(Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Krivoi Rog, Donetsk, and Kyiv) Report of a ...

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families whose relationship to Chabad lacked depth, Mrs. Borgen responded that
parents were attracted by the small classes that seldom exceeded twelve girls and by
the overall family atmosphere of the school.
The school day begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m., said Mrs. Borgen,
acknowledging that its length was difficult for some of the girls. Additionally, a shorter
day is scheduled for Sundays. Approximately one-half of the day is devoted to Jewish
subjects (taught mainly in Hebrew) and one-half to secular subjects. The secular
curriculum is geared toward the Israeli bagrut examinations, Mrs. Borgen said, and the
school also offers instruction in
music, dance, gymnastics, and art.
A group of machon girls begins
their ballet class in a small
exercise room in the machon
building. They are wearing the
tights that they wear with school
uniforms and the three in the
rear are wearing school uniform
blouses. None is wearing ballet
slippers or other footwear.
Photo: the writer.
It is school policy, said Mrs. Borgen, that all girls from the general Jewish
population pay no tuition for enrollment in the machon. However, Chabad
families pay tuition on a sliding scale adjusted to family means. All girls pay
for their textbooks, both secular and religious, she said.
The machon premises are separate from the rest of School #144. Girls have
their own classrooms, computer facilities, exercise room, and dining room in
their own building located in back of the main school building. However, Mrs.
Borgen observed, as the enrollment of the machon grows, it is increasingly
difficult to find appropriate space for all classes in this discrete structure.
Some classes now are held in a room designated for teacher preparation and
staff meetings. Girls from the machon rarely interact with other pupils on the
School #144 campus.
Rabbi Meir Stambler, Executive Director of the Chabad Federation of Jewish
Communities of Ukraine, told the writer in a later meeting that a new
Dnipropetrovsk campus for girls’ and women’s education now in the advanced
planning stage would include a residential high school for girls from
Chabad families throughout Ukraine. Presumably, girls from Chabad
families in Dnipropetrovsk would attend the school as day students. The new
school might include girls as young as nine or ten, and it could open as early
as September 2012. Under such circumstances, the building on the School