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Facing declining enrollment, Schechter Manhattan to shutter at end of school year
(New York Jewish Week) — Schechter Manhattan, a Conservative Jewish elementary and middle school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, will close at the end of the school year.
The school is framing the closure, which it announced in a video chat with parents on Tuesday evening and in a subsequent email, as a collaboration with Rodeph Sholom School, a nearby Reform Jewish school that is affiliated with a synagogue of the same name. Schechter is encouraging its 63 students, in grades K-8, to enroll at Rodeph Sholom, which will also be hiring Schechter’s head of school and another senior administrator to lead a new Judaic studies program.
“Schechter Manhattan will be planning and working towards joining forces with Rodeph Sholom School as of July 1, 2024, thereby ceasing operations as an independent entity on June 30, 2024,” read Tuesday night’s email from the trustees of the school, which was founded in 1994 and moved in 2011 to a new development on 100th Street and Columbus Avenue.
Schechter Manhattan’s closure means that only one school with roots in the Conservative movement — the Solomon Schechter School of Queens, which identifies as a “community” school — remains in the five boroughs. Schechter’s leadership attributed the closure to declining enrollment at schools throughout New York City, as well as a cost per student that has become untenable as the school averages seven students per grade.
“Demographic change, social trends and shifting parent priorities are affecting all manner of private schools, including Jewish day schools,” the email read. “Moreover, in a post-denominational world, boundaries between Conservative, Reform, non-denominational and interfaith communities no longer serve our shared desire to provide a vibrant, sustainable, and high-quality Jewish education to the next generation of Jewish leaders and lay public.”
The school also acknowledged that the name “Schechter,” once signifying a major network of egalitarian Jewish day schools, had become a hindrance to enrollment. On a Frequently-Asked-Questions page, the school wrote, “the Schechter brand has experienced challenges that did not make sense to carry over to the new school.”
Under the terms of the partnership, Rodeph Sholom is working to recruit at least 28 Schechter students, or nearly half of Schechter’s student body, by Dec. 1. Those who enroll by that date will get a range of perks, including paying their current Schechter tuition for the next two years and only moderate increases in the following three years.
That’s a big deal, because the two schools’ tuition rates are significantly different. Schechter has advertised a sliding scale for tuition based on income level, with payments running anywhere from $10,000 to $45,750 per student. Rodeph Sholom also offers tuition assistance, but its rates go much higher, up to a maximum of more than $63,000 per student for its oldest grades — one of the highest Jewish day school tuition rates in the country. Philanthropic support is enabling the tuition benefits for Schechter Manhattan parents, according to the FAQ page.
The Dec. 1 deadline is high-stakes: If the 28-student threshold is not met by then, the deal is off, and all students would have to go through Rodeph Sholom’s regular admission process — and pay its regular tuition.
In either case, according to the FAQ, some element of Schechter’s program will be incorporated into Rodeph Sholom. Chris Aguero, currently Schechter’s head of school, will lead the new Advanced Judaics and Hebrew Language Program along with Shira Jacobson, currently Schechter’s assistant head of school. The FAQ page said the new Judaics program would offer “a level of creativity and rigor commensurate with the Judaics and Hebrew language options currently offered at Schechter Manhattan.”
In addition, Rodeph Sholom will absorb three Schechter board members. The FAQ page said other Schechter faculty “will also be invited to teach” at Rodeph Sholom, though it did not provide further details.
“Change is never easy,” the email said. “This decision wasn’t taken lightly but was made with the future of our students and the strength of Jewish education at heart. We cherish the memories, experiences, and values we’ve shared as Schechter Manhattan, and we’re excited about the new journey with Rodeph Sholom School.”
The closure is not the first for a Schechter school in the area. The Solomon Schechter High School of Manhattan merged with a New Jersey Schechter school in 2006 and closed down permanently the following year. A Long Island Schechter school closed the next year, in 2008.
Meanwhile, other small Jewish schools across the region have also struggled: Brooklyn’s Lamplighters Yeshiva, a decade-old Montessori school in the Chabad tradition, closed in 2020, and the Idea School, a Modern Orthodox high school in New Jersey, closed in June.
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The post Facing declining enrollment, Schechter Manhattan to shutter at end of school year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.