As you and many of your readers are aware (certainly those with children in Jewish day schools), tuition sustainability coupled with educational excellence is very difficult to achieve. We must account for increased expenses (including increased financial aid needs). At Moriah, we have decided to face these challenges without raising tuition.
The high cost of tuition is no longer sustainable by many of our families. This challenge has led to some tough but responsible decisions.
We are extremely disappointed that The Jewish Week framed a negative article about some of the difficult decisions Moriah has made in our effort to reach sustainability (“Increased Competition Shakes Up N.J. Schools,” April 12). In addition, many of the facts in your recent article were incorrect and exaggerated. These are posted in a letter sent to our parent body.
Through JEFG (Jewish Education for Generations of North New Jersey), area schools are working together toward sustainable excellence. One initiative was to help the participating schools achieve a 10 percent operational efficiency. Moriah has embarked on a mission to achieve tuition-sustainable excellence leaving no stone unturned in the process.
The true victims of the tuition crisis are the parents who are barely able to afford today’s day school tuition. Increasing enrollment only masks the problems of tuition sustainability — it doesn’t solve the problem.
The depiction of Englewood as a shrinking left-wing Orthodox community is highly insulting and inaccurate. The Englewood Orthodox community continues to flourish and represents a diversity of religious philosophies.
We are very puzzled as to why you seemed to think that the reality of a New Jersey day school adjusting its expenses to recalibrate to a changing environment should be distorted into a front-page gossip story. Moriah has a 49-year legacy of excellence and will continue to serve as a model for premier Jewish education long into the future. Your article has, among other things, insulted our esteemed local rabbis and the Englewood Orthodox Jewish community. Without an apology, it serves to damage significantly the credibility of your publication.
Evan Sohn, President of Moriah
Jay Goldberg, Chairman of the Board
Dr. Elliot Prager, Principal
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