When all 165 students at Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School recently gathered to welcome visitors with song, the school’s head, Cheryl Maayan, was filled with hope about how vibrant and beautiful the Jewish future could be. “We’re a pluralistic school, but we’re one community, one family,” she says. “Not only do we respect diversity, we’re also celebrating it. We’re watering the garden to ensure a vibrant future for the Jewish community.”
It’s a future that seemed distant before the school was formed through a merger of the Solomon Schecter Day School and Saul Mirowitz Day School–Reform Jewish Academy. Fewer resources were available for two separate schools, but combining into one school allowed for excellence in education and better programs. “Together we are stronger than we were individually,” says Maayan.
The merger has attracted national attention because it is the first time Conservative and Reform schools have successfully merged.
Jewish Federation of St. Louis played a major role in bringing the two schools together, helping provide the vision and resources to make the merger a reality. “Federation was an instrumental partner in a campaign to ensure we can provide the best that is possible to our students,” says Maayan. The school has a cutting-edge technology program, experiential learning opportunities, best-in-class curricula in all subject areas and small class sizes.
The result is a place where students feel like they’re part of a family, teachers feel like they landed in their dream jobs, and parents know that their children are engaged in meaningful pursuit of knowledge. “This school is producing a generation of leaders who can work well in a diverse population,” says Maayan. “In this way, the merger is going to benefit the whole community.”