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An Examination of Antisemitism in 2020 Scottsdale and the Pre-August 2014 Financial Destruction of The Jewish Community of Phoenix

An Examination of Antisemitism in 2020 Scottsdale and the Pre-August 2014 Financial Destruction of The Jewish Community of Phoenix

Tag Archives: Pardes

CALL OFF THE MERGER! Why I’m proud of Pardes, and the true meaning of “Hineni”, the Pardes Anti-bullying program.

10 Friday Jun 2011

Posted by The Editor in Uncategorized

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Bullying, Federation, Jess Schwartz Academy, Pardes

As Jill Kessler’s FAQ pointed out, the Hineni program of anti-bullying will be taught at the soon to be merged school. First, I would start with teaching it to the JSA board.

Today I found myself speaking with two of my friends who are on the Pardes Board, both of whom were excited to tell me that Pardes was staying put, for a minimum of a year. Apparently, this did not sit well with the JSA Board (and I stand corrected, the JSA Board has about 8 people on it, not just the two people identified in their annual reports to the state and their IRS 990’s). I was informed that the JSA Board just urged the Pardes Board to default on their present property, abandon their obligations to a mortgage holder who has been good to Pardes, and just move on. When the Pardes Board explained that is not the manner in which they do business, the JSA Board threatened to walk away from the merger. I am now advocating to the parents to put their feet down, voice their opinion to the board, and demand that that the board call off this merger.

I am proud that Pardes’ Board took the approach of integrity and did nothing to blemish their reputation. Pardes is a crown jewel of the Reform Jewish Community and the Jewish Community in general here in Phoenix, and they should not do anything untoward to blemish their reputation, their ability to serve the community, and their ability to get financing for expansion in the future.

I have had it with the bullying that goes on from the Jess Schwartz board. That the Jess Schwartz board is inept and accomplished at destroying schools is proven, but beyond that, they are collectively nothing of substance. A school that was the product of a wealthy donor kept afloat by corruption at the JTO. Corruption that enabled their Treasurer to funnel money to the school from the JTO without any oversight. It is not lost on me that when I brought this matter up publicly, the Treasurer of JSA was forced to resign from the JTO, and without that money, JSA imploded, dragging down King David with it. No less a community arbiter than the Jewish News highlighted that the JTO’s management practices were not even close to being in keeping with best practices. Is this the culture or the example we want for our Pardes’ Kids, to merge Pardes with a school run by thugs, by people who destroyed King David and their own school in the process? By people who rigged the JTO to support their dying monument to their own pride?

Who is the Jess Schwartz Board to put a gun to Pardes’ head and tell them that if they don’t merge the school and move to the JCC Campus that they (JSA) will go ahead and start their Hebrew Language Day School, implying that they will destroy Pardes in the process? Look at the names of the people on the board of that scholastic misadventure (they have changed their name so many times in the last three years I just call it JSA – the Jess Schwartz Abyss). The last names of those board members are frequently the same names of people who have donated heavily to the JCC, whose names are festooned on the wall in great big letters, memorializing their lack of wisdom for all to see. I once thought that these self appointed wise men should read Fooled by Randomness. Now I would be happy if they could just make it through Yurtle the Turtle. What kind of Jewish Community builds a 35 million dollar health club, then sets about trying to raise another $10,000,000 to keep it afloat, diverting money from Jewish agencies and Israel. Is this something we should be proud of? If it is, then I am ashamed and our Federation is a disgrace, a pox on all of our houses.

Intellectual Dishonesty: I had one Pardes Board member (who had kids in both schools and who was very active in the Federation) tell me that the threat posed by the opening of a Charter Hebrew Language School by JSA was very credible. The director told me this was the driving force behind this merger because it is proven that when a Hebrew Language Charter School opens, all the surrounding private Reform schools fail because the Reform Jews will go for the free charter school to avoid paying private school tuition. To that board member: your statement is intellectually bankrupt. If that was your motivation to merge the school, leave the board. To wit, there are only two Hebrew language charter schools in the United States, one in New Jersey and one in Brooklyn, and that is not a viable statistical sample, even if what the board member said was true, which it is not. That sounds like something posited by the board of the Abyss which was not researched by the Pardes Board.

The time has come for the Pardes Board to stand fast to its wonderful heritage, to be open with us as supporters and parents, and rally us to the cause of Pardes. I think we should have a campaign of fund raising to reward Pardes for calling off the merger, and tell Pardes that we will all give money to Pardes for doing what is right. If every family gave an additional $100 per month to Pardes, that would be awesome. And I know money is tight, it is tight everywhere, but I did not contribute to the annual fund this year because I was not asked, and the year before I gave $4,000. So if Pardes calls off this merger and opens their books to us, their community of supporters, I will give the $4,000 that I did not give this year. What could be more exciting than supporting the crown Jewel of Jewish Reform Education and restoring Pardes to its Reform identity? I urge you to email or call the board with pledges that are contingent upon them sending the Abyss on its way and let them know that we stand with Pardes as a Reform Jewish Day School, that we support Pardes as a Reform Jewish Day School, and that we will financially sacrifice for Pardes with our pledges.

In concluding, why would Pardes even want to merge with people who threaten them? What is the possible impetus? To get a shiny new campus that is not needed and that we can not afford. Show the JSA Board the door and wish them well in starting their Hebrew Charter School and let them score their own hat trick of destruction when that fails. I am no Kreskin, but this is the reality: the JCC, if not deaccessioned from the Federation, will finally kill the Federation off, which might actually be a good thing. Because if all they can come up with are solar panels, that is not much of a vision. Photovoltaic panels generate electricity, not wisdom.

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Fooled by Randomness: The Magic Kingdom

28 Saturday May 2011

Posted by The Editor in Uncategorized

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Jess Schwartz Academy, Merger, Pardes

One of the continual themes that I have heard from select board members of both Pardes and JSA, and from what was attributed to past Phoenix Federation Chairs in the Jewish News is that this proposed merger is good for the community. I believe this is a very slippery slope because it assumes that the leadership of Pardes is now focused not only on the success of Pardes, but on making decisions about Pardes based upon their ability to divine what is good for the community.

When looking at the failure that is the Jewish Federation here in Phoenix, I have been told by several of their board members that the reason that the Federation failed was because they continually bailed out the JCC, donors backed out of commitments, key donors got indicted, and some passed away in tragic and unexpected circumstances, etc. Of course there are unexpected occurrences in every business, but planning for such events, not relying on a select group of donors to whom one becomes beholden, are the hallmarks of good stewardship in running any non-profit charitable organization. The collapse of the Federation is due to many factors, but bad management is at the top of the list.

When did running a health and social club, which is essentially what the JCC is, become part of the Federation’s mission? When did devoting the resources needed to fund the agencies that are dependent on the Federation, and fulfilling the Federation’s commitment to Israel take a second position to funding the JCC. While these decisions might be what is good for the community, I doubt it. I wonder if anyone who is in a self-appointed position to determine what is in the best interests of the community thought about selling the JCC campus to a health club company, which would allow the Federation to concentrate on their core mission of fundraising and delivering those funds to those organizations who need them the most? I suppose that the same people who built the JCC were also major Federation donors, so rather than making a determination that the community could not sustain a facility like that, they influenced the Federation to take on the JCC as part of their mission and reneged on promises made to the needy. Rather than admitting a mistake, they compounded it. I am not sure this is leadership that knows what is good for the community, nor am I certain that their input in affecting a merger between Pardes and JSA is wise.

It seems that our self-appointed community leadership has determined that the success of the JCC/JSA Campus is a Magic Kingdom, Phoenix’s Jewish Disneyland, and a priority above all else. For these leaders, it appears that there is some type of health club shortage and that the Jews will not be able to work out anywhere else, or that there is not another venue for the events that the Federation hosts. I guess that because all of the large synagogues have space that is vastly under utilized and could be used to host social events, and because there seems to be an abundance of health clubs, I am just unable to see the logic behind this so called “good”. Of this I am certain: When decisions are made for our community, cloaked in secrecy, and without input from our community, then there is no better excuse to fall back on in the event of failure than, “we did it for the community.”

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A prelude to a nightmare: The Merger of Jess Schwartz and Pardes School in Phoenix

26 Thursday May 2011

Posted by The Editor in Uncategorized

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Disaster, Jess Schwartz, Merger, Pardes

On May 24th, at Jess Schwartz Academy (“JSA”), at 7:00 PM, Mr. Mitchell Ginsberg, the Chairman of JSA’s Board of Trustees, addressed a crowd of Pardes and JSA parents, educators, and interested parties. Mr. Ginsberg began his address by admonishing the crowd that he was aware that there were dissenting voices about the wisdom of the merger and that dissenting opinions were not to be expressed, but kept to oneself. Thus began my introduction into the Pardes JSA Community Day School.

I am a parent of a seventh grade student at Pardes, and I have decided to withdraw him from Pardes and send him to school at Ingleside. That decision was made long before I learned of this merger. It is my good fortune that I did not re-enroll my son and I am not held to a re-enrollment contract before knowing of the merger. I can not comment intelligently about Pardes’ viability as a stand-alone school because there is a complete and comprehensive lack of transparency about the financial condition of Pardes. I have asked for many years for Pardes to publish their financial statements as is required by most 501c3 organizations, but Pardes is operating with an exemption to this requirement because they were originally part of a Temple, but it is also possible also that Pardes has just decided to wait until they are forced to comply.

I do not know of Mr. Ginsberg’s background. I do know that he has presided as trustee over two failed private schools, the last being the failure that is embodied by JSA (42 students and cessation of operations is my definition of failure). As critical as I have been about the Pardes’ board for their involvement in the JTO, I have never felt that the Pardes Board has ever knowingly done something that would be harmful to the well being of Pardes. Now, for the first time, I believe they are not putting the interests of the students first. Instead, I believe the board has been influenced, according to the Jewish News, by community leaders who, after failing the Federation, have decided to spread their mismanagement melanoma to Pardes, the only viable Jewish Day School in Phoenix. The board appears to be searching for a mythical community unity, a utopia where dissent is not tolerated, a utopia not unlike Iran, and what was Pardes will be destroyed.

Mr. Ginsberg waxed on eloquently about the virtues of JSA. The physical facility at JSA looks very nice, the campus has room for expansion, and apparently JSA will have access to the facilities of the JCC. However, JSA has no students, they shuttered their high school, stranding students, and their only prospect for survival was to become a Non-Religious Hebrew Language Charter School. So, in the world of reality, the management of JSA earns an “F” and if they were your employees, running your business, you would terminate their employement. I sincerely doubt the viability of a Hebrew Language School in Phoenix, yet I was left with the spin that Jess Schwartz agreed to abandon this über-successful plan as a concession to the merger (i.e. that is what JSA was giving up to agree to merge with Pardes). Jill Kessler’s selling points about the wonderful facilities of the JCC seem to ignore the point that the JCC is virtually insolvent, if not insolvent, and no one knows if that facility will even be there in the coming year(s). At the end of the meeting, there were only two facts that were communicated about JSA: 1) Jess Schwartz Academy has a building with a 1.7 million dollar mortgage and their CFO seems to think the campus is worth many many multiples of 1.7 million dollars (but by his own admission in the meeting, he does not really know), and 2) what is left of JSA is 42 students.

Pardes has somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 students. The school is apparently viable, the educational product is excellent, and the campus is very nice, but probably not as nice as the physical plant of JSA. Pardes has a mortgage on the property and owes somewhere north of $5,000,000 dollars. This means that if all 42 Jess Schwartz students enroll at Pardes, Pardes will be acquiring those students for the assumption of 1.7 million dollars in debt and another campus of unknown value. This equates to more than $175,000 worth of long term debt per student (Pardes Long Term Debt Per Student is about $16,000). Since the per capita income in Phoenix has steadily declined without retreat over the last decade, the concept of appreciating real estate values is a bit murky, at best. Even though we were repetetively told, as answers to all but the most simple questions, that the merger was put together so quickly that they are still doing due diligence, Pardes’ board indicated they are in discussions about how to handle this debt load. I do think it is common for due diligence to be done before a merger.

It is interesting to note that Scott Wallace, the Treasurer of Pardes, pointed out that Pardes is designed to run without financial assistance and that the tuition is set at the cost of what it costs to actually educate the kids and run the school, so for the sake of argument, this equates to about $15,000 per student. According to the 990 tax return filed by JSA, JSA spent over $27,000 educating each student in 2008, and $31,000 in $2007. I believe that the gross differential in expense load per student is a very serious obstacle to overcome, and without a note holder being willing to write-off a very large portion of Pardes’ debt, there is very little possibility the combined school will be able to survive, especially in a geographic area with declining per-capita income. Money that is spent on the unrelenting payment of debt is money that cannot be used to develop the school financially. As noted above, Pardes does not publish their financial information, but Jess Schwartz does, and JSA is to be commended for their financial transparency, especially in view of how poorly they have performed as stewards of their own school. I have stopped giving money to Pardes, because I have no idea what their financial condition is. However, the interest payment alone on seven million dollars worth of mortgage debt for the first several years of a 30 year note at 5% is going to be somewhere close to $35,000 per month. The added cost of the JSA Mortgage makes up about $10,000 of that figure.

I suspect that the Kumbaya Gestalt hoped for by both board treasurers (i.e. no more fighting for JTO dollars, no more confusion for donors about to whom they should donate) will be hindered by the high handed way Mr. Ginsberg addressed my request for an open forum to discuss our concerns. An open forum would be very painful because it would shine light on both the perrennially terrible management that Jess Schwartz parents have endured and his tenure over that failed school.

It is a fact in philanthropy that donors don’t like smoke and mirrors, they like a clear view of what they are donating to. This is why the Phoenix Federation has been given Guidestar’s worst rating as a charity for the last five years: a lack of transparency, poor management, and an unmanagable debt load. I feel very bad that Ms. Schwartz has seen the money she donated to help the community squandered because it could have been used in a very constructive way.

I have lived in communist countries where no dissent was tolerated. It was not a very comfortable environment, and ultimately, the political and economic repression gave way to more freedoms, and the institutions designed to impose order were more or less, swept into the dustbin. If I were faced with enrolling a student at Pardes Jess Schwartz Academy Community Day School, I would withdraw my committment until such time as I was certain that my child would be attending a school that would embody the values that I wanted him to be taught and to make sure the education would remain the first priority. Being told to shut my mouth and that the merger plan has not undergone due diligence is far afield from my comfort zone.

Mark Greenburg, Current Pardes Parent 5/25/11

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