Chestnut Ridge—While mountains of snow may be everywhere, plans for summer fun are kicking into high gear for the staff at one Teaneck-based camp since their plans to lease a Rockland County middle school have been approved by the local school board.
Camp Shalom NJ, Inc, formerly located at the Ma Tov Campgrounds in Old Tappan, New Jersey, will set up shop for summer 2014 and beyond in Chestnut Ridge, New York at the Chestnut Ridge Middle School, located just over the New York state line.
Regarding their former site, “we are grateful for the two years we had enjoyed,” Yosef Levine, president of the board at Camp Shalom told The Jewish Link of Bergen County. “We looked at different schools in both Bergen and Rockland counties where we know there are schools that are available for lease while also considering other camp grounds.”
Chestnut Ridge Middle School is located within Rockland County’s East Ramapo School District, a district where tensions run high between public school parents and the Orthodox Jewish community, which sends its children to private schools. A 2013 Huffington Post article estimated that of the 29,000 children who live within the East Ramapo School District, only 9,000 attend public schools, with the remainder, almost exclusively Orthodox Jews, enrolled in private schools. The school board has been controlled by a majority of Orthodox Jews over the last several years and public school parents have accused the board of ignoring the public school students in favor of their private school counterparts.
“This is a district that is struggling financially and we know they could use the money,” explained Levine. “We could have rented a facility in New Jersey, but this was a win-win situation for everyone.”
Chestnut Ridge Middle School had been home to The Summer Spot Day Camp from 2000 to 2010, serving up to 100 East Ramapo families annually, according to reports in the Rockland Journal News. The non-profit camp paid no rent at the facility until approximately 2008 finally relocating to another location when the school board raised its fees significantly in 2011. According to Levine, Chestnut Ridge Middle School has been vacant over the past three summers.
Comments to the original Journal News story, which appear on LoHud.com, have bashed the largely Orthodox school board for its decision to lease the facility to Camp Shalom, a 501 [c] 3 non-profit entity that has been operating for over fifty years, suggesting that the board approved the deal because it catered to the Jewish community. Levine dismissed the notion, saying nothing could be farther from the truth. (Since the Passaic Clifton “Y” closed 3 years ago, Camp Shalom NJ has been organized to function as a stand-alone non-for-profit organization benefiting the local Jewish communities.)
“We never met with any of the board members,” said Levine. “All of our discussions were with Superintendent Dr. Joel Klein, District Clerk Cathy Russell as well as the head of maintenance and facilities and the head of finance. Our initial conversations dealt with our philosophy, our mission statement and how we view the camping experience as an opportunity for child growth and development.”
Rabbi Yehoshua Gold, the Director of Camp Shalom, noted that Camp Shalom prides itself on its high degree of professionalism.
“A significant portion of our senior staff have advanced degrees in educationally related areas and we conduct detailed interviews and perform background checks on each of our counselors in additional to a rigorous pre-camp training program. The majority of our senior administration have been teaming together for many years working for the camp,” said Rabbi Gold.
Camp Shalom will be utilizing several classrooms on the first floor of Chestnut Ridge Middle School as well as the gym, lunchroom, auditorium and the teachers’ room in addition to the school’s spacious grounds. In addition to on site swimming, campers will enjoy an art studio, woodworking shop, two baseball fields, two kickball fields, multiple soccer fields, basketball courts, a full size football field, a hockey rink, gaga pits and more.
Levine, who said that the camp is looking into purchasing an adjacent property as a permanent home for Camp Shalom, says that he is aware of the tension that exists in East Ramapo but that his dealings with Dr. Klein and the district have been extremely positive.
“We are all about positivity and empowering children – we feel fortunate to be bringing needed cash flow into a school district in a dire financial situation,” said Levine. “We have had nothing but the best dealings with Dr. Klein and his staff. Based on our interactions with the district to date, it is clear that Dr. Klein’s priority is the school district and he puts the children of East Ramapo before anything else. We are looking forward to a tremendous upcoming summer and the start of an amazing partnership.” For more information about Camp Shalom, visit their website at www.CampShalomNJ.org.
Sandy Eller is a freelance writer who has written for websites, newspapers, magazines and numerous private clients in addition to having written song lyrics and scripts for several full scale productions. She can be contacted at [email protected].
By Sandy Eller
