Florida BY schools (and communities!)

amother

Alyssum

Wed, Oct 27 2021, 2:36 pm

amother [ Acacia ] wrote:

Chas V'Shalom - in no way was I disparaging the school, nor am I slandering them. It is a wonderful school and we are privileged to have this choice here.

I guess I wasn't clear so let's be honest - in NY/NJ a kid doing something like this in school would have been thrown out on the street without anyone from the school losing any sleep over it. I have enough relatives over there to know that this happens for far lesser infractions. I was pointing out how loving and accepting the school is. I know the kid, and I know he's still a student there and doing very well.

I believe this story.
And I'm not parsing op's words or criticizing them in any way, just pointing out that it sounds like she'd be very unhappy with her kids being in a school where this sort of situation may occur.
Also, since she specified that she's wanting her kids in a BY atmosphere without kids who access regular TV shows or Netflix type streaming, it would do her a disservice not to be upfront and honest about what she can expect. Yes there are yeshivish families here. But the schools are a big mix. This isn't NY/NJ where kids aren't accepted because of mom not covering her hair, or a TV or internet access at home. So you'll have all types.

amother

Cornsilk

Wed, Oct 27 2021, 2:46 pm

amother [ Acacia ] wrote:

If the child came from a regular frum home but was trying to rebel or look for attention, that is a completely different scenario. In my experience (granted was a while ago BUT many of the same people are still in the hanhalos), the schools were very warm and loving and not looking to be punitive.

I assumed from the story that the child came from a non-kosher home. If Toras Emes or BYM are routinely accepting kids from non-kosher homes, that would genuinely shock me. I wouldn't believe it frankly.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Wed, Oct 27 2021, 3:24 pm

The story was said in such a way as to infer that there are a wide range of kids, you even have kids whose parent is not frum or a boy who brings Macdonalds to lunch.

If you only meant to say that they give people a chance and don't reject them because the family is not yet frum, okay. But that's not how it sounded.

The fact is that BY is a very frum school. A girl who's parent is not frum does not want to send to BY. There are lots of other choices, other than the frummest high school in town.
Sure it has happened in the 20 years or so that I have been affiliated with the school, that a girl wants to go to BY, despite her parents not yet being frum, and Rabbi Leizerson might accept her after seeing her sincerity. But it's not like it's a common occurrence at all.

And the story with the kid who had to be told not to bring McDonald's...again, I could possibly believe it happened, but it must have been a very unusual scenario. There are tens of other schools that cater to the not yet frum crowd. It is unusual that such a family would choose to send their child to a school like Toras Emes.

amother

Springgreen

Wed, Oct 27 2021, 3:37 pm

I didn't read the replies, so I'm sorry if this is repetitive at all.
I recently moved to Boca and we are absolutely loving the community.
The school here (Torah Academy) is beyond AMAZING - I am so impressed with it!
However, it doesn't sound like you'll be happy with any general out of town school, in my opinion... Usually there is only one school, so it is a community school where all different types of people go. There is another school here which takes the more modern crowd, but based on what you're describing I still think Torah Academy will be too "community" for you. I don't mean that as a judgement at all - I just want to be honest.
There are some out of town communities where there is also a more yeshivish school, but that is not the case here.
I'm saying this as someone who is probably on the more yeshivish side for the crowd here - I love it, but I'm from out of town originally. And my husband is honestly not sure what we'll want to do when our kids get a little older, because even though we both grew up like this, it is different these days and is definitely something we'll have to consider.

But we love Boca for right now Wink

Good luck!

ImmaBubby

Thu, Oct 28 2021, 12:50 am

Please do yourself a favor and come down for a Shabbos and enough time to tour the schools and neighborhoods. Actually, in all fairness, it might take several trips, but this is a big move, with your kids’ chinuch on the line. See it all for yourself and speak to other parents.