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July 18, 2008
Weinberg Academy Gives Up Own Site
Rochelle Eisenberg
Staff Reporter
The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Academy’s Max and Esther Gutmann Elementary School, which provides individualized secular and Judaic studies instruction for children with learning issues and special needs, will move from its Randallstown campus this fall.
Beginning in the upcoming school year, students in the program will be relocated to area Jewish day schools.
According to Dovid Fink, the academy’s chairman of the board, the boys will be moved to a Jewish day school for boys while the girls will receive instruction at a counterpart girls’ Jewish day school. He said plans are being finalized with the respective day schools, which will provide space for the program.
Students with special needs will continue to receive self-contained instruction at the new locations. At the same time, there will be opportunities for students to interact with their peers in the day school setting, particularly during assemblies, at recess, and during prayer services. When applicable, they will join mainstream classes at the schools.
As part of the move, the academy is in final talks to sell its 11-acre campus, located on Marriottsville Road. Mr. Fink said he expects contracts to be signed shortly.
The decision to merge the free-standing Gutmann model into more of an inclusion program began about a year ago. One of the concerns was attracting students to a separate campus.
“There is a stigma among many parents of having children with special needs,” said Mr. Fink. “They want their children in school with their brothers, sisters and friends. Our responsibility is to reach as many kids as possible.”
Faye Friedman, the school’s administrator, said the decision to move is part of a larger trend of placing special needs students into inclusion educational settings. “Research shows that children perform best in the least restrictive enviorment,” she said.
Last year, the Gutmann School served 17 students. Mr. Fink anticipates that with the move, the number will climb to 20 by the start of the school year and potentially 30 students by the spring.
Diane Bark, whose son, Max, will be a fifth grader at Gutmann this year, said she believes one of the problems in attracting students was the remote location of the school. “It took me an hour to get there,” she said.
Ms. Bark said the move “gives families better access to the Weinberg Academy without segregating them and helps [mainstream students] see students different from them and learn to respect them. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
In conjunction with the relocation of the educational programming, the school’s administration is planning to move its offices from the Randallstown campus to Pikesville office space.
In addition to its elementary program, the academy operates learning centers at the Talmudical Academy, Yeshivat Rambam and Bais Yaakov schools. Those learning centers pull students from mainstream classrooms for short periods of instruction. Instruction may include learning skills to compensate for learning issues, as well as providing individualized instruction in a particular subject in which the child is struggling. Mrs. Friedman said the learning centers are doing well, and enrollment has been increasing. Currently, these centers serve approximately 160 students, according to Mr. Fink.
The Weinberg Academy was originally established in 1979 as P’TACH of Baltimore by a mother who wanted her son to receive a Jewish education despite his learning disabilities. Initially, it operated at Talmudic Academy, prior to purchasing the land and moving to the Randallstown site.
There have been a growing number of students in recent years who are accessing special needs educational programs. Martha Goodman is coordinator for MD S.N.A.P. a free Center for Jewish Education program that provides advocacy, support and help with individualized education plans for families with children with special needs.
She said the reasons for this growth are not absolutely clear. However, factors that may be contributing to the upswing are a greater identification of students, changes in the school infrastructure and the addition of more services targeting this population.