A fledgling Solomon Schechter high school has closed in Bergen County, and the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in West Orange has pledged to absorb as many of its students "as it makes sense to take on."

Having graduated its first class in the spring, the Metropolitan Schechter High School in Teaneck seemed to have weathered a recent financial crisis by attracting some deep-pocketed donors.

On Aug. 18, however, the Conservative-affiliated school announced that a "major benefactor" suffered "personal financial reversals" and was not able to "fulfill their commitment to help fund our school."

Two days later, the school announced it would not open as scheduled on Sept. 4, leaving its approximately 80 students scrambling to find alternatives less than two weeks before the start of the school year.

Mark Lederman of Martinsville, president of the board of SSDS of Essex and Union, said he is aware of as many as 30 students from the Teaneck school who have expressed interest in transferring to the West Orange upper school.

The West Orange school's administration was scheduled to meet with parents of the prospective transfer students on Aug. 28, after NJJN went to press.

"At this point we are trying to assess the impact on the school in West Orange," Lederman said. "We are in the process of evaluating those requests and hoping to take on as many as it makes sense to take on."

Lederman was asked whether the West Orange school is ready to accommodate the extra students at a time when its upper school building is in the midst of a renovation.

"With money we can do anything," he said. "If we decided all of their students were eligible and we could teach them, we could certainly bring in trailers for them. Anything can be done if we can find a source of funds to pay for any effort we try to put forth."

Founded as Schechter Regional High School with a school body drawing largely from northern New Jersey, the Teaneck school was renamed last year after merging with and absorbing students from Manhattan's Solomon Schechter High School of New York.

The board of trustees had called an emergency meeting in May to announce a $1.5 million deficit, but after an outcry from parents and students, board members pledged $1 million to keep the school going, provided the community could raise the remaining $500,000.

Board members attributed last spring's financial worries, at least in part, to the merger, which they said had taken their focus away from fund-raising. Some parents complained, meanwhile, that the board had failed to put in place a long-term fund-raising strategy from the beginning.

Since the announcement of the school's closing shortly before last Shabbat, community leaders and members of the Jewish community have asked what significance, if any, the closing has for the Conservative movement as a whole.

Reached before the announcement of the closure, Rabbi Robert Abramson, director of the department of education at United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism told the Jewish Standard of Teaneck that the situation was isolated and unforeseeable.

"It has to do with a major donor not being able to fund things because of a new economic situation," said Abramson, whose office services the network of independently run and funded Schechter schools. "A major piece of funding collapsed, but it's not the donor's fault. This is one of these no-fault cases. We have a bigger mountain to climb now."

In his Aug. 18 letter to the community, Metropolitan board of trustees president Alan Tannenbaum suggested the community had not done enough to keep the school open.

"We have many people who wish us well and have offered to support the purchase of a building or would like to take a ‘wait and see' approach," he wrote. "That is simply not acceptable. Simply not good enough. The apathy we have encountered cannot continue."

Conservative movement leaders were distressed by the news.

"This is a terrible loss to the Jewish community of Bergen County (and New York)," wrote Rabbi Kenneth Berger of Congregation Beth Sholom in Teaneck in a letter to congregants. "It is unfortunate that the community was unwilling, or unable, to provide adequate support to the school."

Lederman declined to conjecture what the school's demise bodes for the Conservative movement.

"People are trying to find an overarching message here but I'm not sure there is one," he said. "Perhaps it is as simple as a new day school coming on line where there is a saturation of day schools already, and the population couldn't sustain one more."

Among the issues facing the West Orange school is the socialization of new students (many of whom already have relationships with West Orange students through Camp Ramah and United Synagogue Youth), coordinating curriculum, finding physical space, and exploring possibilities for bus transportation at the 11th hour.

Metropolitan families are also concerned that their financial aid packages won't transfer, and that students will need to take a lengthy placement test.

Lederman said he has a message to parents of students from the Teaneck school, saying, "We are looking forward to meeting you, and we will do what we can to see if we can place your children in our school – to make sure we have the right classes for them so we can meet their needs educationally."