Over the past several decades, the Los Angeles Jewish community has acquired a national reputation for having it all. Synagogues for every affiliation, kosher restaurants for every culinary desire, day schools, a robust Jewish Federation, security and emergency services, nonprofits for the needy. You name it, Jewish L.A. has it.
That’s what North Hollywood residents Sarah and Alain R’bibo assumed until they had to send their special-needs daughter Iva, now nine, to a Jewish school. “Our older children were in Jewish schools and when it was time to enroll Iva, we were shocked to find there was no Jewish school that served children with special needs,” Sarah said. “We looked and looked and finally asked ourselves, ‘Los Angeles is the second largest Jewish community in the United States. It offers so much for the Jewish community, with so many generous people. Where do families who want a Jewish school for their children with special needs go? What do they do?’”
Some well-meaning people told Sarah she just wasn’t looking hard enough, while others told her she needed to move to New York, where there are plenty of government resources for children with special needs. “A surprising number of people asked me, ‘Don’t those kids get what they need in public school?’” she said. “It seemed the Jewish community was simply resigned to the fact that LA will never have a Jewish day school for children with special needs.”
Sarah discovered she wasn’t alone in her frustrations as she searched for an appropriate school. About five years ago, through another mother of a child with special needs, Sarah was introduced to Chaya Chazanow, 32, whose son Tzvi was about Iva’s age and had similar challenges.
Together, the three mothers created a WhatsApp group chat called “Questions and Sharing.” The purpose of the chat was for mothers in the community who had children with special needs to connect with one another. The group has since grown to over 70 members. Everybody shares information, resources and advice to help each other navigate the complicated world of being a special needs parent.
“We moved to Los Angeles just eight years ago from Australia, and when it was time to enroll our son, who has special needs, in a Jewish school, it was shocking that nothing existed in all of Los Angeles,” Chaya said. “The WhatsApp group was tremendously helpful, but we all still faced a common problem. Where’s the Jewish school for kids with special needs?”
They started their own school and called it Maor Academy. Maor is Hebrew for “source of light.”
The more Sarah and Chaya chatted, the more they knew the status quo was not acceptable. So they did what any determined Jewish mother on a mission to help her children would do. They started their own school and called it Maor Academy. Maor is Hebrew for “source of light.”
But they didn’t approach their project naively. Sarah, an attorney, and Chaya, an educator, were well aware of the obstacles they faced. They also knew they were attempting to do what had been tried numerous times in LA – and was always met with failure.
Nevertheless, they got to work. Their first step was research. They educated themselves on how to best navigate state and local funding sources, as limited as they are in California. They learned the necessary licensing and regulatory requirements. They spoke with educators, clinicians, Jewish leaders, Jewish schools, public officials, the L.A. Jewish Federation, Jewish nonprofits and synagogues — reaching out to anyone and everyone who would talk to them. They even went to New York to tour schools that matched the vision they had for Maor.
What Sarah and Chaya found was a remarkably supportive LA Jewish community. That only strengthened their resolve to make Maor work. In 2017, they approached Friendship Circle of Los Angeles, a Chabad-sponsored organization that serves children with special needs, and proposed they work together. Friendship Circle was immediately receptive and made a classroom available. The mothers’ vision began to take shape. They had two students, Iva and Tzvi, and two teachers. Maor was small, but it was a start.
Growth was steady. In 2018, the school doubled to four students. The next year, it grew to 12 students, making it necessary to seek a larger space. They relocated to a building near The Grove, where they currently occupy the entire first floor.
However, after just a couple years of operations, and projecting a steady influx of students over time, it became apparent that even that location was not going to be large enough. “The space needed for a special-education school is unique,” Sarah said. “Students with special needs require more space than the typical student. Learning for students with special needs is for the most part one-on-one, requiring numerous staff and therapists to support the students.”
At Maor, this includes a director, secular and Judaic educational staff, licensed clinical social workers, a lead behaviorist, ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) therapists and supervisors, a speech therapist, adapted physical education teacher, physical therapist and an occupational therapist. Varying types of spaces are also needed, including outdoor areas, a sensory gym, a calm down room and other pull-out spaces.
The faculty and staff make the most of the limited space available, with each classroom divided into areas arranged to run specific educational programs and activities. Plus, the one outdoor area in the back of the building is modest, at best.
Making the issue of space even more critical, in addition to operating a special education school, the vision of Maor is to do more. It endeavors to serve as a resource for the entire Jewish community. That means having a good number of administrative offices and meeting rooms to train students and volunteers and offer professional workshops.
So Maor went on a search for an even larger campus. Call it luck, call it divine intervention, but at about the same time, an 8,500 square foot ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)-compliant facility situated on a 30,000 square foot campus became available.
Located on Washington Blvd. near Hauser Blvd., it was the home of the Jeffrey Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 1972 by Alyce Morris Winston in honor of her adopted son, Jeffrey, who had special needs. Over the years, the Jeffrey Foundation has provided services to thousands of children with special needs and their families. While Winston felt it was time to sell the property, she wanted to make sure the building continued the mission of serving individuals with special needs.
A deal was struck, and Maor acquired the property. The school will relocate to its new campus in September 2022.
Its expansive grounds will allow for a sensory gym, life skills center and multiple flex-spaces for individual support and therapeutic services.
The new campus will easily accommodate many more pre-school and school-age students. Its expansive grounds will allow for a sensory gym, life skills center and multiple flex-spaces for individual support and therapeutic services. It will have two pre-school and school-age playgrounds, as well as a training center for professional development.
The frustrations Sarah and Chaya initially faced as they searched for a school for their children were no surprise to Ron Nagel, a Beverlywood pediatrician who for decades has been both a proponent and hands-on facilitator of Jewish education in LA.
“Jewish communities in New York, Miami, Chicago, Detroit and others have schools for every Jewish child regardless of ability. Why not Los Angeles?” – Ron Nagel
“My wife and I always wanted a school in Los Angeles for children with special needs, and despite many efforts, it has never worked out,” Nagel said. “While our family is not personally in need of a school that serves Jewish kids with learning or intellectual disabilities, we knew the need is great. Jewish communities in New York, Miami, Chicago, Detroit and others have schools for every Jewish child regardless of ability. Why not Los Angeles?”
Nagel serves on the board of Maor and is perhaps its biggest fan, especially when discussing the acquisition of the new campus. “It is the perfect building, with the perfect purpose, at the perfect time,” he said. “And it all happened around the time of Hanukkah, a true Hanukkah miracle.”
As a pediatrician who has cared for children for 40 years, and someone who has been – and continues to be – passionately involved in Jewish education, Nagel was the ideal person to ask why so many prior efforts failed. His answer was simple. “We all know that getting an effort like this off the ground is tremendously difficult,’ he said. “Aside from the obvious financial obstacles, it takes committed parents who won’t take no for an answer. That’s Sarah and Chaya. They are rockstars.”
Maor’s secular studies program includes reading, math, science and social studies. Judaic studies include recognizing Hebrew letters and reading, understanding Shabbat and holiday rituals and of course, parsha (weekly Torah portion). For many Jewish families, Shabbat is their one opportunity after a hectic week to sit together, talk and share Jewish ideas. Virtually all Jewish day school students come home every Friday with parsha sheets so they can discuss the weekly Torah portion at the Shabbat table. The child who has special needs is usually left out. At Maor, teachers place a special emphasis on parsha so every child in the family can participate at the Shabbat table.
The clinical professionals at Maor explain neurodiversity as “a viewpoint that brain differences are normal, rather than deficits. This concept can help reduce stigma around learning and thinking differences.”
The term special needs, primarily in the context of education, is complex. It means different things applied to different people. Every student learns differently and requires specialized attention and tailored programming. In the late 1990s the term “neurodiversity” was coined and is widely used along with special needs. The clinical professionals at Maor explain neurodiversity as “a viewpoint that brain differences are normal, rather than deficits. Neurodiverse people experience, interact with and interpret the world in unique ways. This concept can help reduce stigma around learning and thinking differences.”
“The most painful discussions I have in my office are when I ask parents how their child is doing in school and the response is, ‘Well, he/she is in first grade, trying to learn to read,’” Nagel said. “Parents usually start with tutors to help their kids. When the results are disappointing, they move to testing and evaluations. They might find the child has auditory or visual challenges that are affecting their reading or there may be other issues at play.”
At some point, Nagel explained, it becomes apparent the child won’t succeed at the Jewish school they are in because it is too challenging, and there are the rigors of a dual curriculum. “Parents are then faced with finding the right school with the right resources for their child, and that means navigating the public school system to get the services their child needs,” he said. “But it’s never that simple. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Each child is different. Schools need to take the time to create programs that are tailored for each child.”
Hence the emphasis on individualized programming at Maor.
“We start by recognizing that every student who comes to the school is unique and needs a customized program,” Kimberly Landis, Maor’s director said. “We spend a lot of time with not only the student, but with the family to assure we are as effective as we can be. We then create a plan for that student that combines Jewish and secular learning, therapies and enrichment activities, all wrapped in a warm and caring Jewish environment.”
Devora Hecht, a licensed clinical social worker employed at Maor, works closely with families of students at the school as well as other schools in the Jewish community. “I’ve had schools call me saying ‘We have a child who is three years old. She/he is not communicating. I have a full classroom and can’t give the student the time and attention they need. What do I do?’” Hecht said. “So we try to help. We talk to the teachers about resources that are available. We talk to the parents about what they can do to support their child’s development and help them access available services and benefits. We try as best we can by collaborating with other Jewish schools to develop a plan to best support the student. Whatever works for the child.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Maor was able to remain open for in-person learning throughout the entire 2020-2021 academic year due to very stringent safety protocols. “We built a community of doctors and healthcare professionals who helped us develop effective COVID protocols,” Landis said. “Our safety measures allowed students to come to school for in-person learning and to receive the therapies they needed.”
However, the same was not necessarily true for other schools that offer specialized therapies. “Many therapists did not feel comfortable going back to work at their schools,” Landis said. “Because we worked so hard here to create such a safe environment, we didn’t have that problem.”
No discussion of Jewish day schools – special education or otherwise – can ignore the financial means needed to send a child to a Jewish day school, especially for families with multiple children. Maor’s tuition is currently set at $25,000 per student. However, Maor provides parents with social workers and advocates to help them navigate and access governmental funding sources and services. When appropriate, Maor also connects families with education attorneys if they can be helpful in accessing additional funding.
Leah Lang, 41, whose family runs the Chabad Center in Camarillo, Calif., sought a Jewish education for their son Zev, 13, who is one of nine children and has special needs. With all their children in Jewish day schools, they wanted Zev to be able to participate in Jewish religious life at home with his siblings.
“The Camarillo Jewish community is small, so what do we do, where do we go?” Lang said. “We heard of Maor and our first thought was ‘How are we going to get Zev there’? It is more than an hour drive, but we checked it out anyway. With guidance from Maor, we were able to arrange transportation through Access (an ADA complementary paratransit service for disabled individuals) and together we worked it out. He is a Maor student.”
In addition to collaborating with Friendship Circle and fellow Jewish day schools, Maor has a close relationship with The Clubhouse, a separate nonprofit for special needs.
Partnerships are an integral and important part of Maor’s strategic plan. In addition to collaborating with Friendship Circle and fellow Jewish day schools, Maor has a close relationship with The Clubhouse, a separate nonprofit that provides parents of children and young adults with special needs respite time weekly from 3:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday afternoons. When the new campus opens, The Clubhouse will relocate, and both will be under one roof.
Pico-Robertson resident Noa Hami, 48, is the mother of five boys, the oldest of which is Yosef (who goes by JoJo). He is 14 and has special needs. Like the other parents, when JoJo was younger, Hami and her husband looked for programs that would accommodate JoJo’s special learning requirements while at the same time provide a Jewish environment. As a participant in Friendship Circle, they heard about Maor, and three years ago, when the school was just starting out, they enrolled their son.
“We’re thrilled he can be in a Jewish school with other Jewish kids,” Hami said. “We’ve noticed a big change in him just because of how attentive they are to his needs, and their amazing therapists. They sing Jewish songs, they review parsha and learn about the Jewish holidays. It’s wonderful to know he’s around other Jewish kids learning the same things.”
Because Yosef has been at Maor for three years, and is one of the older students, Hami was concerned her son would age out of the program and they would have to find another school for him.
“Thankfully Maor assured me with the new campus, the school will be able to continue serving the group of kids that he’s been with,” Hami said.
Despite the challenges of sustaining a Jewish school for students with special needs, Sarah and Chaya are remarkably optimistic.
“We want to make sure that these children have all the same opportunities to learn and be part of our community alongside all Jewish children.”
– Sarah R’bibo
“We want to make sure that these children have all the same opportunities to learn and be part of our community alongside all Jewish children,” Sarah said. “The last thing we want is to bring any negative energy to the process. So many good people and organizations have done so much over the years to help Jewish kids with special needs in our community, and we are just building off their efforts. We recognize that we are all in this together. We need to support one another.”
She continued, “So now when a parent with a child who has special needs asks: ‘Where’s the Jewish school for my child?’ they have an answer. Just give us a call.”
For information about services available in the Los Angeles Jewish community for students with special needs, Maor specialists are available to speak with free of charge. Contact: info@maorla.com.
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