ASDS parents vote yes on Community School transition
Name, mission first changes in ‘gradual evolution’

From September 30, 2005 Jewish Voice & Herald
By Jonathan Rubin

PROVIDENCE – It was an odd sight – a Jewish meeting where the dessert is barely touched. To be sure, the assembled group of Schechter parents, alumni parents, and teachers certainly had a lot on their minds Sept. 21 – at stake was a vote to substitute portions of the Alperin Schechter Day School (ASDS) bylaws with those of the Jewish Community Day School (JCDS).

After a two-hour presentation and a somewhat clumsy last-minute word change, the Schechter membership voted for the amendment, legally transforming the name, mission, affiliation and board composition of the Conservative-aligned Schechter into the pluralistic JCDS.

Miriam Ross and Jeff Gladstone presided over their final meeting as Schechter co-presidents that evening, and introduced the two men who will be making this process happen — William McCarthy, who will be running all of the day-to-day functions of the school during this school year, and Daniel Steiner, who will be “behind the scenes” laying the groundwork for the community school. The JCDS leadership released in a written statement that they have entered into “a letter of intent” with Steiner to become the Head of the JCDS as he prepares to move here from Israel.

The pair announced that instead of the dramatic closing of one school and opening of another, the community school will “evolve” from Schechter over a period of years.

“We realized that the old model wasn’t making people feel comfortable, so we changed it,” said Alan Harlam, communications chair of the Partnership.

Sweeping changes are not immediately expected; the name will change to the Jewish Community Day School, and the school’s affiliation will shift from the Conservative movement to the transdenominational Ravsac movement (see www.ravsac.org).

Changes in curriculum, the charge of 40 volunteers in the Partnerships “Educational Excellence” committee, will begin next year, as will the first round of changes to staff and organizational structure; one possible time estimate for transition would be three to four years.
“Do we have all the answers worked out? We don’t. But we have a golden opportunity while we are on this road,” he said.

Cindy Benson, of New Bedford, had strong misgivings about the development of the community model before, but after the meeting said she was “very happy with the evolutionary process.”

Partnership initiative

The community school is the conceptual brainchild in the works for more than three years by members of the Partnership. Members of the JCDS board have praised the community school model as “the wave of the future” and point to the rapid growth of schools of this kind across the country.
“I think that JCDS will offer choice rather than ‘one size fits all,’ and opportunity rather than ideological conformity,” said new religious director Rabbi Mitchell Levine.

In many ways the new leadership at the school embodies the transdemoninational vision that the JCDS is striving towards – McCarthy is a Reform Jew, Steiner is a Conservative Israeli, and Levine is Modern Orthodox.

New paradigm

Much of the groundwork for the transition had already been laid by this point — the Schechter board had already voted to merge with the JCDS board, and the much-debated “East Providence site” was recently taken off the table as a possible interim home for the school as well.
The current location at 99 Taft Avenue with serve as the interim location for the JCDS, while a search for a permanent site continues. According to parent David Hammerstrom, of Providence, the decision to nix the East Providence office building “changed a lot of peoples minds — it changed mine.” “ I did not like that site,” he said.

Many members of the audience also seemed very happy to see key staff people in place at the school, which lost its head, Dr. Penney Stein, last year.

“I’m very excited about Dani Stiener,” said Laura Mernoff, Providence. “He seems like a real intellectual and a sensitive person.. I feel excited to have someone of his caliber in this community.”
Poor communications during this process had long been a complaint of Schechter parents, and the JCDS and ASDS leadership took care to explain all of the steps being taken and answered questions. Steiner stated emphatically that “we invite you to be a part of this process.”

The vote

Rather than combine the legal entities of the two bodies or merge assets (the ASDS has an endowment, JCDS received a $220,000 grant in February) and possibly jeopardize the tax-exempt status and accreditations of the school, the school’s lawyers recommended to use the existing “legal umbrella” that had served Schechter the past 25 years and simply amend the current bylaws.
The vote to amend the Schechter bylaws also carried in it the decision to temporarily disband the membership, or the voting body of the parents, for three months while legalistic hurdles involving the changes are cleared and to “avoid the necessities of repeat meetings, especially during the Jewish holidays,” said Gladstone. When the membership body is reconstituted in December of 2005, it will contain a “broader” composition, including clergy and community leaders not affiliated with the school.

“ASDS is not representative of all the constituencies that we want to be involved in the process,” McCarthy said. “We need to reach outside the East Side, welcome them to the school and bring them in.”

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