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Tel Aviv English-Hebrew school: Is there a future?

Friday, 30. March 2012 - 11:49

CityKids, a popular community center and preschool for English speakers in the heart of Tel Aviv, announced on Tuesday that it is dropping plans to become a full-time, bilingual school.

"Plans for [the] proposed school have fallen through due [to] $100,000 in investments that have fallen through," the center's founder, Elvia Fisher, and partner, Yuval Berman, wrote in an e-mail sent last evening to prospective parents. Titled "Regrets from the Bilingual School," the e-mail preceded by two days the March 29 Ministry of Education license application deadline Fisher told Haaretz in February the group had every intention of meeting. "I am truly devastated that the project cannot continue, as we were so close to getting the project off the ground for September," Fisher told Haaretz. "All aspects of the project were right on target with a desirable location, a wonderful pool of dedicated, qualified and inspired teachers and plenty of students to fill the classes," she said.

Last Friday, some 50 people attended an "Open House" at the Tel Aviv location of the proposed new school. An e-mail sent by Fisher two days later gave parents until noon the following day to complete and return an electronic survey indicating their intentions. A follow-up e-mail the next morning extended the deadline to 9 P.M., and parents were informed that "if all goes well," applications for admission would be distributed March 29. According to Fisher, the questionnaire produced 70 confirmations for the school's first year, which was to begin in September.

"In the end it came down to financing," said Fisher, who had informed parents in an e-mail dated March 3 that the group had found investors ready to invest approximately $300,000, but still needed to raise another $750,000. "There were several stages at which the initial capital required was fully committed, but unfortunately several investors did not follow through," Fisher told Haaretz.

The e-mail brings to an end a frenetic, two-month stretch that began with the group's January 25 announcement that it intended to explore the establishment of a bilingual school.

By Mordechai I.Twersky

Source: 
www.haaretz.com/
Tags: 
bilingual school
CityKids
community center
Tel Aviv