Every morning at 8:00 am. M. In the schoolyard in the center of the Basque – twenty kilometers from New York – the songs of Ukraine and the USA are played. School children and teachers hurt, holding their hands in the heart. And so the day begins at the Ukrainian School – the only surviving municipal school in the city.
Kyiv. Ukraine. Ukraine Gate – April 23, 2021 – Education
Once there were many private schools in Passyko, – says Andrei Dudkevych – priest of St. Nicholas Parish, which owned the school. But with the development of public educational institutions, where training is free, they could not compete. Only our school survived
Passik with 70,000 residents is the home of thousands of Ukrainians.
Ukrainian for everyone – regardless of race and religion
Now taking a break, first graders are dressed in multi-colored masks on the catwalk, followed by their teacher, Patricia Balzarek. She invites them to her, and the children are happy to queue up for pictures of the Ukrainian media resources.
Patricia Balzaric with first graders
Instruction in the school is done in English, but twice a week in all classes there is a lesson from the Ukrainian language and literature, – she says. – My country for the first time is also learning the language, although, of course, not everyone has a good knowledge of it. Because not all ethnic Ukrainians are here …
-Who speaks Ukrainian? – She appeals to them.
The kids are embarrassed, but they raise their hands. Eight-year-old Matthew says he knows Ukrainian well because he talks to her parents at home.
“I know too,” a first-grader cheerfully exclaims. – I can count … one, two, three, four, five …
And large Easter eggs are painted on the glass doors of the school, on which the American and Ukrainian flags are drawn – Easter was celebrated according to world traditions, on April 4. We go to school, and we are greeted by her secretary, who is American of Ukrainian descent, Irina Lisev. Her brother, a police officer, was killed in the September 11 terrorist attack in New York City.
Ariana Life
According to Ms. Lessif, tuition pays but is inexpensive: $ 3,500 per year. If a family gives two or more children to school, they receive substantial discounts.
“We have about 60 percent of the Ukrainians,” she says. There are many indigenous people from Latin American countries, about fifteen Poles, four Georgians. Previously, even the Russians studied… different ethnicities and religions are represented. There were even Muslims. The school is designed for everyone. But everyone should learn our language, culture, and traditions.
In the school, there is a kindergarten, where children are given from the age of four.
The composition of the teachers is multinational.
First graders with the polka Ninell Double teacher (right)
We are looking at different seasons. The children wake up and say: “Christ has risen!”
I am trying to talk to children of non-Ukrainian origin. They can see that it is difficult for them to pick up the words, they are embarrassed, embarrassed to pronounce them incorrectly.
My name is Maya, – overcome embarrassment, says eighth-grader of Polish descent. – I love the Ukrainian school very much … I know “our father” in the Ukrainian language …
Some children from non-Ukrainian families together with their parents teach our poems, hymns, and songs so well that not all Ukrainians know them well, – laughs Father Andrey.
The demand for Coronacris changed
The principal of the school is a nun of the Order of the Servant Sisters, Eliana Elnica, who is originally from Brazil and has been running the school in Parsec for nine years.
According to her, the school employs 15 teachers who read both English and Ukrainian languages, mathematics, science (a pre-made subject where they study chemistry, physics, and biology), social studies (history and geography), computer science, music, physical education, and religion.
Religion (cathology) is a compulsory subject that students study every day, as the school, as an educational institution affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese, prepares the pupils under the Catholic High School Program.
We’re high school (like our nine-year-old – auth.) – says directrisa. Children study until the eighth grade, then go to the so-called “higher” school – in the ninth to twelfth grade. To enter university, they must graduate from the “higher” school.
How can children get to your school?
As a rule, on the recommendation of parents who love us. We are contacted, we interview the parents and the children and we register with the school … and if the children have learning problems, or are left behind, then special teachers participate in it.
It turns out that with the imposition of quarantine restrictions, the demand for the Ukrainian school has increased significantly, and next year students are expected to receive 30 percent more.
lunch break
We are a small school, designed for about a hundred students, – Father Andrew explains. – Now 102 students are studying, next year there will be more than 130. The prestige of the Ukrainian school is increasing. Public schools are free and usually have more than a thousand students. Because of the quarantine, training there is primarily remote, and we have the opportunity to seat students while maintaining social distance, so we conduct training face to face. You yourself understand what science is online. Therefore, parents take students to use – to the only non-municipal school in town. They realize that it is better to pay that relatively small money, but the child will go to school and actually study.
Father Dudkevich continues, “So we will have to expand. – St. Nicholas Parish owns several buildings, one of them is the one across from the school across the street, which we will give to the classrooms.
Buildings belonging to the diocese
According to him, the salary of local teachers is much lower than that of public schools, and despite this, the level of knowledge is much higher.
We cannot afford such a salary as in a public school, where the city pays for everything, because in this case, the school will not survive. But our preparation is much better. Everyone studies in public schools, including children from underprivileged families. The criminogenic situation in large educational institutions also makes parents think …
According to Father Andrew, the state does not help the private school much but also does not dictate its terms. Supports what provides teachers for children with special needs, allocates resources to install safe windows and doors, purchase computers, and provides textbooks (parents do not buy them).
While we are talking, the abbot of the temple monastery shows the building, which will be given for additional chapters, the church, the parish museum, located in the basement under the temple, and the entire land are subject to the religious community.
Dumpling rescue mission
The Ukrainian school is not some business, as it might seem, – says the father. The money paid by the parents is not enough to support it, and the diocese is forced to support the foundation through donations and various commercial projects.
The main one is the production of dumplings, which recently unfolded literally on an industrial scale.
In Pasik, a dumpling production machine was delivered to the order from Europe, which cost the parish several tens of thousands of dollars.
The father shows his valuable possession, helping to maintain the school.
Father Andrew
Earlier, dozens of women gathered weekly to model dumplings, and all the band could stick around a thousand pieces. The oldest enthusiasts, who were ninety years old, are already dead, and here too the laceration … It has become difficult to collect, and the school has to survive. Income from other sources also stopped – the performances of our creative bands, which got singing, dancing, and music … I had to order a dumpling machine whose productivity is 56 pieces per minute. In one day you can work out up to 15 thousand. We mainly do with potatoes and sauerkraut, although the machine can be carved with anything … I’ll take them around stores and restaurants and sell them and feed the kids at school showing the father in the fridge at the entrance to the temple with a sign: “Dumpling, $ 6 per package.”
I cannot put a higher price … competition dictates its rules.
St. Nicholas Parish is about 120 years old. School – 75. The Ukrainian Church once bought a room for the school in the Jewish community, which had a home for the elderly there. The Ukrainians liked the area so much that they decided to build a church near the school (the church was previously two blocks away) and buy several houses around.
The schoolyard on the left is a school, on the right is a church
The church and school remain a center in Northern New Jersey.
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Source: Ukrgate