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Baltimore - TI or TA
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, May 22 2019, 5:55 am
amother [ Pearl ] wrote:
Going to the public library is completely acceptable for every single Baltimore school. (Except maybe the new chassidish cheder.)

The handbook clearly says you may not take your son.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Wed, May 22 2019, 6:07 am
It is clearly not enforced. Nobody cares. Have you ever been in pikesville library?

Personally, having grown up in Baltimore, I know the schools here quite well, warts and all. Which they both definitely have!
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amother
Ivory


 

Post Wed, May 22 2019, 6:14 am
Another very happy TA parent. We are definitely to the right of many of the parents (I do not have a smartphone, we have Internet but my kids cannot access themselves and they never watch movies), but there are many parents in the school who are very similar to us hashkafically (a bunch posted upthread!) and B"H my son has a nice chevra of friends from similar families.
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amother
Emerald


 

Post Wed, May 22 2019, 6:23 am
The public library thing is very surprising to me. I know plenty of TI families that their kids practically live in the library. They watch videos and play on DS and their parents' smart phones.

That said, I'll tell you what I love about TA. As I only know people that send to TI and never sent myself, I'll refrain from saying anything about what I haven't experienced myself.

I love love love the rabbeim. My boys still consider prior rabbeim their Rebbe and get excited to see them. Some are more amazing than others, but with 6 years worth (over multiple grades with multiple kids), we've never had a bad one. We moved back to Baltimore when I already had some kids in older grades so I can talk more confidently about the middle school and younger elementary (which we have now).

I love the warmth of the school. The simple things like playing music when the kids come, the nachas "grams" they send to the parents make the kids feel like a million dollars.

They stress midos and derech eretz.

I love the fact that they have an honors program in both gemara and chol in the middle school. It pushes the brighter kids just a bit. They also have "remedial" chol in middle school for the weaker. I love the outside the box teaching in the elementary school where it engages the bright, is on target for the norm and doesn't let the weak fall behind.

I like how they stagger start time for 6th grade. It's a pain for carpool, but helps the kids adjust to the longer day in middle school before having the kids come in early for minyan.

Yes the clientele is more diverse. Yes there are parents that don't cover their hair. But this is Baltimore, and one of the things I love about Baltimore is that it's diverse and everyone is accepting of everyone. It exposes kids to all "labels" in the frum world. Yes my kids were friends with more modern kids along with the frummer kids. But they had a strong Hashkafa background at home that let them be friends without the influence.

Now, no school is perfect and my kids have had issues in school. But those issues are in many schools. I found the teachers to be responsive to the issues. (I'm not talking academic)

Is there a technology issue---yes! But the issue isn't exclusive to TA. I have a relative who sends to TI and we had a family get together. It was his kids who were playing on their parents phones and watching videos the whole time not anyone else. There are plenty of people in TA that don't have TVs and don't watch movies and limit or don't allow computer time. Maybe less in number than in TI, but not as few as people make it sound.

That said, I only kept my boys there through 8th grade. Afterward they went to a mainstream yeshiva.

I chose TA because it was more similar to what my boys were used to before we moved. I wanted to reduce the amount of change in their lives as possible. But with that decision, I have absolutely no regrets and would choose it all over again if I went back in time.
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amother
Scarlet


 

Post Wed, May 22 2019, 6:26 am
amother [ OP ] wrote:
The handbook clearly says you may not take your son.

The TI handbook says a lot of things. The year we sent there, they preferred no internet for the parents. Midyear, they sent home a form for Amazon shopping with the school’s code. I was laughing at the hypocrisy.
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amother
Maroon


 

Post Wed, May 22 2019, 6:52 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
The handbook clearly says you may not take your son.

I just checked the handbook. It suggests that you do not take your son due to the proliferation of inappropriate media and reading content, but if you do, do not let him go unaccompanied.

IMHO a wise recommendation for today’s world, unfortunately.
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