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With regard to Rabbi Kilstein's search for a school that gives maternity
leave, Ramaz allows teachers six weeks of paid leave, and an option for
another six weeks unpaid.
Now that we have opened this up, let's take it further. There is no doubt
that a significant portion of teachers in Yeshivot (at any level) are
women of child-bearing age. Furthermore, there is no doubt that these
schools preach "family values" as a significant aspect of Judaism.
However, the number of such schools that either
(a) give more than six weeks of maternity leave (if at all), or
(b) provide some form of day care to allow the mothers to return to work
without having to give up nursing is extremely low (if I am wrong in this
estimation, someone please correct me).
While it is certainly true that constraints such as space are real
issues, the fact that so few schools have succeeded in having any such
programs would seem to indicate that there have been few efforts overall
in creating such accommodating situations.
Finally, all of this should be seen in light of the fact that the
absence of such programs puts further financial constraints onto people
who are already in a field whose salaries are not famously high (either
through need to take weeks off or needing to pay for full-time child
care).
We would appreciate hearing how other people deal with this situation,
what the situation is like elsewhere, and any ideas that people may have
to correct this situation.
Aaron and Tzipora Ross
Faculty, Yavneh Academy and Ramaz Middle School (respectively)</HTML>
