When the United States declared war on Iraq, Chana Zauderer
made her own declaration: to ensure that her students are informed and to keep
them safe.
On March 21, Yeshiva University Los Angeles Girls High
School (YULA) held a schoolwide assembly to review safety procedures and to
discuss the war.
“At this age, students need to have information, and the way
to reassure them is to give them that information,” said Zauderer, who became
the head of the school last August.
While the media bombards Americans with images and stories
of air strikes, wounded soldiers, POWs and the question of terrorism, teachers
and administrators around the Southland are finding sensitive ways to teach
students about the events without causing unneeded anxiety. Many Los Angeles
day schools and religious schools are initiating discussions, while at the same
time beefing up school security.
At the YULA assembly, Zauderer spoke to students about
on-campus security and emergency procedures, issues she addressed in a memo to
her staff the day the war began. She talked to the girls about the importance
of keeping calm during an emergency, following safety instructions and
reporting suspicious people and objects to school office.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal
Center, spoke to students about the war. “He talked about our perspective [as
Jews] and how we were to relate the events unfolding,” Zauderer said. She added
that Cooper, who spoke at the YULA Boys High School on March 25, also asked the
girls to have faith in God and to include extra requests for world peace in
their daily prayers.
Zauderer plans to bring in additional speakers to discuss
more war-related topics. “[The talks] will be more from a religious
perspective, in terms of how we should be directing our prayers appropriately
and what we can be doing as observant Jews in these times of crises,” the
administrator said.
In addition, the school counselor will speak to classes
about the psychological aspects of the war and will be available to counsel
students on an on-going basis.
War worries and student safety are also at the forefront of
administrators’ minds at Emek Hebrew Academy in Sherman Oaks. The school has
hired an additional security guard and is in frequent contact with the LAPD’s
Van Nuys Division.
In the classroom, teachers have been advised on how to
discuss war-related issues. “We encourage the teachers to spend the time to
listen to questions and respond to them in a direct, but not overly dramatic
fashion,” said Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz, the school’s development director.
Emek administrators are striving to protect children from
unnecessary fears. Eidlitz remembers students becoming ridden with anxiety
after watching hours of TV news during Sept. 11 and the first Gulf War.
“They became convinced their world was falling apart,” the
rabbi recalled. To alleviate stress, the faculty is advising parents to limit
children’s television exposure.
Like the students at YULA, the Emek children are being asked
to say additional prayers when davening each day.
At Milken Community High School, students know they can
discuss the war in detail in their history classes, because the school has
dedicated itself to keeping students updated and fielding their questions.
“So far, the kids don’t seem to realize the realty of it,”
admitted Fran Lapides, head of the school’s social science department. “It’s
something that’s happening far from home.”
However, students have taken more of an interest since the
faculty staged a school teach-in Feb. 19, at which experts spoke to students
about both sides of the then-imminent war.
With most religious school students spending only four hours
a week in class, Susan Leider, principal of Temple Beth Am’s Pressman Academy
Day School in Los Angeles, believes it is still important to address issues
pertaining to the war. Secondly, she hopes to communicate to the students that
the school is safe.
Challenged with having only a few hours each week to address
war-related concerns, Leider has chosen to focus on the Jewish aspects.
“We acknowledge that most kids have had some forum to
discuss this,” Leider said, “but what we bring to this are the Jewish values.
We want to make sure they get the idea that Jewish life is sacred, and that we
should not rejoice over our enemies loss of life.”
“The loss of life is a sad thing,” Leider added, “and that’s
aside from any personal opinions about the war.”
While educators are approaching the topic of war in a
variety of ways, it is clear that all are attempting to reach out to students
during this uncertain time.
“I think it’s important [that students] know they can come
to school each day and [a teacher will] spend five minutes at the beginning of
class helping them understand what’s happened in the last 24 hours,” Lapides
said.
