A group of parents in Rio de Janeiro has purchased a Jewish school to preserve Jewish education in their region after its management decided to close the local branch of Collegio A. Liessin, which had operated for eight decades.
The acquisition of what is now called Chai School in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood has reversed years of decline. Enrollment grew from 163 to 210 pupils within six months of the buyout, the school now serving students from nursery through ninth grade.
Richard Zeiger, a Brazilian venture capitalist whose son attended the school, said the parents "were in love with this school and couldn't understand why this place was going to shut down." He organized parents to first secure donors to keep the school operating for a year. After assessing local demographics - including consulting with the area's mohel about annual circumcisions - the group determined ownership was necessary for long-term viability. They raised millions of dollars and acquired the institution at year's end.
"Our main motivation was to preserve Jewish identity and education in the region," Zeiger said. "If we lost the Jewish school, within 10 years the community would be assimilated."
The tri-lingual school operates in Portuguese, English and Hebrew and welcomes Jews of all denominations. It offers scholarships to 60% of students. New educational directors were hired while existing staff remained, with founding parents volunteering on strategy, fundraising and development, including plans for a high school. The school aims to reach 500 students within five years.
Chaya Yosovich, CEO of the Jerusalem-based Yael Foundation, called it "a unique initiative by parents who are not educators who had a very strong and impressive will to ensure that they had a high-quality Jewish school in their area." The foundation awarded the school a grant to subsidize staff.