Letters to the Editor
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‘Censoring Sderot’
To your recent editorial on the situation in Sderot, I would like to add the following, as I have personally visited Sderot many times and can attest to the role Americans for Israel and Torah, an educational network throughout Israel, is playing in the life of this community and its children [Editorial, “Censoring Sderot,” April 8, 2008].
AMIT has six schools in Sderot, with an enrollment of almost 2,000 students from kindergarten through high school.
We are responsible for the education of all the children in Sderot who attend religious schools, and also administer the only secular high school in the city.
Every school has a bomb shelter and additional concrete shelters have been erected in the school playgrounds.
AMIT facilities have sustained damage from the Qassam attacks, students have been seriously injured, and siblings and parents killed. Throughout the past several years, as Sderot has been under constant assault from Qassam rockets from across the border with Gaza, AMIT has been a steady presence in the life of the city and its children.
AMIT’s principals and teachers in Sderot have been in regular contact, via both phone and by personal visits, with all parents and students.
Psychologists have been helping students whenever necessary. Extra tutorials and study sessions have been added to help children keep up with their school work under these difficult circumstances.
Special activities, such as arts and crafts, have been organized to keep the younger children calm, and AMIT has organized trips for our students, as well as our faculty and their families, to take them out of the city.
And, when the results of the 2007 winter high school matriculation examinations — the all important bagrut exams — were announced, there was cause for rejoicing in this beleaguered city.
For despite the relentless rocket attacks, 90% of the city’s high school seniors —all of whom study at AMIT’s two high schools — had passed their exams.
FRANCINE STEIN
President
Americans for Israel and Torah
Englewood, N.J.
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