Looking for the right preschool may not cause as much angst as choosing the best high school or college. But with the happy conundrum of many quality, Jewish early childhood education programs to choose from, parents can find it daunting to research and choose the best one for their child. The Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey is making the process easier with an Early Childhood Education Fair on November 16 from 10:00 a.m. to noon at World of Wings, 1775 Windsor Road, Teaneck. Admission to the event is free and gives attendees a 50% discount to visit the butterfly museum housed in the building. Representatives will be on hand from over 20 not-for-profit programs from day schools, Jewish Community Centers, and synagogues.
The fair started last year as an outgrowth of the Shalom Baby project. Ellen Finklestein, the project coordinator, said parents at the Mommy and Me play groups organized by Shalom Baby asked for guidance on choosing preschool programs. “It’s not easy to know where all the schools are,” Finklestein said. “There’s no directory or single source of information. The fair allows each school to put its best face forward in a personal way. You can meet representatives, see what they bring to the table, and how they interact with your child. It gives you a good means of comparison.”
The fair is also a good place to get a head start on preschool research. “Lots of people start looking even before their children are ready. They came last year with 1- and 2-year-olds and said they were looking forward to coming this year.”
In follow-up feedback about the fair, Finklestein said she heard from a little under half the attendees and many said they chose programs as a direct result. Several said they chose schools they had not heard of before. She cited the experience of Ellie Schlanger of Teaneck who said, “We loved the Lubavitch on the Palisades presentation at the fair, and we checked them out, along with a couple other places. Originally we had planned on sending to Temple Emeth, since they were so much closer. After they closed, it was an easy decision to send to Lubavitch.”
Finklestein said the schools were happy with the interaction at the fair and most will be coming back this year. She gave the example of Ruth Roth, from Ben Porat Yosef, who said they didn’t know what to expect but were pleasantly surprised with people coming in and expressing their interest.
Miriam Allenson, Marketing Services Director, said that although the Early Childhood Education Fair is a new program, it is part of Federation’s ongoing mission to further Jewish continuity. “Life is different now than five to ten years ago and the way we go about making programs available is different,” she said. “Now, we bring programs to people, rather than making [people] come to us.” For more information, contact Ellen Finkelstein, 201-820-3917, [email protected].
By Bracha Schwartz
