the
l ion’s tale
Feature
In-Depth
see page 13
see page 8-9
Commonplace books
Volume 26 • Issue 5 May 22, 2009 • 28 Iyar 5769
moscow connection
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School • 11710 Hunters Lane • Rockville, Maryland • 20852
15 percent; Competition bonanza staff layoffs by Valerie Cohen Approximately 15 percent of staffing positions, or around 35 positions, will not be renewed in the next academic year as part of the cutbacks the administration made due to a drop in enrollment. These include teaching positions in the Upper and Lower Schools, as well as, administrative positions and additional positions within the school. “Any number of them are occupied by people who themselves aren’t returning. It’s a mixture of people leaving anyway and positions that aren’t filled that we are going to fill, and people we are not going to be able to offer them a contract,” Head of School Jonathan Cannon said. For some teachers, however, their teaching contracts were not renewed for the next academic year. According to Cannon, these cutbacks are being made to reflect a drop in school enrollment. “The school has to make a tough decision. You have to have the income to justify the expenditure and if you don’t have the income, and the school’s main income is tuition, we cannot ask the parents in this kind of economy to pay more tuition than the school actually costs to run in order to support a level of staffing which the school doesn’t need,” Cannon said. “At the end of the day, if there are six classes of fourth grade and next year, there are five classes in fourth grade, there is no point for the school to be paying for the teachers who would be teaching the sixth class.” Both Cannon and Dean of Students Roslyn Landy affirm that teacher cutbacks will not affect the education or experience at JDS. “I know that the students and faculty will miss the teachers who are leaving as they have been an important part of our community. While we will miss the individuals, the slightly smaller faculty will not impact the students’ education,” Landy said. “There may be less sections, but our goal is that you are not going to feel dramatically a change in the education experience,” Cannon said. Some students however, do not feel that teachers shoul-
For more on ZIMRIAH, see page 6 photo by Jordan Kovalsky
(from left) Juniors Madeline Moss, Yaron Steinfeld and Alexandra Niakani dance to ‘Celebrity’ by Nsync in front of the entire school along with the rest of the junior class. The Class of 2010 strutted down the red carpet donning sunglasses and jackets while students and teachers posed as faux paparazzi.
junior grand entrance
For ZIMRIAH COVERAGE, see page 6 have been let go. “The school is losing a lot of great talent with [the contracts were not renewed]. The school is worse off for the loss,” junior Jonathan Iskow said. “In this economy I don’t really believe anyone should lose their job. I mean it is a little cruel, to defend people from losing their jobs and expect an organization to stay in equilibrium, because its practically impossible. I understand that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, but the [change of classroom structure] is really upsetting,” junior David Friedland
Dealing with discipline by David Weinberg On April 24, the administration revealed in an e-mail to parents that marijuana, an Airsoft gun and brass knuckles were in the possession of a small number of middle and high school students. In an additional e-mail sent on May 6, the administration added that it discovered one instance of alcohol consumption on campus. As a consequence for their actions, two students were expelled and an unspecified number of students were suspended. After rumors from students surfaced, the administration initiated an investigation to determine whether
or not illegal items were on the school’s campus. “A major goal was to distinguish between what was rumor, of whichthere is always a lot, and what was the truth,” Director of Judaic Studies Michael Kay said. “Through our investigation, we have determined that on two occasions, items that are banned because they are considered weapons were sold by high school students to middle school students. These items were an Airsoft gun and brass knuckles. Additionally, we have determined that a small number of high school students were involved in the use and distribution of marijuana outside of the school, and, in one case, in the consumption of alcohol
on the school campus,” read the May 6 e-mail to parents. In addition to the disciplinary actions, the administration referredsome students to programs that provide support and counseling. The school then held class meetings about the importance of gooddecision making. “I think that the school has the opportunity and the responsibility to partner with families to teach students about the dangers of drugs and weapons and also to work with students to use sound judgment,” Kay said. “It is also a priority of ours to let students have an opportunity to think, talk, learn and reflect on situations that have an impact on our school community.”
photo by David Herman
Junior captains Ashley Silver and Zachary Cytryn cheer on the blue team during the Color War closing performances. The Incrediblue officers all dressed up as superheroes. The Incrediblues faced off against the Golden Gladiators during this full day competition, but triumphed with a 25 point lead.
lets go blue
For COLOR WAR COVERAGE, see page 2 said. “Most of my classes this year are 9:1 in a student to teacher ratio, and I already know next year every class will have at least 15 students. I acknowledge the school cares about us, but it seems like they care more about money than a better education.”
see CUTBACKS, page 3
What’s Inside News........................2-5 Koby Mendell play
Israel.......................6-7 Israeli pen pals
In-depth...................8-9 Moscow Connection
Op-ed..................10-12 Student Council report card
Feature......................13 A day in the life of Michael Greenberg
Sports..................14-16 Boys varsity tennis