March 27, 2008
Yeshivat Rambam: One Week Later
It's been just over a week since Yeshivat Rambam announced their two-school solution in an effort to attract more families and students. What has happened since then?
Rambam has held meetings with students, as well as with parents of the current eleventh grade class to discuss the changes.
A independant meeting of about fourty parents took place Tuesday night to discuss other educational options for high school students. Options discussed included Beth Tfiloh, Cardin and Yeshiva of Greater Washington (not sure if/why the school formerly known as HAGWASH was omitted). It was reported that Beth Tfiloh has no free appointments for prospective students for two weeks, and is holding a mass testing early in April. It seemed like many parents were anxious to find out more from the school about what the plan for next is going to be, and how the school will maintain or even increase the academic standards with a configuration that will undoubtedly cost more money.
The students put on a Purim shpiel at the school, which portrayed a past, present and future Yeshivat Rambam. Video is available on Facebook, and it's pretty funny. I don't know all the teachers involved, but the ones that I did recognize were very well done.
A person, or persons, unknown sprayed graffiti on the Yeshivat Rambam building that said "F*** Rambam."
The Baltimore Jewish Times has an article in this week's edition entitled "Rambam Splitting Into Two Schools." It features comments from Alex Porcelain and head of the Yeshivat Rambam debate squad, Maddy List.
The discussion on the previous post was intense, to say the least. It's hard to summarize the discussion, but it's clear there are a lot of issues here. Some are meta-issues, such as the value and place of co-education, the rightward movement of Modern Orthodoxy, the balance between secular and religious studies. Other issues are more specific: what will the actual two-school solution look like? Will more people come to the school or leave? What details will emerge at the next meeting in sixty days?
It does seem, however, that most involved in the discussion have accepted the fact that Yeshivat Rambam has to change, or die. While some would prefer to see the school close rather than change, most parents that I have spoken to, and the general evolution in tone of the comments from the previous post, indicate that many that are against the changes conceptually understand that they must be done.
I will add that I'm very impressed with all of the Yeshivat Rambam students who've commented on this blog. The fact that they confidently voiced their opinions, using their real names, and rationally debated with other commentors (most of whom were adults), shows a tremendous amount of self-confidence, courage and maturity. Thank you for participating and yiyasher kochachem.
Head of the debate squad? Is that my new title? Hahahaha....
Posted by: Maddy List at March 28, 2008 3:29 PMShavua tov to everyone-first of all, I really didn't mean to post a message on this blog again, but I wanted to echo Greg's sentiments about those kids who have posted-especially the fact that they posted under their own names-it takes courage to express your opinion that way and not anonymously like most of the adults have-that being said, I understand that in such an emotional situation it can be very difficult to attach your name to opinions that can anger or hurt other people. I still hold by my statement before-no matter how difficult or messy or whatever the process was or will be, we need to stand together. I hope most people will be able to join with me and other parents, professionals and community members to make this transition work. Ultimately life is all about change-nothing ever stays the same, no matter how much we might want it to....all the best to everyone-Chag Kasher V'Sameach-Karen Katz
Posted by: Karen Katz from Rambam at March 29, 2008 9:14 PMThe Melvin J Berman Hebrew Academy does not currently offer busing to/from Baltimore, which is probably why it was omitted. It takes a really dedicated student and parents to drive 4 times a day from Baltimore to Rockville.
Posted by: jewess at April 3, 2008 6:53 PMI tried posting on the other blog site, but i guess it was closed out. so anyways..
I am a graduate of the 2004 class of Rambam, and I must say this whole splitting up situation is quite disturbing. I personally feel, that being coed is what made Rambam as great as it is/was. I must agree with "call me gadi", when he stated that Rambam is splitting in order to cater to the greater Baltimore community which is more to the right. This point is a clear and obvious one, one that should not be argued. However, I think that whomever made this decision did not factor in a very important point. Many school's who are not suffering financially (aka BT, Mjbha) get a lot of money from their alumni. By Rambam pulling this move and upsetting alumni, such as myself, they are pretty much guaranteeing that they will receive no money from us in the future.
I can honestly say that I knew the school was going to start to die with the leaving of Clarence. Once they got rid of the heart and soul of the school, it was only a matter of time before all hell would break loose.
Perhaps there needs to be a change at the upper administrative positions. Maybe a change of face would help...who knows? It worked for YU...
I would just like to raise my glass to Rambam..you gave it a good run. Dont be pressured by the chareidi community in which you are rooted. Please just stay true to who you are. Don't be sellouts....
I'm continually shocked at how casually dismissive so many Rambam families and alumni are in regard to the school's decision to make legitimate attempt to save itself.
If you think that Rambam is going to be just like TA or BY now that it has made changes, you're wrong. If you think that every school stays the same from generation to generation, you're wrong.
Baltimore needs a school like Rambam (a modern Orthodox yeshiva day school), whether co-ed or not. All you people ready to sever ties over this are being very selfish and shortsighted. For you recent graduates, imagine yourself living in Baltimore in a few years, married with kids. Where are you going to send them to school? Are you OK with having to make a choice between TA and BT? Wouldn't you want another option, which more closely matches your outlook?
There are NON-FRUM people in their 60's who still give sizable donations yearly to TA because they have hakaras ha-tov for the school that gave them an education, and because they recognize the need for such a school to exist. I'm dismayed to see so little from some of Rambam's graduates.
Posted by: Greg at April 3, 2008 9:32 PM
