The following is a guest post submitted by A. O’Reilly. She is a Jewish mom with a little girl in preschool. They live in Canada (which explains the spelling variations that our American readers will notice). She runs a blog on Jewish culture and arts, called The Flying Shtetl.
Much like many Catholic parents, Jewish
parents who chose to send their children to religious schools do so because
they are interested in having a substantial part of the curriculum contain
references to the tenets of their religious belief, and in the case of Jewish
schools, to Jewish holidays and practices that in the public setting are often
condensed into ‘oh and then there’s Chanukah’ with a token dreidel or menorah
on the classroom bulletin board.
Unlike in the USA, in Canada, Catholic
schools are part of the ‘public’ school district. They are tax supported and
free. Jewish, Islamic, and private
Christian schools do not fall under this umbrella, and the tuition at these
schools can be extremely high. In other words, if you decide to send your child
to a Hebrew Day School and you aren’t independently wealthy or you have more
than one child, look to be making some sacrifices or investigating serious
budgeting. And in addition to tuition and other extras (a 3 week trip to Israel
anyone?), there are, of course, uniforms.
My child is currently a pre-schooler at a
Hebrew Day School that includes preschool, junior and senior kindergartens, and
grades 1-9. By the way, yes we’re Jewish, despite the surname. It’s a wonderful
school. Very small class sizes (1/3 to 1/4 of the public average), lots of
personalised attention, a schedule that rotates round Jewish holidays allowing
less school days missed, and most important of all, an impressive,
knowledgeable, friendly faculty and staff, dedicated to sharing Jewish culture,
history, community, and values like chesed (respect) and tzedakah (charity) to
all students. I love it. I love it. Did I mention I love it?
But what about uniforms? Since that’s what
this blog is about, let’s talk uniforms, shall we? Personally, I love our
uniforms, just like I love our school. They’re classy and smart. My kid looks
like a doll in them and begs to put them on every morning. But, they are
expensive. This year our basic outlay for uniforms was over $800 Canadian.
That’s about $775-$780 in US dollars, before shoes. For a pre-schooler. Yikes.
All the pieces are logoed and must be
purchased from a single provider located in another province, so there’s no
shopping around. There are benefits and negatives to this.
Negatives? Did I mention I spent over $800?
And that’s before we started losing socks and modesty shorts to the laundry
monster, in week one, and realised that 2 formal tops and 2 daily wear tops
weren’t going to cut it unless I wanted to be a slave to the washing machine.
Positives? All the kids uniforms are
exactly the same, from top to socks. There’s no brand recognition, better or
poorer quality, or anything else to set the kids apart. In fact, the uniforms
are of outrageously good quality, which means if you have younger kids coming
up in the school, you’re probably going to be set for a few years.
There were no numerical requirements for
each item, but we are required to have at least one formal wear outfit,
consisting of the pinafore, oxford, and cardigan or the kilted skort/kilt,
oxford, and vest, regulation navy knee socks or tights, and black shoes and a
daily wear option. Here’s an accounting of our beginning of year outlay and our
first add-on order. I used Canadian dollars, but the US rate is currently close
enough that it’s comparible.
- 2 formal oxford
shirts with school logo on sleeve, short sleeved ($26.50x2 = $53.00)
- 2 polos, school
logo on chest, short sleeved (24.75x2 = $49.50)
- 2 tunic pinafores
(Americans would call them jumpers), pleated, dark navy (42.00 x2 = $84.00)
- 2 skorts, navy,
pleated skirt in front style (25.50x2 = $51.00)
- 2 cardigans, dark
navy, school logo on chest (53.00 x2 = $106.00)
- 1 vest, dark
navy, school logo on chest (41.00 x1 = $82.00)
- 1 polar fleece
full zip jacket, logo on chest (40.00 x1 = $80.00)
- 1 half zip
sweatshirt, dark navy, school logo on chest (29.00 x1= 29.00)
- 3 pair navy knee
socks (6.00 x3 = $18.00)
- 2 pair navy
tights (12.00 x2 = $24.00)
- 3 pair black
modesty shorts, i.e. bike shorts basically (12.00 x3 = $36.00)
The polos and oxfords also have long sleeve
options, but I chose short sleeved because my kid is always hot and thought
with the cardigan plus long sleeves, she would be boiling. There is also a kilt
option, and above grade 6, a plaid kilt and matching tie. Preschool and
kindergarten girls can also wear trousers, but my kid likes the skirts. The
trousers are dark navy, flat front, and cost $38.00 per pair. There is also a
‘rugby’ pant for this age group, unisex, which appears no different from the
trousers other than the presence of a waist tie instead of a zip fly. These
will run you $25.00 per pair. I’m not sure what the huge price discrepancy is.
Maybe the button and zipper are made of gold. Ha ha!
Also required were trainers/gym shoes with
non-skid soles (full gym kit not required until grade 1), and black or dark
navy school shoes. For this I chose a pair of black converse with white bottoms
($31.99), and Lelli Kelly brand Mary Jane style shoes in black ($85.00).
- 5 pair dark navy socks (6.00 x5 = $30.00)
- 3 pair modesty shorts (12.00 x3 = $36.00)
- 1 extra kilted skort ($25.50)
- 1 long sleeve polo, logo on chest. ($24.75)
Then there’s tax (about 55.00 for the two
orders) and shipping ($16.00)
Total: $884.75 (OMG) of which $799.75 was
official wear, i.e. before the shoes, but I wanted good quality leather that
would stand up to heavy wear.
How do I feel about this?
First of all,
broke.
Second of all, not looking forward to grade 6 and above, when the price
of the tartan kilts is $82.00 and there’s the addition of several ties at
$16.00 each. That’s in today’s prices of course. In 6 years, who knows what
they’ll be.
Third of all, however, I’m very thankful
that I didn’t have to purchase any school supplies other than a backpack and
lunch box, which my daughter already had. I ordered a tiny kid’s backpack from
Germany. It wasn’t any more expensive than buying them here and they are the
perfect size for a little one.
How does this fit into the big picture? If
you want your kid to have a parochial education, especially a Jewish one,
expect to pay. While the Jewish community does have some bursaries to help with
tuition, there is no uniform assistance. It’s pretty much assumed that if you
got in and your tuition is paid, the uniforms are a minor expense. Is it worth
it? Hebrew Sunday schools or other after school or weekend programmes at
synagogues can be very good and create a good sense of community, but there’s
something about a full day school education that really instils Jewish values
and reinforces community in a way that supplementary schools can’t. But, parents
who can’t afford the tuition, the fees, the volunteer time, and the uniforms, can
be blocked from this opportunity.
Do parents of parochial school children in
the US face these same challenges? Or is the cost of a private education just
not worth it? For me the answer is yes, it is. But I can see a lot of parents
who would say no, or who sadly, would want to take advantage of the school, but
simply cannot.
