Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 14, 2022

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Approximately 80 to 100 students in kindergarten and first grade will walk into a newly constructed public charter school in Midland Beach this fall.

Construction on the Staten Island Hebrew Public Charter School is almost complete, opening for the first time for the 2022-2023 school year. It will eventually add a grade each year up to fifth grade with the possibility it could add intermediate grade levels in the future.

Its the 11th campus in the Hebrew Public Charter School network, a national network of schools with a goal to lead exceptional, diverse public charter schools that teach Modern Hebrew to children of all backgrounds, while also preparing them to be successful global citizens.

It will be the fourth campus to open in New York City.

The building will open to students on Aug. 31. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

The school has no religious affiliation, and religion will not be taught at the school. The charter network considers itself to be diverse by design.

Were a network of diverse by design schools, said Roger Katz, assistant director of student recruitment at Hebrew Public. We work very hard to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve in our staff and our student bodies. We know that all students are going to have better academic and social emotional outcomes when theyre learning in classrooms like that.

Students will be welcomed to the school building on the first day on Aug. 31, located at 829 Father Capodanno Blvd., with four floors filled with classrooms, a cafeteria, a gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms, administrative offices and two rooftop outdoor play areas. Classrooms slated for kindergarten students also have in-class restrooms for student use.

The Advance/SILIve.com recently toured the building, which will ultimately serve more than 500 students.

Rooms will have an accent wall painted with a color from the Hebrew Public Charter School logo.

Outdoor play space is on the rooftops of the building. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

Sunlight streams into every classroom throughout the building providing views of the South Beach and Midland Beach boardwalks and the Atlantic Ocean, or through a skylight on the bottom floor that also acts as an art installation on the exterior of the building.

The mission of the charter school is to provide great education to diverse kids. While the school will teach Modern Hebrew, it will also help students become global citizens, which the charter describes as the ability to understand different cultures and different languages.

Students will learn Modern Hebrew daily, starting in kindergarten, through a proficiency-based approach. They will receive one instructional period of Hebrew language learning daily by engaging in meaningful interactions, developing their speaking and comprehension skills at a rapid pace.

Its really cool, because during those blocks of the school day, those 45 minutes, theyre only being spoken to in Hebrew, said Katz. And because its taught that way, students are able to build first a foundational comprehension, and I just think the most exciting thing is to watch them go from not really speaking to speaking in sentences and understand. And thats every day they get that.

Classrooms have spectacular views of the beach and boardwalk. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

As they advance through grade levels, speaking and listening skills continue to be developed alongside reading and writing. The language is taught by native speakers, who only speak to students in Hebrew.

As they learn the language, they also have the opportunity to learn about the culture and history of Israel.

Students will attend school Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., with an early student dismissal every Friday at 1 p.m. to allow for staff training and professional development. After-school services will also be provided at the school.

Outdoor play space is on the rooftops of the building. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

Were really excited to grow in the community and offer families a wonderful educational experience in a brand new building, said Katz. And with great teachers with a wonderful organization and a wonderful board who is been deeply involved were shooting for the stars.

Families can apply to the charter school here. Similar to other charter schools, the admissions process is lottery-based. Students on Staten Island will have priority admission.

You can find more information on the charter school at its website, sihebrewpublic.org.

Each classroom has an accent color. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

The school has views of the ocean near the South Beach Boardwalk. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

Outdoor play space on the rooftop shows the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge in the distance. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

Kindergarten classrooms are outfitted with individual bathrooms for students. (Staten Island Advance/Annalise Knudson)

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Heres a sneak peek inside new NYC charter school opening in Midland Beach - SILive.com

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