Hebrew-language charter school approved for Harlem

NEW YORK (JTA) — A Hebrew-language charter school approved for the Harlem neighborhood of New York is scheduled to open in the fall of 2013.

The Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School was formally approved Tuesday by the New York State Board of Regents. It will be modeled after the Hebrew Language Academy Charter School in Brooklyn.

The Harlem school, which borders on the heavily Jewish Upper West Side of Manhattan, will open with 156 students in grades K-1 and plans to grow over the next five years to 446 students in K-5. Lessons will be taught in Hebrew and English.

“There are a number of charter schools in Harlem, but there are not a lot of dual-language schools in Harlem and the Upper West Side,” Dan Gerstein, a media spokesman for the Hebrew Charter School Center, told JTA. “There’s a demand for other options, so this will give parents in those communities the choice to choose a great school for their child.”

Harlem Hebrew will be the fifth school in the Hebrew Charter School Center network and the third to be granted a charter this spring.

One of the goals of the school is to attract a diverse student body that exposes students of all backgrounds to the Hebrew language.

“We are incredibly proud of the success we have had with HLA in Brooklyn, which is 55 percent white and 45 percent minority, making it one of the most integrated public schools in New York City,” said co-lead applicant Sara Berman in a statement. “We are committed to building on that success at Harlem Hebrew and bringing together students from diverse communities in this school district.”