St. Louis Schools | Imamother

amother

Wed, Aug 19 2020, 4:30 pm

Does anyone have any info on St. Louis, MO schools? We will be moving there for several years with elementary age kids. Our children currently attend school in Israel (mamad torani school), and read and speak both English and Hebrew. It looks like our options are Saul Mirowetz, Epstein Hebrew Academy, or Torah Prep and they all seem to have some overlap in terms of the community. We are looking for a school with a very strong community feel and good education.

amother

Burgundy

Wed, Aug 19 2020, 5:50 pm

Hi.
Im from st Louis.
I'd be happy to discuss it with you!

Torah prep is the most yeshevish of the schools. Growing by leaps and bounds.

Epstein is unfortunately shrinking with a lot of the families heading more to public schools.
I don't really know much about mirowitz

amother

Thu, Aug 20 2020, 6:55 pm

Everything I have read about Torah prep sounds perfect for us. Would we be too modern though? By Israeli standards we are dati leumi, possibly dati lite. DH and I work in the secular environment, I wear skirts, cover hair with tichel, and do wear short sleeves. At home we have no TV and the kids don't have internet access and don't watch movies. DH and I have smart phones though and watch secular shows on our laptops. Basically our children are pretty sheltered but dh and I are very modern, if that makes sense.

amother

Natural

Thu, Aug 20 2020, 7:11 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’m sorry to derail, but I just find this so interesting, because if you come to a place like Lakewood, it sounds like most of the yeshivish kids here watch more than yours! Some food for thought for those who put down MO as being less frum.

cbsp

Thu, Aug 20 2020, 7:25 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Maybe it would be helpful to watch last year's "first day of school" video?

https://vimeo.com/357664592

Torah Prep has other videos there as well, might give you a good feel for the diversity of the school families...

Raw

Thu, Aug 20 2020, 7:26 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Interesting. Based on your description you don’t sound “very modern.” The short sleeves are the only thing that may set you apart from just plain American frum.

amother

Sienna

Thu, Aug 20 2020, 7:41 pm

Torah Prep is definitely yeshivish, but if you're ok with that, it sounds like you'd fit right in. There are a handful of families that are more modern. Everyone is accepted. It's St Louis and all the jewish schools are diverse here.

Epstein has strong academics but it's mainly comprised of the modern orthodox community which is shrinking every year. The class sizes are very very small. 3-10 per grade, co-ed.

I don't know any Epstein families that have gone to public school, though some have switched to Mirowitz over the years. And a handful go to a local prep school for high school. Most sadly, have just moved away over the years.

TwinsMommy

Fri, Aug 21 2020, 2:14 am

I watched the video--- there are male parents in t shirts! There are male parents in colored shirts! There are female parents in tichels! Hooray for diversity and people of different flavors getting along!

(we live in Cleveland in a "Yeshivish" neighborhood but consider ourselves MO--- we watch tv as do our kids. We listen to secular music and read secular books. We don't hide that we went to college, and we work in the secular world). My husband gets phone calls from community leaders very concerned that people have brought up to them that he wears cargo pants and colored shirts, etc. I wish people would care more about who we are than what we wear.

I would love to explore St Louis as a possible place to move someday, personally. My husband is dying to move but I'm not ready.

PinkFridge

Fri, Aug 21 2020, 9:13 am

TwinsMommy wrote:

My husband gets phone calls from community leaders very concerned that people have brought up to them that he wears cargo pants and colored shirts, etc. I wish people would care more about who we are than what we wear.
.

So sorry.