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ON FOUNDING A TRANSDENOMINATIONAL JEWISH DAY HIGH SCHOOL A member of Hebrew College's National Board, Shoshana Cardin is cofounder of the Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School in Baltimore. In 2003, the Cardin School opened in temporary quarters with 35 students, five full-time and eight part-time faculty, and a powerhouse head of school, Lillian Howard. In June 2001, with support from a major philanthropist, we announced our intention to start a pluralistic school, a significant challenge to the existing mind-set in Baltimore. We invited every synagogue to send a representative to hear about our concept and to help us make this vision a reality. After several meetings we were sufficiently encouraged to incorporate, in September 2001, as The New Jewish Community High School of Greater Baltimore. The founding rabbis—a group of six Conservative and Reform rabbis whose congregations have day schools and religious schools—for the most part, were our most vocal partners, as were their heads of school and our courageous representatives who were willing to give their names and expertise to this effort in the name of Jewish peoplehood. What made our school unique was the concept of an independent (of any movement or synagogue) transdenominational high school in which there would be a truly integrated curriculum with the latest methodologies in academics and in Judaics—a school whose diversity would break down the barriers between students from different movements as well as those who were unaffiliated. These students, after four years, would determine for themselves how to live Jewishly, not whether to live Jewishly, and they would respect that each of their Jewish lives would take a unique form.
Still, encouraged by this, we asked potential board members to volunteer to serve on various committees: mission statement, public relations, head-of-school search, fundraising, site identification and board development. We engaged a madricha to assist us in our initial stages and then began to search for the head-of-school. We were determined to engage an outstanding leader, a dynamic, outgoing, knowledgeable educator, with the caveat not to hire just to meet our ambitious opening date of 2003. Our timetable was very short and our expectations were high. Certainly, some were skeptical of those expectations. There was no group of parents clamoring for such a school, nor was The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore a partner in either belief or financial assistance. We turned to private Jewish foundations in a year when the market took a serious nosedive. Frustratingly, the various seven-figure gifts, which we needed and which would not have been out of line, became six-figure gifts over four or five years. To add to my sense of inadequacy, the board, at the behest of the founding donor, voted to rename the school the Shoshana S. Cardin Jewish Community High School. I was opposed because fundraising experience taught me that the name should be reserved for a major donor, not me. The explanation that finally persuaded me to acquiesce was that for the first time in Baltimore, if not elsewhere, a school was being named in honor of a lifetime of service to the Jewish community; naming honors need not be reserved for the wealthy. Only the future will validate that concept. The next responsibility was to put our vision and mission on paper in a fashion that would be easy to understand. After several drafts, we developed the following synopsis of our philosophy: We are a religiously pluralistic high school, a place of learning which transcends denominational affiliation and ritual differentiation. Our faculty will develop curricula in which Jewish teachings, culture and perspectives are fully integrated into rigorous courses. We are preparing the future leaders of the Jewish community—leaders both immersed in their own tradition and well prepared for the intellectual challenges of college and beyond. Our students will know who they are, and just as importantly, they will be able to maintain the integrity of their own identities without losing their connection to others, even others whose beliefs are quite different from their own. These students after fours years would determine for themselves how to live Jewishly, not whether to live Jewishly, and they would respect that each of their Jewish lives would take a unique form. In February 2002 an intensive search for head of school culminated with the hiring of Lillian Howard, an outstanding, energetic, academically qualified, risk-taking educator/administrator who would assume the school's challenging academic leadership in August 2002. By that August we had identified a donor who provided an office, phone and a place to interview and to meet. The next challenge was finding a location for our still-to-be recruited students. Fortuitously, a founding congregation had available space, recently vacated by an elementary school, that was on the second floor of an existing school building. After viewing the property, which required expensive renovation and upgrades to meet new building and ADA requirements, we agreed to move in. Although this occurred in October 2002, we could not enter the building to renovate, as the existing religious school used the building two afternoons a week and on Sundays. We waited until May 2003 to begin the renovations, which had to be concluded by mid-August in order to meet state regulations. School was scheduled to begin in September 2003. We were fortunate to have an outstanding construction manager who understood that he had only ten weeks to perform major renovations, which had to be coordinated with electronic installations, air-conditioning and the like. We were determined to open with the best of equipment and a minimum of flash. Prospective students told their parents about Lillian Howard, a master teacher. Interviews with parents were scheduled and the community was abuzz. Then, and only then, when it became clear that we would open with a respectable number of students, were we informed about the possibility of purchasing land from the Federation sufficient to house a new school. The timing would probably coincide with the end of our first school year, not in time to assist in recruiting for the Class of 2008. Undeterred by slow fund raising, we encouraged our new head of school to begin recruiting top-notch faculty for a 2003 opening. We received résumés from numerous competent and experienced faculty. The challenge that faced them, we noted, was that the curricula were to be "integrated," not segregated into secular and Jewish studies. Each curriculum needed to include a "Jewish" component, which factored into that subject, whether science or English. And yet, the academic excellence necessary to enter the top universities could not be sacrificed. Research showed no curriculum from which we could learn. The summer before school opened, faculty worked together to develop this unique approach to Jewish high school education. Obviously we would be teaching Judaics and Hebrew, with a relevance to today's world. We engaged a public relations firm to assist in developing our logo and colors. Our dynamic public relations lay leader initiated an innovative and eye-catching series of ads, featuring each faculty member with his or her experience and special talents as well as highlighting our great head of school. The ads with the same format ran week after week in the Baltimore Jewish Times, and readers began to recognize and look forward to them. As we began to accept applications, the ads read, "I chose Cardin because . . . " and quoted the student's own words, and where they had gone to middle school. Although classes began in September 2003, our formal opening was in October 2003, when nearly 300 people came to help celebrate a memorable, emotional and encouraging day. Students have selected the school mascot, the Cardinal, an a cappella choral group has been formed and our chess club is growing full force. The most innovative and engaging experience was our Purim Pandemonium. When it became clear that the week between the second and third trimesters would include Purim, Howard decided to have a special week devoted to Purim in all its interpretations and manifestations. Classes as such were cancelled, all sorts of exotic foods appeared or were made (a special oven was brought in that week) and Howard was appointed "Queen, Czarina and Governess." All activities focused on the Megillah, its characters and various interpretations. It was the intent of the faculty to validate the belief that diverse and integrated learning were also education. Recruitment for the Class of 2008 moves determinedly ahead. Funding is difficult, the permanent site still needs to be secured and new faculty must be hired. But our enthusiasm remains unbounded: We are determined to continue to be a dynamic learning community that transcends denominational affiliations and inspires its members with love of Torah, dedication to excellence and commitment to wholeness of mind, body and spirit. Students will graduate eager for life-long learning and prepared to fulfill their responsibilities as Americans and as covenanted members of the Jewish people. Torah guides and informs our commitment to this vision. RELATED STORY: The New Frontier: Community Day Schools |
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Charged with developing and chairing the board, publicizing the school's mission and cultivating federation support, Cardin knows firsthand the challenges involved in creating a transdenominational high school. In the following essay, she outlines the school's hurdles and achievements, and shares the vision of "a school whose diversity would break down the barriers between students from different movements as well as those who were unaffiliated."
Thanks to the commitment of one of our founding Conservative rabbis, a second major donor was secured, but the funding was not sufficient to support four years or to purchase a permanent site.