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head of school at the pre-K-
eighth grade Abrams Hebrew
Academy in Yardley.

Last year, Abrams students
stayed in their classrooms
all day, and teachers came to
them. There were no lunches in
the cafeteria, no art or music
classes and no sports or clubs.

Abrams had one basic
mission: get through an in-person
school year. Everything else was
secondary to avoiding the virus,
Budow said.

None of the COVID
vaccines had Food and Drug
Administration approval until
December. Even after they
gained emergency use autho-
rization, they weren’t available
to teachers and teenagers for
several months.

“So everybody was under
pressure,” Budow said. “We’re
going to school; we’re not
protected at all.”
This year, it’s the opposite
feeling. Vaccinations have brought
peace of mind. Cafeteria
lunches have restored loud,
lively lunch tables. Activities
have revitalized student
interests that transcend class
subjects. Only the masks remain as
the obvious, undeniable sign
that COVID is still alive.

“Everything else is back to
normal,” Budow said.

Christie Chiantese, who
teaches second grade and
middle school language arts,
explained that it’s vital for
Abrams to be a community
and not just a school.

“When you feel like you’re
part of a community, you tend
to do more, be more, give
more,” she said.

But local Jewish schools
wouldn’t be able to pull this
off without sound protocols,
mostly developed during the
uncertain 2021-’21 school year.

After the pandemic spring of
2020, which forced schools into
the digital space, the Kellman
Brown Academy had one chief
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM When you feel like you’re part of a
community, you tend to do more, be more,
give more.”
CHRISTIE CHIANTESE
director of school and commu-
nity relations for the Lower
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But, as Barrack’s head of
school, Rabbi Marshall Lesack,
put it, even inoculating the
younger age group may not
lead to the end of the pandemic.

Local districts are prepared for
COVID “to be with us for a
while,” he said.

At the same time, school
leaders think students can
handle that. Administrators
are not seeing restriction
fatigue among students — like
kids ripping masks off.

According to Besie Katz, the
head of school at the Politz
Hebrew Academy in Northeast
Philadelphia, COVID is no
longer consuming the life of a
school. “It’s part of our life,” she
said. l
jsaffren@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0740
Kellman Brown Academy students enjoy recess outside on a recent
fall day.
Courtesy of Toby Miller
priority for the following fall.

Open, and stay open.

“To teach students in the
safest way possible and also in
the most normal way possible,”
said Rachel Zivic, KBA’s head
of school.

The pre-K-8 institution in
Voorhees, New Jersey, came up
with a strategy that it still uses
in 2021-’22.

Have parents fill out a health
questionnaire every morning
on an app. Keep students at
a 3-6 foot distance. Enforce
masking. KBA has not had a COVID
case since reopening in the fall
of 2020. Over the last two years,
it also has welcomed more than
100 new students.

Zivic attributed some of the
increase to the school’s ability
to pull off a safe, in-person year
during COVID. She said some
of those new students came
from public schools.

“Everything was new last
year, so we were inventing the
wheel,” Zivic added. “This year,
we have a template.”
The head of school is
prepared to continue her
approach for as long as she
needs to, and other admin-
istrators said the same. But
just like the initial approval
of vaccinations, there is now
another possible “light at the
end of the tunnel.”
That would be vaccinations
for children ages 5-11, which
the FDA approved Oct. 29,
according to media reports.

The federal agency only
granted emergency use autho-
rization to the Pfizer vaccine,
not the other two.

Local school leaders plan on
encouraging vaccinations for
young students. Several insti-
tutions, including Abrams,
KBA and the Jack M. Barrack
Hebrew Academy in Bryn
Mawr, are even going to host
vaccine clinics.

“Vaccinations are one of the
key mitigation efforts that will
enable us to return to normal,”
said Amy Buckman, the
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NOVEMBER 4, 2021
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