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GRAMERCY GHOST REVIEW
NEW PEANUT POLICIES
Volume 26 • Issue 2 October 16, 2008 • 17 Tishrei 5769
Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School • 11710 Hunters Lane • Rockville, Maryland • 20852
Political season brings activism by Dagania Steinfeld
photo by Hannah Goldstein
The great exodus
Where did 23 percent of the class of 2012 go? For a look at how the freshman and junior classes dropped to fewer than 90 kids, see page 8.
photo by Martine Kaplan
In preparation for the election, students and staff are unleashing their political passions in venues ranging from campaign offices and voter registration centers to our own school auditorium. JDS students are involved in political campaigns and 11 seniors are preparing to cast their first votes. In addition, the history department arranged a mock election and a series of CAN WE CALL YOU JOE? Demospeakers with political cratic vice-presidential nominee Joe backgrounds to address Biden speaks at the National Jewish students about various Democratic Council, which 38 JDS students attended. Students have election-related issues. “We thought that it heard from many speakers and gotten would be a good idea involved in the upcoming election. for students to hear from different people, see people that are in the national spotlight, raise awareness of issues and bring excitement to the whole election process,” History Department Chair Carleton Cunningham said. Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith, father of seventh-grader Dore, senior Dafna, David (’05) and
see POLITICS, page 3
Prices for Sept. 11 assembly replaced Israel, Poland Students have mixed reactions to optional commemoration trips rise by David Friedland
by Neville Brodie Pricier plane tickets and a weak economy are threatening to lower the enrollment for the JDS Senior Class Eastern Europe and Israel Trip. As a result, JDS is working to raise enough money for scholarships so that all interested seniors will be able to afford the trip. “Israel has become a very expensive country to travel to,” Sigal Harel, a tour operator in Israel, said. “We are doing everything we can to make sure that there are funds available for each student that wants to go to Israel. The cost of the trip has risen by $1,000 since last year, but we are certain that we will have just as many kids,” said Phyllis Solomon, Director of Admissions for the Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education, which runs the senior trip. “I love Israel, but I was just there over this past summer, and it seems like a waste of time and money to go and do the same things, just with different people,” senior Carolyn Weinstein said. According to the currency converter xe.com, the dollar was worth 4.31 shekels on Oct. 1, 2006; 3.99 shekels on Oct. 1, 2007; and only 3.46 shekels this October.
see ISRAEL TRIP, page 12
one of the firefighters who spoke to students. The two seniors who worked on the panel, Ari Luks and Ethan Litman, spoke positively about the program. “Ari and I sit down and we ask, what message do we
For the first time since 2003, there was no assembly held to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Instead, on 9/11, the school held optional lunch prosee MEMORIAL, page 2 grams during middle school photo by Sam Greenberg and high school lunches for students to meet and hear from firefighters from the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. “Well, a bunch of the seniors were disappointed there was no assembly so we decided to try and organize it,” Jewish Text, Thought and Practice teacher Paul Blank said. “I think it went very well.” “Prior to this, we’ve never been to a 9/11 commemoration. Sad to say, now that 9/11 is not in the headlines anymore, the fire department has been forgotten by the public and the governments. They don’t think about us until they call 911 for their own emergency,” said ALL FIRED UP Paramedic Greg Kelly of the Montgomery County Fire and Lieutenant Patrick Smulsky, Rescue Squad helps junior Rebecca Schooler try on a firefighter uniform.