Seeking advice on Midwest Mesivtos/High Schools

yaelinIN

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 8:58 pm

In contemplation mode for our oldest son (who is currently homeschooled and might continue), we are looking at midwest/west/south mesivtos/ high schools.

Does anyone have current information on the following schools?

Wisconsin Institute for Torah Study (WITS)
Hebrew Academy of Cleveland (Sapirstein)
Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael (Atlanta)
Hebrew Theological College (Fasman/Skokie)
Yeshiva Ner Yisroel
Missouri Torah Institute
Texas Torah Institute
Yeshiva Toras Chaim (Denver)

Any information will be welcome!

Thanks,
Yael

OOTBubby

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 9:02 pm

yaelinIN wrote:

You've got a big range of the spectrum there from solidly MO to yeshivish, Black Hat (Toras Chaim and maybe some of the others). I know you just asked for info, but it might be a good idea if you can narrow down what you're looking for somewhat.

The only one I know about (and it is NOT first hand) is Fasman Yeshiva HS (Hebrew Theological College - Skokie Yeshiva). It is a well run place, students are on the whole solidly MO with a few somewhat more to the right. Staff is much more right wing. They take both limudei kodesh and limudei chol seriously and also have extracurricular activities.They have dorm. I don't believe that all of the locals dorm nowadays (though maybe they do for the upper grades). It is probably the oldest school on this list (maybe Ner Yisroel is in the same range); some of the others are much more recent on the scene (not necessarily bad).

TwinsMommy

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 9:10 pm

I live in Cleveland and my husband has worked at Sapirstein (HAC). The LOWER school at HAC is good up through 6th grade. 7th and 8th grade at Sapirstein are ok depending on the class, but 9th through 12th falls apart and many boys go out of town, leaving just a few boys per grade with VERY lax policies. I will not be surprised if Sapirstein closes within the decade if things don't change drastically. I don't personally know anyone happy with Sapirstein for 9th through 12th grade at this time and would not recommend considering it.

Telshe Yeshiva, also in Cleveland, is much more solid at this time, though much more right wing than HAC.

As for my son--- he's got intense special needs so I'm pretty certain we'll be stuck in public school even for high school. Honestly I think I'll be happier with public school than I would be with Sapirstein. (unless they make changes in the coming years- my son is only 7).

yaelinIN

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 9:20 pm

OOTBubby wrote:

I know - we're being as open as possible since we are a homeschooling family and don't know who (if any) will take such a talmid. Family wise, we're MO machmir/yeshivish lite. The menfolk wear black hats on Shabbos but colored or white shirts and the ladies wear socks/tights, fully covered hair (all haircoverings used), elbows/collarbones/knees covered. If we lived in Chicago, we would be happy in WRP and when there, daven at STMY. My husband is a professor and we'd prefer all our children have the option of professional careers, so a place with a strong limudei chol track is important. We would be OK with him in a school that is more right or left than us, but really am looking for a warm place he can grow in maturity and torah learning. We're not scared of being different - we are very much so while still adhering to da'as torah and the chashivus of Torah.

So with that said, any other information would be very welcome!! Especially people with more to say on the Chofetz Chaim yeshivos!

yaelinIN

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 9:40 pm

tryinghard wrote:

Would you be interested in Rochester, being that you want to hear about several Chofetz Chaims?

Don't think so since we'd rather have him within reasonable driving distance, but hey, tell me something and maybe my husband will be intrigued. Smile

yaelinIN

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 10:01 pm

amother wrote:

you can also look into yeshiva of minneapolis. Its a newer yeshiva, only in its third year, but it sounds like it might fit.

Amother, anything more to say about it? Not much on their website...

Last edited by yaelinIN on Sun, Nov 16 2014, 10:02 pm; edited 1 time in total

Coke Slurpee

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 10:01 pm

Hi, I'm also looking as my oldest is in 8th grade. We live in the Midwest and would prefer that area. I really don't know where to start as I don't have a clue about the different high schools. We are yeshivish, but I don't think a strictly black hat learning yeshiva is for him.

tryinghard

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 10:07 pm

Ok, then...

Small school (I think 40 in the HS), most live in the dorm. Some in-towners live in the dorm as well. There are a few boys who board by local families.
Very warm, supportive school - just an example - DH is a 9th grade rebbe, and he felt that one of his students needed some extra TLC and attention, so he brought him home for dinner one night. This is not to promote DH by the way - it's just what he has learned from the other rebbeim Smile

It's not an uncommon occurrence for DH to let me know he's gonna be home late, because one of his guys needs extra help with learning or something personal.
The beis medrash guys are very involved with the high school, including a chavrusa program where each high school kid is paired with a beis medrash guy.
Limudei chol - they have a full Regents program (yay New York State... Rolling Eyes

), and offer different APs, depending on interest and feasibility. The fact that your son is homeschooled may work well with this - many of the guys wrangle things with the Regents system, doubling up courses and studying on their own to complete their high school diploma in three years. This is not to say that it is not a real program - guys go to college all the time from the yeshiva, and generally do quite well on SATs and other such things.
Oh, and of course, as a Chofetz Chaim, colored shirts, being different than the norm, and personality are all welcome LOL

ElTam

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 10:19 pm

Saperstein in Cleveland has changed drastically and is continuing to change drastically to take it in a more serious, yeshivish direction. Their policies changed radically this year. I am extremely hopeful for the future of the school. They've specifically started calling it Yeshiva High School, instituted a testing system for boys who want to enter 9th grade (which is part of what happened with the ninth grade). If you read the school newspaper, you see a totally different story coming out this year from previous years. Just a .02 from another Clevelander who has heard "the sky is falling" stories about Saperstein and talked to some parents and ask some questions about what I was hearing and why their children were still if things were so bad. I got a very different picture from "word on the street."

Last edited by ElTam on Mon, Nov 17 2014, 5:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

TwinsMommy

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 11:21 pm

things are changing at Sapirstein-- very true. and in my opinion and in the opinion of one student with whom we're close and hearing almost daily complaints..... not for the better.

Obviously anyone considering the school will come and talk at length to the admin and make their own decision. It might be great for some families depending on what you want.

And what's now won't be what's 5 years from now or 10 years from now one way or another.

I would suggest speaking not only with admin, but with current students at each of the schools that make your final few, and their parents.

Yael--- your chicago reference-- just curious, what's STMY? We've been to WRP and davened a couple diff places, so I'm just curious. (visited friends there before the kids were born).

yaelinIN

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 11:26 pm

TwinsMommy wrote:

Yael--- your chicago reference-- just curious, what's STMY? We've been to WRP and davened a couple diff places, so I'm just curious. (visited friends there before the kids were born).

STMY is Sha'arei Tzedek Mishkan Yair - Rabbi Gross' shul on Touhy. It is a great shul, Rabbi and Rabbitzen are terrific and the kiddushim are to die for! Wink

When we lived in West Lafayette, we would go to Chicago once or twice a month and STMY became "our" shul. We even joined and had our youngest son's bris there. We wish we lived in WRP! We still might - it's not our first choice logistically but we might move there due to school stuff.

yaelinIN

Sun, Nov 16 2014, 11:28 pm

yaelinIN wrote:

Don't think so since we'd rather have him within reasonable driving distance, but hey, tell me something and maybe my husband will be intrigued. Smile

Rochester is now on our list of places to check out - it would be way too cold for me, but I'm not the talmid! Very Happy

amother

Mon, Nov 17 2014, 4:56 am

My ds started MTI this year and so far loving it. Everyone is very friendly. Anytime I need to speak to them, there's no problem. They do not allow a smartphone, but there's a type of video game in the dorm and they keep they very busy with taking them places. As far as academics go, I really don't know. All I can say is that when I was there for orientation a woman complained that the 3-4 electives none of them were for academics and she didn't like that. From that I'm assuming she checked it for academics because she cares about that a lot, but that's an assumption. As you probably know it's a CC yeshiva, so black hat during davening and colored shirt is allowed. No jeans allowed even in the dorm. Those things were an adjustment for my ds, but not a reason not to go. Originally I was looking into Skokie, but one of the things I didn't like about it was the size. My ds has 8 or 10 boys in his class. This year it goes up to 3rd year bais medrash because that's how many years it's open.

The two biggest cons are the weather and no kosher restaurants except an Indian place and my ds is not going there Wink

. He loves sushi, so a mother of a boy in his class sends him some sometimes. He lives in town.

tryinghard

Mon, Nov 17 2014, 10:44 am

yaelinIN wrote:

Rochester is now on our list of places to check out - it would be way too cold for me, but I'm not the talmid! Very Happy

If you or your husband want to speak with DH (a first-year rebbe in the yeshiva, who went to HS, beis medrash and kollel there), PM me, and he'd be happy to speak with you.