Solomon Schechter School 50 Years Of Success

Elliott and Doris Goldstein wanted their daughter, Sandy, to have a strong Jewish and secular education. But, as Conservative Jews, they ruled out sending her to an Orthodox yeshiva — which was the only Jewish school nearby.
So, the Goldsteins thought they would enroll Sandy in the local public school and their synagogue’s Hebrew school — until they learned that a group of rabbis and local philanthropists were joining together to launch the Solomon Schechter School of Queens (SSSQ) — a day school based on Conservative Jewish teachings and an entirely new pedagogic concept. The school was named for Solomon Schechter, the first president of the Jewish Theological Seminary and the founder of the United Synagogue of America, the precursor to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
“We were impressed with the school’s Conservative Jewish ideology,” said Elliott. They also saw that the curriculum would be split equally between Hebrew and general studies.
At the outset, the fledgling school consisted of just 21 students, and it operated in the Rego Park Jewish Center. But, within a few years, SSSQ grew to encompass a second site — at Hillcrest Jewish Center in Jamaica Estates. By fall 1965, an ambitious building plan culminated in its current five-story building in nearby Flushing.
“We took a gamble that paid off,” said Elliott, “and my three children graduated receiving an outstanding education at Schechter.”
Today, the Goldsteins’ grown children, Sandy, Janet and Steven, not only hold top positions in their professions but they have each sent their own children to a Jewish day school.
Since its formation, SSSQ, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and represents the only Conservative Jewish day school in Queens, has provided students with a strong foundation for academic and professional success while ensuring their Jewish continuity. Its accomplishments have also inspired the development of a nationwide network of 72 Conservative Jewish schools, which today form the Solomon Schechter Day School Association.
SSSQ continues to build upon the legacy of its visionary founders. Today the school runs from pre-K through eighth grade. From first grade on up, the children’s day school includes everything from English to Hebrew and from computers to music. In addition, extracurricular activities abound and include drama, cooking and science clubs.
Upon graduating from middle school, students take the New York State Regents in Hebrew, Earth Science and Spanish. Generally, graduates continue their education at top Jewish and public high schools in the city, including Solomon Schechter High School of New York and Nassau County, Townsend Harris, Bronx High School of Science and Stuyvesant, with many going onto the nation’s finest universities.
“We provide students with a love of learning,” says Martin Mayersohn, SSSQ’s headmaster.
To that end, SSSQ has been selected as a pilot school for testing the special Tal Am integrated Hebrew-Bible-Jewish culture curriculum, which features the most innovative teaching materials and strategies for Hebrew language instruction today.
Committed to affording more children a serious Jewish education, SSSQ recently inaugurated a pilot program that enables high-achieving fifth graders, with a limited background in Hebrew and Judaic students, to join SSSQ in the sixth grade. Named for the prominent rabbi who began learning at the age of 40, the Akiva Program provides students with a Hebraic studies curriculum that is tailored to their abilities and includes Hebrew language, Bible, Rabbinics and Jewish traditions.
In the middle school, students are also afforded the opportunity to experience first-hand the lessons of the classroom. They travel to Washington and Philadelphia, and they participate in Teva, a five-day science program. The eighth grade culminates in a two-week trip to Israel, where students’ Judaic studies and Hebrew language skills enable them to foster an enduring connection to the Jewish homeland.
Since 1961, he has been a member of the board of trustees and for many years chaired its Board of Education, and Doris has lent a helping hand whenever needed. The Goldsteins are representative of the many alumni parents who remain active in the school long after their children have graduated.