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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling
SKA and Bruriah high schools
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amother
Fuchsia


 

Post Tue, Jul 10 2018, 9:54 pm
What types of girls go there? What's the parent body like? What elementary schools feed into these schools? Which seminaries and colleges do the girls go to afterward? How would you compare the two? Are they considered Modern Orthodox? Thanx. If you went there, did you enjoy it? Would you send your own daughter there? Thanx. What's the hashkafa of the school?
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amother
Fuchsia


 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 7:26 pm
bump
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pesek zman




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 7:54 pm
thesr are 2 different schools in 2 different states
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amother
Violet


 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 7:55 pm
SKA- a little to the left. Most of the families have money but certainly not all. Full tuition (they give breaks) is around 25k. I think many of the girls go on to stern or NYU. It's not a Touro crowd. We are happy there as most parents are. Of course there are some exceptions.
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Ellie7




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:00 pm
To be fair, though, in many ways, SKA was modeled after Bruriah.

I went to SKA many years ago, so I’m not totally up to date, but I did like it. It’s a straight-up Modern Orthodox school. Girls go on to seminaries ranging from Brovender’s to Michlalah and colleges from Stern and Queens to the Ivy League.

It’s an academically challenging place, but I’d also say the administration pays the most attention to the girls who are academically promising. There are many, many opportunities there—from AP courses to all sorts of clubs and teams.
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amother
Jetblack


 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:32 pm
Both MO but bruriah a bit more right. JEC feeds directly into Bruriah. Girls come from RPRY, Kushner, JFS, RJJ, Shaarei Tzion, YNJ, I think Ashar in Monsey, plus many other schools. Highly academic in addition to being growth oriented. Questions are accepted and encouraged. I don't know much about SKA but I think the principal is Mrs. Spirn, who had been associate principal in Bruriah way back when.
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amother
Wine


 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 8:39 pm
Bruriah is barely MO. Lots of BY girls there a decade ago.
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amother
Lavender


 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 9:19 pm
Bruriah has fewer BY types now than in the past.
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amother
Smokey


 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 9:27 pm
amother wrote:
Bruriah is barely MO. Lots of BY girls there a decade ago.

Since Mrs. Newman left and Rabbi Oratz took over they lost a lot of their BY contingency. Teachers who sent their older kids there now send elsewhere. Even then the BY girls were barely 20% of the grade. The girls hashkafa ranges but I would consider the school RW MO. They are pro Israel but the one class in zionism is pretty benign.
They have strong academics, lots of APs and college credit options in 12th and some in 11th grade. They track classes, 2 honors and 2 not. There are those who say that the non honors students are treated like second class citizens but that wasn't my experience. I also felt there was a lot of help if you were struggling in certain areas.
They're very into relationships with teachers. Everyone meets with the mechaneches of their grade at least once every year and the guidance counselor at some point. Teachers are generally available for meetings other times if you ask.
Almost everyone goes to seminary and then to college. Typical seminary choices are Michlala, Darchei Bina, MMY, Shalavim and a whole list of others I can't think of right now. A huge amount go on to Stern then all over including Touro (Landers) in Manhattan, some Ivy Leagues...
I've moved to the right so I wouldn't send my kids there but it's a good option.
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SpottedBanana




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 9:29 pm
amother wrote:
Bruriah is barely MO. Lots of BY girls there a decade ago.


Bruriah has changed dramatically with the loss of Mrs. Newman a"h and lhbd"l Mrs. Stern as well. I graduated in 2013 and my best friend is currently a teacher there.

The two schools are very similar, both send the honors girls to Michlalah and MMY mostly. The non-honors girls from Bruriah tend to go to a range of other seminaries (Sharfman's to Migdal Oz to Midreshet Tehilla and everything in between) and I think SKA is similar.

The only difference really is that Bruriah is out of town and has a much more out of towny feel, though the majority of the student population comes from Teaneck, (the MO part of) Passaic, and (the MO part of) Monsey which no one calls out of town, Woodmere and Lawrence they are not.

ETA cross-posted with amother above. Have also moved to the right since Bruriah. Since the LK teachers are all from Lakewood they don't preach their hashkafa to the girls so there aren't really RWMO role models there. Basically no teacher would have a problem with the fact that I'm yeshivish now and no teacher would have a problem with my friends who aren't.

Also lol, the Zionism class is just history of Israel and is taught by a teacher from Lakewood.
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tryinghard




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 10:33 pm
I loved Bruriah. I would consider sending a kid there, but I don't think DH would let - he's more yeshivish than I am LOL

I loved the range of classes, clubs, extracurriculars. I was in choir, on a basketball team, and moonlighted in various other things. I loved my teachers, and became close with many of them. Beyond the school encouraging relationships with teachers, the culture amongst the students was that it was cool to have "meetings" with teachers. I gained a lot from these relationships.

I loved having such a diverse grade - mainly in terms of personalities, interests, etc, more than the hashkafic diversity, which was definitely there. I had several different groups of friends, which really allowed me to stretch my personality out, figure myself out in ways that a smaller school might have stifled.

One word of caution: when I was there, in the honors classes at least, there was a culture of over-achievement. Girls were very very hard on themselves, and a test grade in the high 80s was an embarrassment. So if your daughter is the type to take this too seriously, to get too anxious and worried, this may be a factor to consider.

I actually became more yeshivish during high school, and I found that my more MO friends had no problem with it, and encouraged it. For perspective on where I am now on the hashkafic spectrum, I went to Darchei Binah, and married a Chafetz Chaim guy. I do know that it has drifted more to the left than it was when I was there (I graduated in 2006, dear God this makes me feel old!), but as I said, I would still consider it.
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amother
Copper


 

Post Wed, Jul 11 2018, 10:57 pm
I went to SKA in the beginning years, so I'm sure it's changed since then. Mrs. Spirn came from Bruriah so the school has a similar feel and some similar programming. I went to Michlalah with some girls from Bruriah and we used to joke that we went to the same school. However I have heard rumors that Mrs. Spirn will be leaving soon, so I don't know how that will affect SKA.

SKA draws a lot from HALB elementary and other 5 Towns schools, but also from some schools in Queens and Brooklyn. There is an emphasis on academics, but at least in my day they tried to bring out the talents of each individual girl with extracurriculars and electives. I would consider the school somewhere between centrist and RW MO. There is a dress code, but as always some kids are more likely to push boundaries than others.

Not sure what info you are looking for. Maybe ask some questions?
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WastingTime




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 6:56 am
pesek zman wrote:
thesr are 2 different schools in 2 different states


yes but SKA was modeled after Bruriah
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amother
Wine


 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 8:43 am
SpottedBanana wrote:
Bruriah has changed dramatically with the loss of Mrs. Newman a"h and lhbd"l Mrs. Stern as well. I graduated in 2013 and my best friend is currently a teacher there.

The two schools are very similar, both send the honors girls to Michlalah and MMY mostly. The non-honors girls from Bruriah tend to go to a range of other seminaries (Sharfman's to Migdal Oz to Midreshet Tehilla and everything in between) and I think SKA is similar.

The only difference really is that Bruriah is out of town and has a much more out of towny feel, though the majority of the student population comes from Teaneck, (the MO part of) Passaic, and (the MO part of) Monsey which no one calls out of town, Woodmere and Lawrence they are not.

ETA cross-posted with amother above. Have also moved to the right since Bruriah. Since the LK teachers are all from Lakewood they don't preach their hashkafa to the girls so there aren't really RWMO role models there. Basically no teacher would have a problem with the fact that I'm yeshivish now and no teacher would have a problem with my friends who aren't.

Also lol, the Zionism class is just history of Israel and is taught by a teacher from Lakewood.


I was there when Mrs Newman was still there. Since I was in HH, all the BY girls were in my class, so my experience was more BY-y. Also all of the LK teachers were from Passaic and Lakewood.

Did Mrs stern pass away? Also, never heard of Teaneck or even Elizabeth NJ being considered OOT. These days there are a lot less Teaneck girls at bruriah I thought.
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amother
Cerulean


 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 8:49 am
My daughter was accepted to Bruriah but is attending Ma'ayanot instead. I'm not sure I would consider Bruriah MO in its philosophy, or if it is MO then very RW MO. Based on the students who chose to attend and the staff.
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 9:44 am
Bruriah is MO. Mrs Newman and Mrs Stern really tried shifting it to the right, but were never truly successful. It's definitely RWMO.
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amother
Cerulean


 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 10:04 am
saw50st8 wrote:
Bruriah is MO. Mrs Newman and Mrs Stern really tried shifting it to the right, but were never truly successful. It's definitely RWMO.


I'll take your word for it since my daughter never went there, just went through the application process and we attended an open house and parlor meeting. Based on that they are not marketing themselves as MO. My daughter had concerns about the inflexibility in academic tracking, since most classes are tracked together, and was put off by rude questioning during her interview.
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SpottedBanana




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 10:08 am
I mean, it depends what you consider MO. Advocating halachic "innovation" to create more roles for women, HIR style? No. Advocating kollel? Also no. Advocating not speaking LH, doing more chessed, davening with more kavannah? Yes.
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amother
Cerulean


 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 10:46 am
SpottedBanana wrote:
I mean, it depends what you consider MO. Advocating halachic "innovation" to create more roles for women, HIR style? No. Advocating kollel? Also no. Advocating not speaking LH, doing more chessed, davening with more kavannah? Yes.


I'm confused. Are you suggesting that not speaking LH, doing more chessed, and davening with kavana are not MO values? My daughter's MO school strongly encourages all of the above.
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 12 2018, 11:42 am
The school is based on the rulings of Rabbi Teitz who is definitely a MO Rabbi. They follow the Torah U'Madah philosophy and are basically a feeder school to YU-Stern. It is definitely a RWMO school compared to Maayanot.

I graduated in 2000 but my cousins graduated in the last few years and some of my friends send their kids there now.
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