Jewish Day School

[Anonymous]

I am interested in sending my child to a Jewish day School at some point in the future. I know about JDPS and Charles E Smith. Are there any other ones out there? I do not know much about the differences at those individual schools... is one of the Jewish Day Schools in the area the clear leader?

[Anonymous]

Here is a list of all them.
http://shalomdc.org/page.aspx?id=220014

The Hebrew Day Institute is now in Rockville, not Silver Spring. For community schools, there is also Gesher in Fairfax and the Children's Learning Center in Rockville. The other "mainstream" schools are Orthodox.

[Anonymous]

Oh, and JDS is by far the largest and most established of the schools, with the most resources. But the other schools might provide a more "heimish" experience, and may be better suited for your child's needs.

[Anonymous]

NP here. It seems like there aren't many (any?) people on this board with children at these schools, at least I rarely see them mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Well, except CLC, they only take Jewish children (or in some cases children whose parents are committed to raising them as Jews even if they aren't technically Jewish), so that limit their audience. Plus, a large percentage, probably most, people who send their kids to Jewish day schools are doing so because they want their kids to have a solid Jewish education and Jewish communal experience, not because they are necessarily into private or independent schools per se. Finally, it's pretty obvious if you read this board that many of the posters are very much concerned with the prestige of the schools they send their kids to, and that's not really a margin that the Jewish schools do or try to compete on, with the partial exception of JPDS (which, at their open house, was very intent on letting you know all the famous people who send their children there--Sen. Lieberman, Leon Weiseltier, Rahm Emanuel, David Brooks, etc.).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, except CLC, they only take Jewish children (or in some cases children whose parents are committed to raising them as Jews even if they aren't technically Jewish), so that limit their audience. Plus, a large percentage, probably most, people who send their kids to Jewish day schools are doing so because they want their kids to have a solid Jewish education and Jewish communal experience, not because they are necessarily into private or independent schools per se. Finally, it's pretty obvious if you read this board that many of the posters are very much concerned with the prestige of the schools they send their kids to, and that's not really a margin that the Jewish schools do or try to compete on, with the partial exception of JPDS (which, at their open house, was very intent on letting you know all the famous people who send their children there--Sen. Lieberman, Leon Weiseltier, Rahm Emanuel, David Brooks, etc.).

All of whom send their kids to JPDS to get a good Jewish education, not because they are concerned with the prestige of the school.

[Anonymous]

Still, there must be moms on these forums with kids at these schools. There are always plenty of replies to questions about Jewish preschool. If anyone is on here who is familiar, I'd also be interested in learning more about these schools.

[Anonymous]

I grew up here and went to a Jewish summer camp with tons of kids from JDS. They were all wonderful kids and loved the school. I stayed in touch with some. Judaism and living Jewish is a strong focus at the school; a portion of Senior year is spent in Israel. However, none of the kids I knew were so "hard-core" Jewish that it was isolating or anything. Really, it's just the equivelant of going to a Catholic school. And, FWIW, the kids I knew from there went on to great colleges and became very successfull. One in particular went to Columbia and graduated from Yale Law.

[Anonymous]

My child will attend Gesher in Fairfax next year. It truly seem like a warm, friendly, nurturing school. We are excited to go there!

[Anonymous]

The majority of my friends who grew up in this area went to JDS or the Berman Hebrew Academy. We plan to send our kids to one of those schools, but since they are still pretty young, we havent done much research just yet.

Going to a Jewish school presents some challenges, in that you have a dual curriculum - usually half day secular and half day religious subjects. They also tend to be smaller - JDS (120 per grade), BHA (50 per grade). Extracurricular activites can be limited bc the school day is longer due to the dual curriculum and the smaller grades.

From my experience, kids tend to go to pretty good colleges, particularly bc they are looking at colleges with a strong jewish/orthodox presense and, for a variety of reasons, that exists more in the top tier schools.

I went to a Jewish day school in another area and out of a graduating class of 30, 6 went to ivy league schools and 28 went to schools ranked in the top 50.

[Anonymous]

I attended Jewish day schools through high school, and while the dual curriculum was a challenge, it made college seem so easy, like a joke. I went from having 9 or 10 classes a semester, each five days a week to having 4 classes three hours a week each.

[svitale]

Hi,
My child enrolled at Hebrew Day Institute (in Rockville - used to be in Kemp Mill) last winter after we realized that her previous school was a bad fit for her emotional needs. (she's gifted but has huge anxiety-related issues). HDI is fabulous - small, warm, caring, and strong academically. They pride themselves on meeting your child's needs - very different from the many other schools we visited which all seemed to want only children who would fit into their mold. We are delighted with HDI and wish we had changed schools sooner. The teachers are incredibly committed, energetic, creative, and loving. They really do make learning fun. There is not a lot of pressure in terms of tons of homework, which I think is a very good thing (in my opinion, these schools that load on the homework are potentially very damaging to children). There are a lot of great after-school activities - karate, chess, etc. I honestly think you would love the school and encourage you to visit. It is a K-6 school. The Judaics teachers are wonderful and so are the secular teachers - the music and art teachers are fabulous as well.

[Anonymous]

We had a really horrific experience with the admissions folks at JPDS and I know of other families who had the same. I know families that are very happy with the school, but they really are caught up in the prestige thing at the admissions level, and have done awfully heartless things (can't share identifying details).

[Anonymous]

Prestige of the families?

Anyone know how hard it is to get into JDS?

[Anonymous]

If you want to go to JDS, it is my understanding that they take all students, unless there is a special need that would prevent the school from educating them successfully. No entrance exams or anything like that--the students represent a wide range of abilities.