Nicolet Hebrew program
to be reduced

By Andrea Waxman
of The Chronicle staff

The Nicolet High School Hebrew language program, which was initiated in 1970, will be reduced by at least 20 percent beginning this fall, according to Nicolet District Superintendent Elliott Moeser.

That translates into combining levels and reducing the program’s five classes to four, assuming that the outside funding that has subsidized the program since the mid-1990s continues.

On May 31, the five members of the Nicolet School Board unanimously approved a proposal to fund 40 percent of a full-time teaching position to Hebrew teacher Suzanne Weinstein, with the expectation that another 40 percent would be paid for with contributions received from the Helen Bader Foundation and Marvin A. and Marilyn S. Zetley.

The decision to combine two levels into one class was made because of declining Hebrew enrollment, according to Moeser, who spoke to The Chronicle in a telephone interview last week.

Moeser confirmed that he personally reviews all enrollment numbers annually and then sets the number of class sections that will be taught. He is projecting a total enrollment of 48 students in all five levels of Hebrew for the 2007-08 academic year.

With an average of fewer than 10 Hebrew students per class, he said, “I cannot justify going to a point six [60 percent of a full-time teaching position], which, with the outside funding, would support five classes.

“Our class size limits are between 15 and 35, though we violate that minimum from time to time, especially for basic and special needs classes,” Moeser said. (See box for enrollment numbers.)

Moeser said that Nicolet’s Hebrew program has been “a result of strong collaboration with the community, the school and the staff, specifically [Suzanne] Weinstein.”

In addition to being fortunate enough to have a teacher licensed in Hebrew, Nicolet has had generous individuals and foundations that have partially underwritten the program, he said.

But the number of students taking Hebrew still does not justify the expense of a full-time teacher, according to Moeser. And in that regard, “this is a business. It is not any different from any other business. I cannot ask school board members not to carry out their fiduciary responsibility to the community,” Moeser said.

Nicolet School Board president Laurel Bear told The Chronicle, “The school board is 100 percent committed to our Hebrew program.” She added that if more students were registering for Hebrew, there would be no reason not to continue offering all five classes.

“[Combining classes] is no different from what we normally do,” Bear said, noting that German, which also has declining enrollment, is also facing reduced class sections.

But outside funding is also not the norm and such a public/private funding arrangement does not exist for any other Nicolet program, according to Moeser.

Because of Jewish community support for the Hebrew program and Weinstein’s efforts in seeking grants, the cost of the Hebrew program has been subsidized by a variety of individuals and foundations, including the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, over the years.

Tobey Libber, program officer for Jewish Life and Learning at the Helen Bader Foundation, said that his organization has “supported [Nicolet’s] Hebrew program for many, many years.”

Fall 2007 marks the beginning of a new three-year grant cycle for which the Helen Bader Foundation has awarded Nicolet’s Hebrew program $45,000. Libber said “Our goal is for Nicolet to have a Hebrew program.”

Libber noted that Weinstein “has done so much more [than just teach language] for the program. Not only has she fostered partnerships with Israeli students at schools in Milwaukee’s Partnership 2000 region, she has also made sure that visiting Israeli dignitaries, musicians, and speakers find their way to her classes,” he said.

Weinstein has been the sole Hebrew teacher at Nicolet since 1991. She has taught five levels of Hebrew in five separate classes for some 10 years she said.

Besides Hebrew, Nicolet’s foreign language offerings include Spanish, French, German and Latin and, beginning in the fall, Mandarin Chinese.
Moeser said that the Latin program will be phased out when the seven third- and fourth-year students enrolled for fall 2007 complete their four-year programs. German and French are also facing declining enrollments and sections of both languages will be combined next year.

“If everything would go well, and all of the entities cooperate I see no reason why a point eight [80 percent of the current program] or four sections of Hebrew would not be offered next year,” Moeser said.

When asked whether the full program would be maintained if additional outside funding were to be offered, Moeser said, “I think the board would give that strong consideration.”