Poor wording stirs report card controversy

A letter sent by Yeshiva Ketana of Long Island officials to parents concerning their children’s report cards has caused the Inwood school to backtrack about the genuine meaning of the Jan. 8 correspondence.

The last sentence of the letter read: “If after reviewing the enclosed report card, you would like us to develop a second version of this report card for your son with higher grades, please call Mrs. [Name Removed] at extension 1003.”

“The letter was definitely taken out of context, it did not portray what people think, it meant the exact opposite, it was poor wording,” Yeshiva Ketana officials told the Herald. It was the second consecutive year that such a letter was sent to parents.

A weekly New Jersey newspaper, The Jewish Standard, posted the letter on its Twitter and Facebook pages and asked for comments using the questions: “What do you think of this policy? Brilliant? Befuddling” Best Idea ever?

“It is everything that is wrong with our society today ... Where everyone is a winner don’t strive for success , PC (politically correct), etc. stop the nonsense,” Chris Templar, posted on Facebook.

Tzirël Shaffren said his son attended Yeshiva Ketana and called it a “wonderful institution,” and questioned the newspaper’s journalistic judgment.

“This smells to me of a disgruntled parent trying to lynch a school publicly. For all we know, parents have brought pressure to bear on the school to do this. Maybe there are special needs children being integrated into the school (certainly a commendable thing), and they are trying to be sensitive to that population. I am far more disturbed by the parent who is trying to publicly humiliate the school and all the people here who are quick and willing to place judgment. What type of website posts this kind of thing inviting the public to harass a school? I certainly hope this is not the ‘Jewish standard,’” Shaffren posted on Facebook.

Rabbi Tzvi Krigsman, one of the four Ketana officials to sign the letter, said that the letter was addressing a handful of students who are trying hard but due to a change in the school’s grade reporting policy have seen their grades drop or remain the same. The idea was to provide positive reinforcement for the students, Krigsman said, as the school transitions to a system of full disclosure.

“Indeed, some children would be forever discouraged to see zero progress or result from their very hard work purely because the grade point average mathematically prohibits the yeshiva from doing so,” Krigsman wrote in a follow up response. “For those parents who have used this tool, they have seen resounding affects from both a learning perspective as well as an emotional and psychological standpoint. (You’d be surprised how much self-confidence factors into studying and test-taking skills.)”

Founded in 1995, Yeshiva Ketana is an all-boys school that has an enrollment of a little more than 400 students ranging from pre-school to eighth grade.
In the response letter, Krigsman said the idea that the school is not reporting grades honestly is “absurd and preposterous” and what occurred underscored the potential harmful effects of social media and how things could be taken out of context.

“The perpetrators used this letter for no other reason other than to embarrass and humiliate the yeshiva,” the rabbi wrote. Imagine when just spoken words between employees, spouses or friends are posted with no context or clarity! We have nothing to be ashamed of, other than a member of our community who would post our letters and create such an impression.”