Opening a neighborhood school in Woodmere

HALB moves into former Number Six building

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Felice Ackerman, co-director of the Early Childhood Center at the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, greeted children by their first names as they entered their new school on Monday, following up with a question, “Do you know where you’re going?”

The former Number Six School on Church Avenue in Woodmere was sold to HALB by the Lawrence School District in 2014 for $8.5 million. Students finally moved in on March 20.

Included in the deal is $2.7 million that will be held as a guarantee that Lawrence will realize more than $565,000 in annual savings on district expenditures on transportation and special education for HALB students.

Roughly 77 percent of the current 780 students at the kindergarten-to-eighth-grade yeshiva live in the Five Towns, with a majority of those 600 students living in Woodmere, according to Richard Altabe, the lower school principal.

“This is unbelievable after all the tumult,” said Altabe, a 1974 HALB graduate. “We celebrated Purim last Monday, had the snow day on Tuesday, packed up on Wednesday and Thursday, the students had off Friday, and here we are.”

“Here” is a 6.67-acre site that includes the 80,170-square-foot building, which the Lawrence district closed in March 2009 because of declining enrollment. The facility, damaged by time and Hurricane Sandy flooding, needed to be refurbished and brought up to current codes, and new technologies were added.

The original terrazzo floor and gymnasium court now gleam. The gym has new bleachers, six shiny basketball hoops and the HALB Lions insignia at center court. The 500-seat auditorium has a state-of-the-art heating and ventilation system, there is Wi-Fi throughout the building, and signs to direct students, faculty and guests to their correct destinations.

“This has been years in coming,” said Lance Hirt, a HALB parent who serves on the executive board and was president of the school’s board when the sale was completed. HALB has been in Long Beach for 62 years.

Classrooms are bright and airy, and have plenty of space for students and smartboards. On Monday morning, the boys prayed in the new study hall and the girls in the auditorium. The cafeteria that looked like a bombed-out hull several months ago is full of tables, and the kitchen is polished and shiny.

The renovated building also has an elevator, two outdoor swimming pools for the summer camp and all needed outlets for electronic devices. New windows were installed. The ball fields and outdoor playground remain, and four new basketball courts were added.

To limit the time nearby residents would be disturbed by school bus traffic, a loop driveway was created on Ibsen Street. Car passengers are dropped off on the Branch Boulevard side of the building, and walkers can enter from the Church Avenue side.

“Buses will travel up Branch Boulevard to Branch Gate, then down Arbuckle Avenue from the west side, said an excited Executive Director Richard Hagler, who shifted from one end of the school to the other to assist with incoming students. “Cars will enter and leave from Branch Boulevard, and the kids walking can enter from the north side.”

“The location is the benefit, as we are right in the community, and it opens up a level of engagement,” Altabe said. “This is now a neighborhood school again.”
The former HALB property in Long Beach is being sold to Wittek Development LLC and Sackman Enterprises. Those firms are seeking a variance from the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals to build luxury condominiums on the site.