Shulamith School for Girls

Shulamith School for Girls
Address
1277 E. 14th St. Brooklyn , New York United States
Information
Type	Private elementary and secondary
Established	1930
Founder	Nacha Rivkin
Grades	PreK–12
Mascot	Shulamith Cyclones and Dynamites
Affiliation	Orthodox Jewish

Shulamith School for Girls is a centrist Modern Orthodox Jewish, at one time Middle States accredited school currently located in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York, in the building that originally housed Vitagraph Studios. It was founded in 1930 by Nacha Rivkin working with Rabbi M.G. Volk in Borough Park, Brooklyn. It was the first Orthodox Jewish elementary school for girls in North America. From 1941, Dr. Judith Lieberman served as Hebrew principal and then as dean of Hebrew studies.

In July 2010 persuant to a parents' initiated lawsuit, Shulamith was split into two schools: Shulamith School of Brooklyn and Bnot Shulamith of Long Island. The split has left both schools in precarious positions for various reasons. The Brooklyn school is the 'new' one and the Long Island one is the 'original' school. While Long Island has the existing leadership, expansions plans there were based upon the sale of the Brooklyn campus, a transaction that has fallen through. The Brooklyn school had to establish an entire new leadership with no experience in running a school and it showed through many missteps over the past 12 monthes, not the least of which was hiring an individual to be the new executive director of the school who had no experience in running a school. In July 2011, a new more experienced person was hired to be the executive director of the Brooklyn school but a crucial year was wasted.

Additionally, when the school split into two, many teachers who did not follow the school to the Long Island location were not paid for many months of work. A lawsuit by these teachers against the school is pending.

Shulamith currently serves students from preschool through ninth grade and a twelfth grade. The high school opened in 1980 with Dr. Susan Katz as principal. She retired in 2007. Over the years the high school has received numerous outstanding academic achievements. Shulamith High School was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, which is the greatest award an American school can receive. The high school was a Middle States Accredited school but that accreditation has lapsed.

Shulamith School for Girls holds a graduation rate of 99%, with most of its students going on to seek professional careers in law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, business, and others, at the most prestigious universities across the United States. Some of which include Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, NYU, SUNY colleges, CUNY colleges, Yeshiva University, and countless more.

The Brooklyn school houses a state of the art gym, Olympic size pool, auditorium, computer lab, fully equipped Chemistry and Biology labs, and the Yavneh Minyan in the pre-school lunchroom.

Shulamith opened a second elementary school branch, called Bnot Shulamith, on Long Island in 2000.Vaad for Jewish Women's Education in Brooklyn In September 2007, the Brooklyn high school had a major change with the retirement of founding principal Dr. Susan Katz. Replacing Dr. Katz was Rabbi Avraham Lieberman serving as the Hebrew principal and Penina Karp serving as the general studies principal. Rabbi Lieberman left the school in 2008, and Rabbi Shaul Chill replaced the position.

Educational philosophy

Said Rabbi Lieberman:

Class will be conducted Ivrit b'Ivrit. Shulamith schools focus intensely on textual learning and skill development in judaic studies such as Navi, Halachah,"Mishnah", "Ketuvim" and Chumash. It's important for our girls to be able to open a Tanach and learn independently. We intend to provide our girls with the educational, social, and emotional tools needed to succeed on any path.... Our graduates attend Ivy League universities and at the same time walk out with the proper morals and ethics of judaisim... .

Extracurricular activities

Shulamith participates in the Salute to Israel Parade and Chidon HaTanach, which is an International Bible Contest. They also have a school bowl team called the "Torah Bowl" and compete with other (Yeshivot) schools in the district. Shulamith School for girls also stage annual music, dance, and drama productions. The student newspaper, the Kaleidoscope, won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Silver Crown in 1995. The student literary magazine Serendipity won the National Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Award for Humor in 1997. Students may attend the Bais Yaakov Convention. Shulamith also competes in an all-Yeshiva league in basketball, volleyball and softball. The honorable Shulamith's mock trial team, which has victoriously won many awards, championships, medals, and trophies, was first instituted in 1999 by Michelle Hagler (now a NYS admitted attorney) and Yocheved Kleinbart. A few other extracurricular activities, in the high school division in particular, include The Math Team, The Math Magazine, The National Honor Society, The Student Body President Committee, a weekly foreign language newspaper known as Sidra, Model Congress, yearbook, The Debate Team, etc.

Notable Graduates

• Rochelle Shoretz was a former Law Clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She founded Sharsheret, "a national organization of cancer survivors dedicated to addressing the unique concerns of young Jewish women facing breast cancer."
• Nancy Morgenstern worked for Cantor Fitzgerald. She was killed on 9/11 in the World Trade Center.