Landmark US Jewish boarding school to reopen, include non-Jewish students

The American Hebrew Academy, a Jewish pluralistic boarding school in Greensboro, North Carolina, that closed abruptly in June due to financial issues, will reopen next year and welcome non-Jewish students as part of a reorganization plan.

“By expanding our admissions to a broader population of students, we are confident the academy will thrive,” trustee Glenn Drew tells the Greensboro News & Record.

The private school, the first and only pluralistic Jewish boarding high school, expects to announce a new name, website and student recruitment campaign in the coming weeks, according to the report.

Drew tells the newspaper that the school has plans to continue to include Jewish studies, Jewish philosophy and Hebrew in the curriculum. However, he says, the school still needs to figure out what form its curriculum, student life and marketing will take. It reportedly hopes to attract international students.

The school opened in 2001 on a 100-acre campus far from a Jewish population center. It had a total enrollment last year of 134. The academy, which cost $42,000 a school year for tuition and boarding, lost money every year, the News & Record reported, citing tax reports, including $13 million in the 2016-17 term and $9.7 million the previous term.

— JTA