Dear Lakewood Scoop,
As a parent, I’ve heard much from schools about what we parents need to cut out in order to pay tuition. But I feel strongly that schools also need to make cuts themselves. If there is no money available, don’t spend it. This should apply to all the “extras” that schools sometimes claim we want.
Let’s start with the basics. If a split unit in a classroom breaks and the school doesn’t have $5,500 for a service call plus parts, buy a box unit—it will cool the room just as well. If a desk breaks, glue it. If a door needs welding, weld it. Keep lunch and supper decent but not extravagant. No fancy contests. No massive kitchen staff with 12 workers. No need for a full-time building manager—the administrator and secretary can handle it.
Copies can be done by staff; there’s no reason for six secretaries. One secretary should be enough to handle collections and answer phones. One menahel is sufficient. Outside agencies that provide services should supply their own liaison. Maintenance should be basic—just enough to keep the building running. Nothing more.
Think this can’t be done? My son’s school follows these exact policies. And guess what? They don’t have outrageous fees. Families with more than one child receive breaks. Anything extra is fundraised by parents. The school tells us: if you want new floors, raise the money. The same applies to a color copy machine or a new split unit. When one broke, they put in a used air conditioner until parents raised the funds.
When parents contribute extra, we get projects, contests, a nice siyum, and more. And parents give willingly—without pressure.
I call upon all schools to adopt these policies. Build from the bottom up. Cover what is truly needed, and nothing more. If it can’t be covered, then it shouldn’t be purchased. This approach will help keep tuition costs down for everyone.
—A Concerned Parent
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Noted.
I guess you never worked in a School…
As of now, no one wants to work in a school, Dont want to think what will be if you pile up all this work on much less staff why would anybody want to work there.
Not true. We have the same staff at the orginal satmer cheder for years. It runs on a similar moto.
And no growth…
We love the small environment. Its amazing the tlc that is provided. Thank you Rabbi Einhorn
They have a total of 200 students.
This is done at my school. The Rebbes are paid the same as other schools. The menahel has no assistants. The secratary is paid well and does more than one job. We run a successful school and most parents pay 5k
Please tell us which school?
* service call is 200 plus parts can cost 550.
I agree 100 percent and we definitely need cut spending in out life and no trips and no fancy summer activities and no vacation and no luxuries and save money. We need to cut back spending and just as schools do.
What I can’t understand is the annual “Registration fee”, Why is there a fee every year to register my kid that was already registered since he got there in primary?
Great question! If you really care for an answer, ask your school!
There is one local school that doesn’t charge yearly registration fees, and even the first year it’s to secure a spot, but then goes towards your tuition.
what makes u think school owners & admins are gonna read this here?
send them this letter instead of yelling it here
what makes u think school owners & admins are reading it here?
instead of yelling it here send them this letter
why dont u send this letter to the owners & admins
Wow! You have all the answers! Is your son’s school a small one or large one? I highly doubt that if your son’s school has over 1000 students, the secretary can take care of the building. Who will take care of all the IT issues? Maintenance, upkeep, building security, grounds upkeep, etc… no regular secretary will do all these things. Copies- 1000 students = 6 parallel classes = 60 classes or more= hundreds of thousands of copies weekly / monthly. I agree we need to keep costs down but not where it will hinder the running of the school
We are taking about a basic school obviously. Not every school has 6 classes.
Most Lakewood schools, unless it’s relatively new, have a number of parallel grades. So whether it’s 3 parallel classes or 6, your idea just won’t be logistically possible
Your name “Administrator of a Lakewood school School” is very misleading because if that would be true, you would know that most schools in Lakewood, unless it’s new, has numerous parallel classes. So whether it’s 3 parallel or 6, it makes no difference. Logistically you can’t get by with what the writer of this letter is suggesting.
Well written. As a Cpa i can tell you that a lot of schools run corporate style. They must have….. they have zero plan how to pay for it. Just donors ,tuition etcThat’s tge way they roll. And…. they set a standard they must have.The fair question to ask your kids school is the following. You are asking me to cut down. What have you trimmed down. Fiscal responsibility on both ends.
Close the schools!! Time to home school….
It doesn’t sound like you ever worked in a school. As of now, staff in schools aren’t happy with Their pay, And there isn’t much of Interest in people to work in A school, I don’t want to think how schools will be able to get staff and keep their current stuff if we put on them so many more responsibilities.
Same person multiple names. Every school haa rebbes and staff. If you pay well you can ask the staff to do extra. You can pay super well and still not overspend.
I totally do not understand this policy. people send their child to school they want to send somewhere that they feel comfortable and safe sending this child. if the school runs yeshivishly ppl wont send there. period
You send to a school to raise yiddish doros. Not for a manicured lawn and poppers for a siyum. Your the type that expects theses extra. Go spend on fancy stuff. The average parent won’t mind if you spend less if they can save
Maintenance should be basic-just enough to keep the building running. Nothing more.”
What better way to teach our children “Gadlus HaTorah” than by showing them what we think of our places where we teach the next generation Torah?
Kids are quite aware of this even if only subconsciously.
What message is sent when a boy enters the school on corroded steps with a rusty railing on one side & a missing railing on the other side?
What message is sent walking down the hallway with peeling paint & cardboard covering a broken window?
What message is sent when a toilet has been out of commission for years?
It’s not about showing off. It’s about conveying appreciation for Torah to our children.
“No full time building manager.”
The school I attended has 6 large buildings on over 10 acres of land. In addition, driveways, parking lots, walkways, playing fields, playgrounds with swings & slides for the little kids, park like grounds with benches & greenery. How can the administrator & secretary possibly run such a large operation?
In general your argument keeps adding more & more tasks to the employees at a level impossible for one person to do.
We get rid of all the secretaries except one. Their job will be collections, answering phones, building management, making copies & with 11 of the 12 kitchen staff gone I assume cooks & serves thy meals as well.
‘What better way to teach our children “Gadlus HaTorah” than by showing them what we think of our places where we teach the next generation Torah?’
I hope your kids aren’t seeing this. And if they are you have way bigger issues than those mentioned here.
That’s my point. That’s extra. Don’t need cardboard doors. Reg home depot doors. Don’t need a campus that you cant afford. We in lakewood create our own issues. We demand high quality everything but cant lay. Repair sheet rock. Fix windows etc normal repairs. Not extravagant
Depends, what salaries to they get. When they take large salaries, they’re expected to do more. No different than businesses.
Perhaps lakewood should follow what monroe new york did by making thier own school district.
1.you clearly don’t own/run and never worked in a school
2.one size does not fit all – each school has different needs to meet whether it’s the size of the school, specific needs of the students etc.
3.students learn best when their teacher/rabbi is in the right state of mind. Adding the need to make sure they have the supplies, copies, working desks and doors would take away from their undivided attention and care they need for the students to learn best.
Here’s how to cut the costs by 50%. Close all the girls schools and let their mothers teach them all they need to know. Only need buses for the boys.
Learn recent Jewish history to find out how Bais Yakov schools helped prevent a large percentage of girls from being lost to Judaism. This would solve the “shidduch crisis,” though, since the number of girls interested in the limited number of learning boys will significantly decrease. That was sarcasm btw (I hope your comment was as well…).
can someone approach leaders like Rubie Shron to dedicate a fund to help yeshivas for maintenance?
You didn’t need to write a specifically
I outsourced my entire office to dominican including tuition, buses and accounting. Brought down payroll 80 percent. Have a staff of 10 secretaries. Runs solid. No issues. Copies I allow Rebbes to send kids to make. By recess every day a different Rebbe does copies with kids that want to help. We have a contract with a it company. Our cleaners are from a company that provides maintenance. We have 2 guys by day 2 by night. The administrator runs everything. It can be done. Not sure why schools need to be institutions. Your job is to be mechanech not run a 5 star customer service based product
Letters like this is why it is nonsense when parents say things like “schools should open their books so parents can see where the money is going.” If you have no idea what goes into running a school then you don’t get to tell the schools how to run
1000% All of these people that have great ideas should pick themselves up and do something for the Klal…
Likewise, if you dont know what my expenses are then dont tell me how to live. There is a reason why schools dont open their books. They know we will tell them save here,take this out etc
I see… so it’s only the public schools that we know how to allocate budget for but not the Yeshivos. The Yeshivos should be run by the community and taken out of the hands of the private system where it’s there to just be a family business.
Cut the length of the day and the number of days school is in sesssion. Take Fridays off.
Lololol. Another letter says there’s not enough days of school. This won’t work, almost all have 2 working parents
A simple question. If five schools of the same type of parent body have all a similar budget no issues. Problem is you have schools providing similar services but crazy difference in budgets. One girls school says their budget is 7 million a year. Another 24. How can u explain that. Same crowd and services. Just asking. Same with building. One school has 500 students and does 8 million nice building. Another 40 million. It doesn’t add up. The author isn’t wrong that trimming can be done just how is debatable.
There isno way to have a building for 500 students for 8 million today. Just a few acres of land in Lakewood will cost you 5 to 6 million if you can find it. And construction is another 8 million.
Not the property the actual building. 8 million versus 24. Let’s be fair. If you have the money do it. Most schools dont. That’s when we get crazy fees. Most parents prefer a clean safe environment for the children. Not imported Italian stone floors. Ask us what we want. Sure we dont want a dump. Don’t need a palace.
What school has Italian stone floors?? Unless they have a chasunah hall in their school, which would justify the price point because then their hall will be more in demand and they will make more of a profit, no one in their right mind would get something like that for the floor where the students will be walking/running/jumping etc. on.
Guess u dont have kids in lakewood schools.lets be fair. The brooklyn schools i service want nice at a decent price. I have yet to service a school here that doesn’t want high end.
I agree
Your child deserves better than a Trailer Park education.
Schools today have become like a car model. You have thos feature i have that one. Im super confused. Any data that these kids that learn in upscale buildings that killed Parents emotionally and causes them heartache produces better payros? Intresting today’s kids are more in to the fancy building, better food,contests than actually loving hashem and mitzvos. Who are we fooling. Noone. Kids need a safe and healthy environment. Room to play . Rebbes that care and build. Not a 35 million building that could be done for 10mill. Sorry. Lost my respect for these grub gevirim who feel their school needs to resemble one of their office buildings. How do we have so much money for buildings but not to pay Rebbes well? That should be tge focus not crazy stuff we dont need.
We parents deserve better than buildings built on our blood. It doesn’t help us if u have a 40 million dollar building. Do it for cheaper. We will be happier
There are many factors you’ve left out. Firstly, Schools, although nonprofit, they can collect money as Tzedaka. Playgroups, pretty much doing the same thing, are considered a business. As someone which has worked many years in the school system, schools have many of the family members to support. This is besides their salaries which can’t be accessed by anyone. The school will always spend on whatever they want never asking your opinion. Especially in lakewood where the school systems continue to prosper, accept whatever they tell you or TRY and find another school.
Playgroup has much less expenses than a school. Assnt in playgroup get paid peanuts. Second everything is run by the owner. Can’t compare.
Before placing the burden on the school. I believe the writer should cut down some of their costs to have more money to pay full tuition. Some examples can be as follows, only shower once a week to save on your water bills and only flush the toilet if it’s absolutely full. Eat only macaroni without cheese during weekdays for supper. Begin walking to anywhere that’s in walking distance to preserve gas in your car. Do away with your cleaning, help, and have your kids mop and sweep. Consolidate to one car, to save on monthly payments, as well as insurance and gas. Leave your windows open instead of using air condition. We are extra fluffy pajamas instead of heating your home. Feel free to add anything I may have missed.
You sound like my son’s administrator. He talks the same way. Admin have no problem telling us how to budget when their budgeting is beyond lousy. You took out a 30 million dollar loan without knowing how u will pay it pay back and I’m reckless. Let’s be real. Running a school is costly. There are schools that aren’t reckless. They try their best.
Let me tell you what the true problem is.
In previous generations, and in current times when public schools finish at 3 and parents work full time, the grandparents were more actively involved in their grandchildren’s lives, helping out with babysitting and grandchildren coming over for cookies and milk after school. Lakewood has lost the multi generational interaction with raising children. Whether it’s because of parent alienation, or moving away from one’s hometown for the sake of jobs or Kollel, parents are now on their own with no backup plan. In other communities, it is not uncommon to hire a post seminary or college age girl to come over after school to watch the kids until the parents come home. People don’t know their own neighbors down the block. In previous generations, it was a real community where people looked out for each other and gave a lending hand. In Eretz Yisroel, schools end up 1:00. Who watches the kids in the afternoons when the mothers are working? Somehow it works out, whether it’s a kind neighbor, a Savta or older siblings looking out for the younger ones. America has become a country of entitlement. You get free bussing (imagine driving 5 carpools a day!), free school lunches, dedicated teachers who put hours preparing an educational program for your child. Be resourceful. Connect to your child’s classmates and perhaps make a round robin for the off days of school. Get to know your neighbors and even single girls on your block who would be happy to help out if you introduce yourself and get to know them a bit. Kol Yisroel Areivim Ze Lazeh. Be a partner in solutions, not in kvetching.
Ty for pointing this out. We have a lot to be grateful for