Gary Rosenblatt, editor and publisher of The Jewish Week, writes about Yeshivat He'Atid in his column this week. Read the story in its entirety here.

Nearly 400 young parents attended an open house this week for a Modern Orthodox yeshiva, planning to open in Bergenfield, N.J., next fall, that will not only offer a bargain-rate tuition but promises to be a model for Jewish education in the 21st century.

And the still-to-be-opened school, called Yeshivat He’atid (Hebrew for “Yeshiva of the Future”) has apparently already inspired one still-anonymous donor, representing several wealthy businessmen interested in the effort, to form AJE, Affordable Jewish Education, a fund with the goal of starting schools like Yeshivat He’Atid around the country.

Gershon Distenfeld, He’atid’s executive vice president (a lay position) told the enthusiastic, overflow audience at the Teaneck shul hosting the open house, “We are not here to discuss the tuition crisis; we’re here to talk about the solution.”

The school, which is expected to open with up to 150 children in pre-kindergarten through second grades, will offer a “blended learning” model, featuring individualized, “project-based” education that combines computers and face-to-face instruction.

He’atid’s model comes as many schools, public and private, are stepping up their use of technology in the classroom, both as a cost-cutting measure and a way of individualizing instruction.

A new low-cost and high-tech Jewish day high school, the Pre-Collegiate Learning Center of New Jersey, just opened this fall in East Brunswick, with 20 students and a $5,000 tuition. That school, which like He’atid has received funding from the Avi Chai Foundation, combines online classes with face-to-face instruction, in-person mentoring and courses taught via videoconference.

However, some observers have noted there is only minimal evidence so far demonstrating the effectiveness of new, high-tech approaches, and have expressed reservations about small children spending too much time in front of a computer screen.

Having already achieved more than half of its planned enrollment, He’atid is offering a $7,990 tuition for pre-K, and $8,990 for K-2, with none of the additional charges like registration fee, building fund or dinner obligation, that are common in other day schools.

Rabbi Netanel Gralla, the newly hired principal of the school, told The Jewish Week that “savings come from the efficiencies of the educational model,” where teachers will have some administrational responsibilities, and will deal with remediation and enrichment in the classroom.

“Our educational model can personalize and customize so that students can learn at their own pace,” said Rabbi Gralla, who is currently director of special services at a yeshiva high school for boys in Woodmere, L.I. He also served as head counselor this past summer at Camp Kaylie in Woodsboro, N.Y., said to be “the first integrated camp with equal numbers of typical campers and those with developmental disabilities,” according to his bio on the He’atid website.

He emphasized that his operative word is “achdut,” or unity.

The new principal said he was excited by the prospects of putting into practice a new model school that can make full use of the fast-paced advances in technology and educational content.

“The key point is that we are not offering a no-frills institution,” Rabbi Gralla said. “We are not cutting corners. Our goal is to create analytical thinkers while maintaining a sense of community and personal responsibility.”

Distenfeld said there was “a sizable amount of money” set aside for the Bergenfield school, which will rent space in an existing school with a playground, and will have a separate scholarship fund so that those parents paying tuition will not be burdened by extra dollars to subsidize those in financial need.

He said students would be fluent in Hebrew by the end of the eighth grade.

A small group of young professionals are the backbone of the new school, volunteering their services in recent months to plan the educational and financial components necessary to launch. One member of the board said small meetings with young Bergen County families concerned about the high, and sometimes prohibitive cost of Jewish day schools, created interest in the new model.

More than $100,000 was raised from “typical” families over the summer, enough to convince a wealthy, anonymous donor that there was a real interest and need for an affordable but high-quality day school.

Distenfeld said that while he and the board initially thought the strongest asset of the new school would be its affordable rates, they now believe it is, instead, the blended learning model of combining face-to-face learning and interactive technology.

“We discovered that you can have your cake and eat it, too,” he said, asserting that the new model of education offered the added benefit of significant cost saving.

With the help of a grant from the Avi Chai Foundation, a proponent of incorporating new technology advances in day schools, Yeshivat He’Atid commissioned Rebecca Tomasini, CEO of The Alvo Institute, active in the education reform movement, and Randolph Ross, general studies principal of the North Shore Hebrew Academy in Great Neck, as educational consultants.

The Alvo Institute is a think tank specializing in individualized learning.

One innovation for the new school is to have key data collected and analyzed so that each child can be given individualized assignments to strengthen skills needing extra attention.

Acknowledging that other day schools in the area have expressed concern about competition from the new yeshiva, Distenfeld said, “our goal is not to hurt any of the existing schools. We’d be happy” if they all followed the new model.

“At the end of the day,” he said, “if we as a community can’t lower tuition, community growth will slow. There will be fewer children in day schools,” and families will be having “fewer children.”

Associate Editor Julie Wiener contributed to this report.

In this week's Jewish Week, Julie Wiener interviews Gershon Distenfeld about Yeshivat He'Atid. Excerpts are below; the entire article can be read here.

"This spring a group of Teaneck parents began planning Yeshivat He’Atid (The Yeshiva of the Future), a school that will use “blended” (a mix of face-to-face and computerized) learning — and which aims to open in 2012 with tuition between $8,500-$9,000, approximately 40 percent less than the going rate for Jewish elementary schools.

Gershon Distenfeld, an investment manager and father of three who is leading the effort, met with The Jewish Week in his Midtown office to discuss He’Atid, which has already raised over $250,000, much of it in donations from more than 50 families interested in enrolling their children.

Q: You’ve been involved with area day schools for some time, serving on the board of the Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, as treasurer of JEFG and chair of NNJKIDS. What spurred you to start Yeshivat He’Atid?

A: NNJKIDS has been important, because it’s sending the message that it should be the whole community, not just the parents, paying for Jewish education. ... Through NNJKIDS, I had focused on the revenue side. I began to realize that alone was not enough to solve the problem, and I became more interested in the cost side. I still support the work of JFEG and NNJKIDS, but I wanted to get involved with something that has the potential for great impact, something that can be a model for communities around the country.

How is this effort different from the failed attempt a few years ago to start a low-cost yeshiva?

We’re describing this as “affordable” and not “low-cost.” The attempt a few years ago failed for a number of reasons, in part because it was marketed as “low-cost,” which made it sound like the education wouldn’t be as good. The more I started researching this and looking into what cutting-edge people said, I realized that by using blended learning, you don’t just reduce the cost but can actually increase the quality.

What exactly do you mean by “blended learning?”

This is a model where each kid can progress at his or her own pace. There are many different ways that you can implement blended learning. One example is that students do a preliminary lesson [on the computer] before they come to class, so the teacher already knows where they are. The teacher has access to a dashboard that indicates which students are having issues so the teacher can adapt the lesson for each child ... the idea is not to use computers to replace the teacher, but to make the teacher more efficient.

Why not just implement these changes at an existing school?

Overall I would say that not all teachers can be trained to do this right, and it’s easier to implement this kind of change in a new school.

I understand that in addition to the blended learning, you plan to hire fewer administrators, relying instead on master teachers supervising newer teachers. How else do you plan to reduce costs?

We’ll be running full classes. Class size will be between 20-25, and we’ll wait-list kids until there are enough for a second class. We will have smaller scholarship needs, because our tuition will be lower — we’re not going to build scholarships into tuition, but are going to cover scholarships with fundraising. [In many schools, revenue from full-paying families subsidizes the cost of scholarships.]

Will competition from He’Atid hurt existing schools?

We don’t view ourselves as competing but as providing a different model for education at a lower price point for those who are interested.

To what extent was the momentum for He’Atid spurred by the potential arrival of a Hebrew charter school in Englewood?

This would have happened anyway. But community leaders may be more likely to support this because they saw day school families registering for Shalom Academy.

Will you be sending your own children to He’Atid?

My two oldest daughters are already past the age that He’Atid will be serving … At the same time, my wife and I are really excited that our youngest daughter (who is entering nursery school) will be able to attend Yeshivat He’Atid.