TI Religious School

At Temple Israel’s Religious School, we are dedicated to providing your children with a safe and enjoyable school year filled with new and exciting educational experiences. We recognize the challenges of this very unique school year and want to share with you our more specific plans.

This letter addresses each of the following questions:
What Are You Doing to Make the School Safe from COVID?
We have worked hard to design a program that is safe for students and teachers. In addition to our focus on health and safety, we all understand that we must follow state guidelines and the recommendations of our Medical Advisory Committee (which has been focusing on these issues since April). We would be foolish not to admit that our plans could need to change to reflect changing conditions and we are preparing for all of the various changes that this pandemic could throw at us (both bad and good).

How Will You this Program Line Up with the Public Schools’ Plans?
We had hoped that our scheduling plans could be announced in conjunction with the plans from our local school committees. It seems that Sharon Public Schools’ plan is still in the works and therefore we have decided to announce our plans to help reduce uncertainty. These plans are based upon our expectations of how the public-school system schedules will operate based on the information we have to date so stay tuned if the local school committees suddenly change their initial plans for school schedules.

So What is the Religious School Schedule?
This plan is in effect until Thanksgiving with an update to be provided to you by November 1 if changes are required after Thanksgiving.

• School will meet online Monday - Thursday. The individual class schedule is attached. We expect classes to commence in September and await a definitive date from the Public Schools before we finalize the 2020 calendar.
• Sunday programming will be in person for grades K - 4 on a rotation system. This is required to limit the number of students in person at any time.
• An outdoor classroom will be set up to help maximize the days we can meet.
• We believe we can spread the in-person meetings over many indoor classrooms and spaces as well. This increases safety and the number of students we can serve.
• We will announce more specifics of the rotations and calendar as we get closer to the start of the school year.

What is the At Home/Online Learning Plan?

• Textbooks/workbooks/materials will be distributed at the start of the year.
• Monthly activities boxes with crafts, cooking, worksheets, treats, and more will be produced and shared with families.
• Student-teacher interactions will include submissions via email as well as synchronous class time.
• Increased music education with Elah will take place. (See schedule)
• We are excited by a number of new and innovative programs to make the school year more exciting.
  • The at home ‘box’ is a way to breakdown the barrier between Temple and Home and create a more integrated learning experience.
  • Rabbi Rackover will continue with Circle Time.
  • We’ll have more contests and means of engaging students of all ages.
• In addition to all of the above, our teachers are being trained on additional tools for enhancing students’ remote learning experiences. We are going to avail ourselves of every tool we can.

What Will Shabbat programming Include?

• Intensive program for 5th, 6th and 7th grade – shorter service with more opportunities for engagement with Gila.
• A schedule of voluntary programming opportunities for younger students will also be available – Books on the Lawn, park visits, picnics.
• We are preparing opportunities for meet-ups with classroom teachers on Shabbat for outdoor learning and prayer.

What if My Child Needs a Personalized Program?

• Where desired, we will seek to provide tutors for one-on-one or small groups, in person or online (we expect there will be an additional fee for some aspects of this option).
• We understand that many families face different educational and health challenges and we look forward to speaking with you to address any specific concerns for your child.

What if School Closes Due to the Pandemic?

• We plan to continue to provide classes throughout the year.
• Consistent with our long-standing practice, we ask parents to have tuition paid on at least a monthly basis in advance of the current school month.
• If due to the pandemic the school cannot reopen (we define being “open” as our being able to provide online or in-person education), parents would not be responsible for the period of time in which the school is forced to be closed commencing with the first day of the calendar month after the school is forced to be closed and until it reopens. Hopefully, we never will need to face this issue.

The Temple Israel Religious School is committed to working proactively with you to help your children enjoy a nurturing and educational experience. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We are so looking forward to seeing everybody!
Rabbi Rackover  mrackover@tisharon.org
Rabbi Silverman

Registration Form
Make a Payment or Deposit here - https://www.tisharon.org/payment.php 

The fee structure this year is identical to last.

We will make every effort to meet the needs of people experiencing financial hardships due to the quarantine and economic challenges. As always you can reach out to Rabbi Rackover and/or Josh Blumenthal. All information is held confidentially. The executive director manages scholarships and subsidies.

Fees are subsidized, heavily, by Temple commitments. Please remember that fees account for less than 50% of costs.

Families Meeting or above Minimum Commitment of $720

• Kindergarten $720
• 1st & 2nd Grade $970
• 3rd - 7th Grade $1515
• Bus/Diem Update when we determine is possible this year.

Families below Minimum Commitment of $720

• Kindergarten $1000
• 1st & 2nd Grade $1400
• 3rd - 7th Grade $2000
• Bus/Diem Update when we determine is possible this year.

There is a $250 per child (non-refundable) deposit. This must be paid, or the registration will not be considered completed.

Deposits are applied to your balance

Bnei Mitzvah Year Tuition and Program Fee
For children with a celebration in the 2021 calendar year (1/1/21 – 12/31/21) we bundle together all charges into a $3200 fee
The fee includes:

• 20 Hours of Tutoring
• Religious School ($1500)
• Bnei Mitzvah Seminar
• Basic Kiddush including Simcha Fee