Diversity Plan for Public Schools, Using Hebrew

This group of Jewish Americans is trying to keep their own culture alive in the NJ school system. School officials have proposed alternative plans that might work for everyone. DP

By PETER APPLEBOME

ENGLEWOOD, N.J.: The surprise wasn’t that a meeting envisioned as an informal conversation among about 10 people drew more than 300 from across Bergen County. It was that something like Raphael Bachrach’s modest proposal — and the fevered debate it has set off — didn’t happen sooner here or someplace else like it.

Mr. Bachrach is a Jewish parent in a suburban school district where a majority of Jews are Orthodox and send their children to Jewish day schools. A year ago, he proposed a Hebrew-language charter school as an alternative.

That was turned down, but local school officials proposed an alternative. The district has a highly regarded program where elementary school students learn in both English and Spanish. Englewood’s interim superintendent, Richard Segall, raised the possibility of a similar dual-language program — strictly nonreligious — in Hebrew and English, that would attract both Jews and non-Jews. It would be the first public school Hebrew-English program of its kind in the country.
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