Enrollment at Chabad Increases

By COLlive reporter

Enrollment in Chabad educational institutions continues to increase; this fact emerged from the research done by the Merkos Chinuch Office staff as they prepared the new Chabad Directory of Educational Institutions in the English-speaking world.

The Chinuch Office, a division of the educational and social services arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, publishes the directory annually. Besides keeping the information current, the directory provides an overview of trends and institutional issues.

The process of updating the schools information is an arduous one which requires calls to each school and too often more than one call. It was done by Esther Silberstein who spent many tens of hours assembling, formatting and finally posting the information on the website chinuchoffice.org.

The directory lists 161 formal Chabad early childhood centers in the US, 9 fewer than were listed last year’s directory. There were 6 new early childhood centers created this year, which means that a significant number of preschools were unable to continue.

“As uplifting and encouraging as it is to hear of new school being opened or moving to lager, better facilities, it is disappointing to hear of a school’s existential struggle or to hear of a school closing its doors,” said Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, director of the Merkos Chinuch Office.

In some cases the issue was funding and in others the enrollment did not justify continuing. Conversely a number of very successful early childhood centers branched out into neighboring areas and opened new centers.

The Chai Tots preschool in Brooklyn opened a second school in Park Slope, Brooklyn and Preschool of the Arts in the Chelsea area of Manhattan opened new schools in the Flatiron district and Gramercy Park.

In the last decade, the number of Chabad preschools more than doubled. More and more families have two working parents and they need a safe, educational sound environment for their children so Chabad filled a very real need, the Chinuch Office reported. The Machne Israel Development Fund was instrumental in helping facilitate many such new schools.

Many Shluchim and Shluchos experienced a great deal of success in the preschool education they provided. Their schools thrived educationally and were seen being at the cutting edge of the art. The Jewish community is however a very dynamic one, needs change as do demographic conditions.

“In the last few years, a number of Chabad Shluchos reported that following years of Chabad’s success, local JCCs ‘borrowed’ Chabad’s ideas and reinvented themselves,” said Rabbi Kaplan.

Shifting demographics naturally also affected some of the older preschools. The number of Chabad elementary schools remains steady at 76 in the US. Additionally, some early childhood centers are actively planning to open first grades next year.

Chabad schools are becoming increasingly more educationally sophisticated and the number of accredited schools continues to grow. The research showed that enrollment in Chabad elementary schools continues to rise, even as other school systems report declines. The same is true in Chabad high schools, though the increases are not as significant as in the elementary schools.