifies-comments-on-asymptomatic-covid-spread
Presymptomatic spread is what isn’t as rare.
In fact presymptomatic spread might actually be most common, specifically the 48 hours before symptoms. Intuitive explanation: that’s the highest the virus levels get before your body starts killing it/responding. See this:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus#:~:text=We%20know%20that%20a%20person,start%20to%20experience%20symptoms.
Now: if I were to take a side on this whole discussion I’d start going into weeds of what percentage of pediatric cases are asymptomatic. Because those are the cases where transmission is actually rare.
The CDC website says this:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/pediatric-hcp.html
Specifically look under the sections that start
1) Infections and Transmission Among Children
2) Clinical Presentation
Again, this isn’t about taking a side on anything and frankly doesn’t really prove either side right, as it says asymptomatic rate in kids (see (2) ) could be anywhere from 16% to 50%.
Just making sure people are on same on jargon-wise, lol.
Shkoiach
Just to clarify, I think some people don’t fully the jargon.
ReplyDelete(And this does not prove either side it’s just a side note: )
There are two different things, “asymptomatic” and “presymptomatic”
Asymptomatic means never get symptoms. Presymptomatic is people who don’t have them yet and later do.
“Presymptomatic” spread is much more common than from people who end up “asymptomatic.”
This came up in the summer when some WHO person said “asymptomatic” spread was rare and it was a whole to-do, because people didn’t realize that, yes, “asymptomatic spread is rare.” https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200609/who-clairifies-comments-on-asymptomatic-covid-spread
Presymptomatic spread is what isn’t as rare.
In fact presymptomatic spread might actually be most common, specifically the 48 hours before symptoms. Intuitive explanation: that’s the highest the virus levels get before your body starts killing it/responding. See this:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/if-youve-been-exposed-to-the-coronavirus#:~:text=We%20know%20that%20a%20person,start%20to%20experience%20symptoms.
Now: if I were to take a side on this whole discussion I’d start going into weeds of what percentage of pediatric cases are asymptomatic. Because those are the cases where transmission is actually rare.
The CDC website says this:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/pediatric-hcp.html
Specifically look under the sections that start
1) Infections and Transmission Among Children
2) Clinical Presentation
Again, this isn’t about taking a side on anything and frankly doesn’t really prove either side right, as it says asymptomatic rate in kids (see (2) ) could be anywhere from 16% to 50%.
Just making sure people are on same on jargon-wise, lol.
Shkoiach
Excuse the typos. You get the idea though.
DeleteIf folks have time on their hands for reading quite an eyeful , feel free to knock yourself out. Again, keeping with the theme, not taking a side. Just about folks being in same page what the facts are, what terminology is, e.g. “asymptomatic spread is rare,” etc. anyhoo- here’s the link.
Deletehttps://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/transmission_k_12_schools.html
Also: another source , this time about Halacha side of it:
Deletehttps://www.torahweb.org/torah/special/2020/rsch_sakana.html
Highlight:
“ The Gemorah (Yevamos 12b) tells us that the answer is to be found in Tehillim (116:6), "Shomer p'soyim Hashem." Whenever there is a slight sofek sakanah that is nowhere near fifty-fifty[2], the halacha declares that it depends on the attitude of the patient. If the patient whose life is at risk (or the parent of the patient who is responsible for his well-being) is personally not nervous about the danger, then the halacha does not consider it a sofek sakanah; we apply "Shomer p'soyim Hashem." But if the patient whose life is at risk is nervous and concerned about the sofek sakanah, then the halacha requires us to act based on, "V'chai bohem v'lo sh'yomus bohem", and the sofek sakanah takes precedence over almost all of the mitzvos of the Torah. Shevet Levi had bitachon, and therefore were not concerned, and therefore for their children it was not considered a sofek sakanah, but with respect to the other shevatim who were concerned it was in fact a sofek sakanah, so every shevet was acting k'din.
However, if one individual is not concerned, but the nature of the sakanah is such that everyone is interdependent and the individual who personally is not nervous may possibly spread a disease to others who are concerned about its spread, then the concept of Shomer p'soyim Hashem does not apply. The individual who is not concerned does not have the right to determine for the others who are concerned that there is no sakanah for them.
”
Again- this doesn’t prove a side, and here’s why:
One could say, “yes, Halacha is quite clear you need to follow the other person’s risk tolerance. That has nothing to do with whether their lack of tolerance is rational.”