AGT-The school responds

amother

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 6:21 pm

Since the other threads about #naughtyjosh were removed/locked, I'm not sure if the whole issue is banned, or those threads were just going the wrong way.

But, for those who were waiting for a response from the youngster's school, the following is the email they sent to the parent body:

Quote:

Dear Parents,
If you haven’t already heard, on Tuesday night, a WDS student made headlines for a nationally televised performance. In a brief stand-up act, while wearing a kippah, the student told a series of crude jokes that has led to intense public discussion on the matter. On behalf of the professional and lay leadership of the school, I’d like to present our perspective.
The message conveyed by such a performance was entirely contrary to the Modern Orthodox values taught and lived at WDS.
The student and the family have committed to never repeating this kind of comic performance in the future. The family is taking steps to limit any future damage, though an additional performance is likely to air in the coming weeks. [In light of the first performance, we strongly recommend viewer discretion.]
Notwithstanding the unfortunate episode, this is an isolated incident, not only among the WDS student population, but from an otherwise exemplary child who has made his school and teachers proud many times over, and by parents who have been leaders in their community. We applaud the student’s desire to pursue his dreams, and we love him today as much as we loved him Tuesday afternoon.
In our efforts to explore and challenge the spiritual, intellectual and physical realities of both our heritage and modernity, we will not always make the right choices but we will certainly learn from all of them. As a school, we will search our collective soul to see what we can do better.
In communicating a philosophy of Jewish life, we will try to understand and teach the nature of the tightrope that our students will inevitably walk. As a community we must strengthen the partnership between parents and educators, the two vital influences on our children’s character. As individuals, we must double our efforts to model the behavior we expect.
And you know what? All of us - children and adults – will stumble from time to time and hopefully grow from the experience.
We’re a school. We learn from everything.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Joshua Lookstein

I think it's nicely put. The right balance of condemning the behavior, while looking forward to a positive future.

ROFL

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 6:27 pm

Very nice ! They got the right balance here and the message that we may all make mistakes but as long as we learn from them we can grow.

amother

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 7:33 pm

Bravo! The young rabbi has clearly learned a few things from his father, who has a unique talent for saying exactly the right thing at the right time. He did strike a nice balance.

groisamomma

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 7:40 pm

Very well-balanced response.

Tova

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 8:09 pm

I like the part where he says "we love him now the same as we did beforehand" - that was touching.

marina

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 8:34 pm

Quote:

we love him today as much as we loved him Tuesday afternoon.

my favorite line

Dandelion1

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 9:16 pm

Wow... What a concept... Kids are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them without them and their entire families being excommunicated and no longer permitted to receive an education or procreate....

Sorry if I seem bitter.... Been at the short end of this stick for a while now.

naturalmom5

Sun, Jun 22 2014, 10:08 pm

I would love to see such a well writer letter from [another] school next time they make a major faux pas
A girl can dream Smile

DrMom

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 1:07 am

If I were writing the letter, I would have also pointed out that the performance was chilul hashem, and how serious a metter this is, esp in this day and age.

Other than that glaring omission, I thought the letter was well-written.

5*Mom

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 1:39 am

DrMom wrote:

I wouldn't have. That is for a private discussion with the family, which I'm sure took place. No need to shame them further. I think this public letter was PERFECT!!

DrMom

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 1:53 am

5*Mom wrote:

I wouldn't have. That is for a private discussion with the family, which I'm sure took place. No need to shame them further. I think this public letter was PERFECT!!

Maybe you are right.

It's just that the performance was *so* over-the-top that I expected a slightly stronger reaction on the part of the school than "this is not consistent with MO values taught at our school". Why not take the opportunity to state what these values are (kibud av v'em, or l'g0yim, etc.)? I don't think merely mentioning these core values would have been so heavy-handed.

On the positive side: They stressed that the child was still loved and valued, and everyone makes mistakes and we can learn and grow from them, etc.

Sanguine

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 2:05 am

Quote:

The family is taking steps to limit any future damage, though an additional performance is likely to air in the coming weeks.

So will somebody post the link when it airs or will I have to look for it myself? LOL

5*Mom

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 5:21 am

DrMom wrote:

I think it was a very tricky situation for the school. On the one hand, people were calling for the parents' heads on skewers and demanding that the school publicly call them out on this, and otoh, the school has to think about the right way to get this message across to the family in the way that it can be best received. I commend them for realizing that their primary responsibility is to educate their student, which I think they did beautifully. I thought the letter and the chinuch it represents (which itself speaks quite well for Judaism) was really classy.

Heyaaa

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 5:49 am

All the people who wished for a harsher, public response, why so? What do you expect would be gained if they gave a harsher response? That he'll be embarrassed enough not to do it again? That he'll be embarrassed enough not to go in public ever again?
He's embarrassed enough. He gets it; he won't do it again.

Sanguine

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 6:16 am

So we send Rabbi Lookstein a letter from the members of Imamother that says that we approve of how he handled the situation and would like to sign our children up for his Yeshiva for this September? With 20,000 members on Imamother we might actually boost their registration Very Happy

octopus

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 7:57 am

I also think the principal's response is perfect. We don't know what was said privately to them. Chazal say we push away with the left and bring close with the right hand. Those who wanted a harsher response- maybe it's time to do a bit of soul searching and ask yourself "why?" Is it really coming from a place of chinuch or is it coming from a place of arrogance and a "how dare he!" kind of thing. because if it is the latter, g'aavah has no place in chinuch or anywhere ever.

DrMom

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 8:05 am

Just to clarify: I didn't advocate for a "harsher" response. I just thought it was odd that the most glaring offense -- chilul hashem -- was not mentioned explicitly.

suzyq

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 11:52 am

I love the response from the school, I think it was written beautifully and it is exactly what so many of our young people need to hear.

Barbara

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 11:56 am

DrMom wrote:

Just to clarify: I didn't advocate for a "harsher" response. I just thought it was odd that the most glaring offense -- chilul hashem -- was not mentioned explicitly.

Why do you think that the parents of other kids in the school needed to be told it was a chilul hashem? I think they could pretty much figure it out themselves.

abound

Mon, Jun 23 2014, 12:37 pm

I think the letter was well written and I am sure the harsher response will come from the natural reaction of his friends and their parents. Many girls and guys parents will probably stop allowing their children to frequent their home. The letter was good.