Beth Shir Sholom takes a ""my way or the highway"" approach to parents and children. The director, Marsha Newstat, rarely shows up to school and allows the school to be run by her uneducated assistants Cynthia Barzilai and Raymond Sanchez. They profess to follow the Reggio-Emilia philosophy, however I find they use this model of self-directed education as an excuse to avoid planning any activities. The result is eight hours of free time for preschoolers, which inevitably results in chaos and injury.
Although the school is affiliated with a Reform synagogue, Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels, Marsha Newstat and Raymond Sanchez strongly discourage even the most basic Jewish education. Non-Jewish teachers are not given any insight into the values of Reform Judaism and many of them are confused and misinformed about Judaism. Many parents felt ignored when they attempted to speak to teachers and the director about their children. Director Marsha Newstat is widely known to dismiss parental concerns by saying, ""If you don't like what we do here you are welcome to enroll your child elsewhere.""
Marsha Newstat and Raymond Sanchez frequently ignore health and safety issues such as maintaining proper student to teacher ratios, changing diapers in a timely manner, and providing a clean and sanitary play space. The outdoor sandbox is used as a litter box by the neighborhood cats. Requests by parents to clean and cover the sandbox were dismissed outright as being too ""complicated.""
The egregious spelling and grammatical errors in the daily reports and printed newsletters is yet another example of the lazy and careless attitude exhibited by the teachers, the director, the assistant directors and the rabbi. Director Marsha Newstat writes a monthly column in the school newsletter where she regularly takes a condescending and hostile tone towards parents. The director fosters a culture of contempt and suspicion by playing favorites among teachers (Raymond, Jessica, Noelle) and encouraging these teachers to report on their colleagues as well as the parents they feel to be ""troublemakers.""
I strongly encourage parents to find a school that truly values learning, responds to parents and respects the children they are supposedly there to teach.
Pros: Full day program
Cons: No planning, no oversight, no common sense
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