Paying off a mortgage is always cause for celebration — and South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale is doing just that.
Not having to fork over $30,000 a year on mortgage payments means that the Orthodox private school, for 2-year-olds through eighth-graders, will have more money for education improvements and other projects.
“Our financial shackles have been released,” said Rabbi Charles Abramchik, the new headmaster.
“It paves the way for some things we’d like to do,” said David LeVine, school board president.
Shortly after the school made its final payment on a $400,000, 20-year mortgage in June, a “mortgage burning” celebration ensued with a happy crowd of about 40.
Actually, it wasn’t the official mortgage document — it was a copy. And it wasn’t a burning, either — it was a shredding, because of fire-code restrictions. “It was only symbolic,” Abramchik said, “but the symbolism was magnified by the actuality.”
The 27-year-old school paid off the loan a year early, thanks in part to a matching pledge by three families, who asked to remain anonymous. Together, they gave $50,000.
LeVine said the school now has some extra funds to put toward improving the curriculum and upgrading the campus. “Right now, it’s all going toward education,” he said. “We’re not quite ready for another building project.”
However, a library-chapel project that was put on hold two years ago might become part of a master plan for campus renovation, LeVine said. Also, there is talk about forming a committee to consider expanding to grades nine through 12.
But just because the mortgage is paid off doesn’t mean the school has stacks of dollars to spend.
“Every Jewish school in the country, if not the world, runs a deficit,” Abramchik said. “So this has only lessened our burden.”
Still, LeVine and Abramchik are both excited, and not just because of the paid-off mortgage. There is also more stability at the school these days.
After having only interim directors for several years, the school hired Abramchik in July as its long-sought permanent director, LeVine said. He also said the executive board situation is more stable than previously. “Our house is in much better order,” said LeVine, who is starting his third term as board president.
LeVine predicted the school’s current enrollment of about 260 will rise over the next couple of years, although probably not to the high of 382 reached two years ago. At that time, the school experienced an influx of Israeli children when a local high-tech firm hired their parents to work on a project.
The school’s makeup reportedly was 55 percent Israeli at that point, but now it is 30 percent Israeli and 70 percent American, Abramchik said.
The school places a strong emphasis on Hebrew, with kids starting to learn it in kindergarten. For the older students, some Judaica classes are taught in Hebrew.
“It keeps people very comparable to the grade levels in Israel,” LeVine said.
SPHDS purchased its campus from the Sunnyvale Elementary School District in the late 1960s, with a loan from the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation. About halfway through that 30-year mortgage, the deal was refinanced for 20 years.
The school made a final payment of $45,000 in June, which was $15,000 more than its normal annual payment. “Now we’ve got one less item on our budget,” LeVine said.