Carmel Academy

Last updated

Carmel Academy (formerly the Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy, WFHA) was a Jewish private school in Greenwich, Connecticut, serving grades Kindergarten through 8. Also including transitional Kindergarten [1] The school originally was located in Port Chester, New York.

Contents

In 2020, Carmel Academy announced its plans to close at the end of the school year.

History

The school opened in a rented space in Port Chester, New York, in 1998. [2] The school was established by parents who were unable to send their children to the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester (now the Leffell School) in White Plains, New York, as that school was oversubscribed. The parents wanted the teaching of Torah to go by themes instead of being taught chronologically, and it wanted the school to mix its instruction of world history with Jewish history. [3] The school had 24 students when it opened. [2]

The school has been located in Greenwich since 2001. Originally, the school occupied areas within Temple Sholom, the largest synagogue in Greenwich. The school's physical education program consisted of weekly visits to the YMCA and basketball, played with a basketball hoop in the parking lot of the temple. [3] In 2005 it had 108 students. In 2006 it had 130 students. [2]

In the 2000s, The Japanese School of New York (Greenwich Japanese School) had vacant buildings due to their decreased student population. [3] In 2006, the Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy purchased The Japanese School of New York's 15 Ridgeway campus from the Japanese Education Alliance for $20 million, [2] [3] and classes began there in September 2006. The Japanese School continued to the campus for classes. The Hebrew school leased several buildings on the campus to the Japanese school for up to eight years. [3]

In 2006, Carmel school administrators decided to place a maximum enrolment of 325 students, with a maximum of two classes with 18 students each per grade, so that the school's students receive individual attention from teachers. As of 2009, the school has about 230 students. [4]

The school received its final name in 2011. [5]

In 2020, Carmel Academy announced that it would close down at the end of the school year. A letter from Carmel referred students to the Leffell School, stating that there would be integration of Carmel programs there, although Leffell stated that Carmel was simply closing and that it was not merging into Lefell. [6] Leffell was to take many of the students at Carmel. [7]

The Brunswick School, which was scheduled to acquire the Carmel Academy site, planned to convert it into a preschool and housing for employees. The Japanese School moved into another facility in Greenwich. [8] Brunswick acquired the former Carmel Academy site in September 2023. [9]

Campus

The campus, the former Rosemary Hall school for girls, has 16 acres (6.5 ha) of space and 15 buildings. The classes of the Hebrew school and the Japanese school were held in separate buildings, while both schools shared the fieldstone gymnasium. The school was the only Jewish educational institution in the world to house a Christian chapel, St. Bede's Chapel. [3] The company Carrere and Hastings had designed the chapel, which was completed in 1909. [10]

Curriculum

The school had Judaic studies, language arts, mathematics, and science. The curriculum includes the history of the Jewish people, the Hebrew language, and information about Israel. The Hebrew language program teaches the language as a modern language, and students use literature, newspapers, poems, and songs to learn the language. [4]

The school used the Providing Alternative Learning Strategies program to teach students with language-based learning disabilities. [4]

Extra-curricular activities

Extra-curricular activities include a student newspaper, Chidon HaTanach Bible Contest, E2K, student government, and the Math Olympiad. [4]

In 2003 it had an exchange program with the Jaim Weitzman School in Buenos Aires, Argentina. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenwich, Connecticut</span> Town in Connecticut, United States

Greenwich is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. Greenwich is a principal community of the Bridgeport–Stamford–Norwalk–Danbury metropolitan statistical area, which comprises all of Fairfield County, and is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. The town is the southwesternmost municipality in both the State of Connecticut and the six-state region of New England. The town is named after Greenwich, a royal borough of London in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacred Heart University</span> Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut, US

Sacred Heart University (SHU) is a private, Roman Catholic university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded in 1963 by Walter W. Curtis, Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sacred Heart was the first Catholic university in the United States to be staffed by the laity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stratford High School (Houston)</span> Public school in the United States

Stratford High School is a secondary school in Houston, Texas, United States. The school is one of four high schools in the Spring Branch Independent School District (SBISD), the district's westernmost secondary school. Stratford High School serves several neighborhoods, including Westchester, Sherwood Oaks, Nottingham Forest, Nottingham West, Wilchester, Gaywood, Wilchester West, Yorkshire, Memorial Townhomes, Village on Memorial Townhomes, Memorial Way, Rustling Pines, Memorial Plaza, and the SBISD portions of Thornwood and Ashford Forest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion</span> American graduate school of religion

The Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion is a Jewish seminary with three locations in the United States and one location in Jerusalem. It is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, Ohio, New York City, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem. The Jerusalem campus is the only seminary in Israel for training Reform Jewish clergy.

Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history, Middle Eastern studies, Asian studies, Oriental studies, religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages, political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies. Jewish studies as a distinct field is mainly present at colleges and universities in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenwich High School</span> Public school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States

Greenwich High School is a four-year public high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The school is part of the Greenwich Public Schools system and serves roughly 2,700 students.

The Schechter Day School Network, formerly the Solomon Schechter Day School Association, located at 820 Second Avenue, New York, New York, is an organization of Jewish day schools that identify with Conservative Judaism. The network provides guidance and resources for its member schools in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunswick School</span> Private, college-preparatory school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States

Brunswick School is a private, college-preparatory school for boys in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1902 by George B. Carmichael.

Greens Farms Academy (GFA) is a PreK-12 independent preparatory co-educational day school in the Greens Farms section of Westport, Connecticut, drawing 715 students from numerous towns across Fairfield County. Greens Farms Academy is located on a 42-acre campus overlooking the Long Island Sound, a salt marsh and an Audubon woodland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education in Stamford, Connecticut</span>

Education in Stamford, Connecticut takes place in both public and private schools and college and university campuses. Stamford has a highly educated population. Per the American Community Survey from 2017 to 2021, 89.1% of adults aged 25 and older graduated from high school, and 52.3% have a Bachelor's degree or higher. This compares to 91.1% and 37.9% nationally, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenwich Hospital (Connecticut)</span> Hospital in Connecticut, United States

Greenwich Hospital is a teaching hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, serving people in lower Fairfield County and lower Westchester County, New York.

Westchester County, New York, in the United States, contains 40 public school districts, 118 private schools, 12 colleges/universities and 3 theological seminaries. According to the 2018 rankings provided by the education website Niche, taking into account public comments, 28 of the top 100 school districts in New York State were located in Westchester County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riverside, Connecticut</span> Census-designated place in Connecticut, United States

Riverside is a neighborhood/section in the town of Greenwich in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 8,843.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westchester Academy for International Studies</span> School in the United States

The Westchester Academy for International Studies (WAIS) is a public charter school in the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston, Texas. It serves grades 6–12 and is an International Baccalaureate continuum school, authorized for Middle Years, Career-related, and Diploma Programmes. As of 2017 Dr. Valerie Hernandez is the director.

Eagle Hill School is an independently operated, private boarding school serving students in grades 8-12 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities in Hardwick, Massachusetts, which was founded in 1967. Two other schools with the same name are located in Greenwich and Southport, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosemary Hall (Greenwich, Connecticut)</span> United States historic place

Rosemary Hall was an independent girls school at Ridgeway and Zaccheus Mead Lane in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was later merged into Choate Rosemary Hall and moved to the Choate boys' school campus in Wallingford, Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese School of New York</span> Primary and middle school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States

The Japanese School of New York, also known as The Greenwich Japanese School (GJS), is a Japanese elementary and junior high school, located in Riverside, Greenwich, Connecticut, near New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese in New York City</span> Japanese community in New York City

As of the 2000 Census, over half of the 37,279 people of Japanese ancestry in the U.S. state of New York lived in New York City. As of 2012, the New York City metropolitan area was home to the largest Japanese community on the East Coast of the United States. The community has grown to the point that the first annual Japan Day Parade, the largest outside Japan, took place in Manhattan in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Leffell School</span> Private school in Hartsdale, New York, United States

The Leffell School is a K–12 private, co-educational, Jewish day school in New York, United States. It was established in 1966 by Max Gelb and operates on two campuses; a Lower School (K–5) in White Plains and an Upper School (6–12) in Hartsdale.

Westchester Hebrew High School (WHHS) is a private Jewish high school in Mamaroneck, New York, United States.

References

  1. ↑ " About Carmel." Carmel Academy. Retrieved on January 9, 2012. "270 Lake Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830"
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hagey, Keach. "Jewish School Gains Its Own Place Archived 2012-11-08 at the Wayback Machine ." Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel . September 18, 2006. 6A. Retrieved on January 10, 2012. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Berger, Joseph. "A Kinder, Gentler, More Kosher Greenwich." The New York Times . June 18, 2006. Retrieved on January 9, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy offers Hebrew language program." Greenwich Time . August 31, 2009. Retrieved on January 9, 2012.
  5. ↑ MacEachern, Frank (2011-02-14). "Greenwich Jewish school announces name change". Stamford Advocate . Stamford, Connecticut . Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  6. ↑ "Fairfield County is rocked by the close of Carmel Academy". The Jewish Ledger . 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2022-02-11.
  7. ↑ Kroeker, Jo (2020-02-13). "Greenwich's Carmel Academy to close". Greenwich Time . Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  8. ↑ Marchant, Robert (2023-03-30). "Greenwich's Brunswick School plans to create faculty housing, daycare center at former Carmel Academy". Greenwich Time . Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  9. ↑ "A Significant & Strategic Step Forward". Brunswick School. 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
  10. ↑ Backcountry Jazz. "World renowned Fairfield County jazz musician to lead fall benefit concert in Greenwich." Connecticut Plus . November 9, 2010. Retrieved on January 9, 2012.
  11. ↑ Schneiderman, Ross (2003-08-08). "Cultural Exchange Helps Classes Broaden Their Borders". The Forward . New York City . Retrieved 2024-05-26.

41°02′19″N73°38′07″W / 41.0385°N 73.6352°W / 41.0385; -73.6352

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.