A Michigan mother is making headlines after calling on state schools to ban a “pornographic” version of Anne Frank’s “The Diary of a Young Girl.” Gail Horalek filed a formal complaint after noticing a copy of the book her seventh-grader was reading contained passages referring to the labia and clitoris. "The problem is the school is giving the seventh graders inappropriate material and not explaining it to the parents," Horalek said. “If they watch any kind of movie with a …More

Beren Academy lost after a crazy 4 OT game against Geneva School of Boerne. The semi-final match eventually ended with the close score of 68-67, with Boerne winning. Last year the orthodox boys basketball team made it all the way to the finals. The Beren boys became an international story for sticking up for their beliefs last year. They were prepared to forfeit their hoop dreams for their religious beliefs when the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) refused to change the schedule so that …More

For the students at Boys Town Jerusalem, school isn’t just about gaining an education—it’s about creating a family as well. “Boys Town is a school in Israel for disadvantaged youths,” said Rabbi Ezra Berenholz, director of development at Boys Town Jerusalem Foundation of America, which supports the Israel-based school. “The school started after the Holocaust as a way to create a place for orphaned boys to live, to study, to eat, and to learn a trade,” he added. Today, …More

Five years ago, Concordia University professor Frederick Krantz noticed a lack of preparedness among Jewish students when faced with the growing anti-Zionist fervor he witnessed on his campus. “Zionism was becoming a negative term and we at the Canadian Institute for Jewish Research (CIJR) wanted to do something about it,” he said, “so we started the Student Israel Advocacy Program (SIAP), a year-long seminar with college faculty for the public, to give them facts and data about Jewish and …More

On the third floor of the Belgian capital’s oldest Jewish school, Jacquy Wajc pauses to listen to the eerie silence that hangs in the hallways. Established in 1947 as a testament to Belgian Jewry’s post-Holocaust revival, the Athenee Maimonides Bruxelles school once accommodated 600 students in its spacious building in downtown Brussels but now has only 150. Enrollment entered a free fall 10 years ago, as Jews left the area for the suburbs and were replaced by immigrants, many of them Muslims, who …More

Just before 1 o'clock on a sunny afternoon, students streamed out of the Amirim Public School and headed for home. But for their teachers, the workday was far from over. Some would stay late to attend faculty meetings and prepare upcoming lessons. Others would help small groups of students in subjects like math and science, Hebrew and English. The extended hours are but one aspect of sweeping changes instituted by the Israeli Ministry of Education in 2009 after the country's students posted disappointing results …More

The British government reportedly is planning to exclude Hebrew from a list of recognized foreign languages in the national education system. The Board of Deputies of British Jews warned last week that the exclusion of Hebrew could damage Jewish education in the country, the Jewish Chronicle reported. Education Minister Elizabeth Truss announced plans last month to make it compulsory, from September 2014, to teach a foreign language to children aged 7 to 11. Schools would be required to offer at least one of …More

A Jewish day school has cut ties with the Boy Scouts of America, citing the group’s anti-gay policies as reason. The Golda Och Academy, a Conservative New Jersey school, informed parents of the decision to end its chapter of the BSA in a recent letter. “To exclude same-sex families from membership and adult volunteerism is in direct contradiction of school policies, which place high value on inclusion,” the Oct. 17 note read. Rabbi Lisa Vernon and Mike Schazberg are scout leaders for the …More

A 24-year-old Jewish student is taking the lead in the youth protests rocking Chile. Noam Titelman, who was born in Israel, has emerged as the face of the student movement, with police clashes this weekend in Santiago that led to the arrest of 140 and left many wounded. The students are angry at an educational system they claim serves only the rich, and are demanding free tuition and better funding for public universities, which currently fall below the standards set by the expensive, private schools that cater …More

Drake finally decided it’s time to get his high school diploma, even if it means going to summer school. Way back when (because he's so old), he dropped out of Toronto’s Forest Hill Collegiate Institute to pursue his rapping – we mean acting – career on “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” He played basketball-star-turned-disabled student Jimmy Brooks from 2001 to 2009 before pursuing his love of music. He eventually became so immersed in his music that he never returned back to …More

An Islamic school in the St. Louis area, the Al Manara Academy, is planning to move onto the campus of a local synagogue, B’nai El Congregation in Frontenac, Mo. By August, the Islamic day school plans to move to the space previously occupied by the Saul Mirowitz Day School-Reform Jewish Academy, according to the St. Louis Jewish Light. A conditional permit of use was approved Tuesday by the Frontenac City Council, limiting the number of students to 100, the newspaper said. Amye Carrigan, B’nai El …More

A new school donated by the Turkish Jewish community and the American Jewish Committee was dedicated in Van, which was ravaged by an earthquake. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck on Oct. 23. More than 600 people were killed and more than 4,000 injured in the temblor, which left more than 6,000 buildings uninhabitable. The Selahattin Ülkümen primary school, located in the village of Kiratli, will accommodate 400 children in a new, computer-equipped building, according to AJC. The American Jewish Joint …More