Patience required as yeshiva relocates to portables

Portables at Yesodei Hatorah
Portables on the south side of the Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah property PAUL LUNGEN PHOTO

There’s an old rabbinic saying that goes like this: “To be patient is sometimes better than to have much wealth.”

Well, parents of children at Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah have certainly been asked to be patient recently, as the school year kicked off with their kids studying in various locations near the school, but not in it.

Youngsters have been attending classes in rented premises in the Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue area, in people’s homes, and in nearby synagogues as they wait for final city approvals that will permit the school to open 19 portables next to what was, until the summer, their school.

That temporary solution is expected to end Sept. 26 when students will move into the portables, but it will be followed by yet another  – and lengthier – temporary situation, one that is expected to drag on for as long as two years.

During that time, construction will continue on a new 100,000-square-foot facility to replace the aging and overcrowded school at the corner of Glen Rush Boulevard and Caribou Road.

Patience will be required.

Binyamin Septon, the school’s executive director, said “parents have been very receptive and understanding and offering to help in any way possible. This is a long-term investment for the education of their children.”

The payoff at the end is substantial – a new facility that will include up-to-date science and computer labs, a gym, a new synagogue with a second-floor gallery for women, a dining room, kitchen and library.

The new building will be much improved and much larger than the 28,000-square-foot one it will replace, he said.

It’s expected to cost $25 million, and a committee has been struck to run the capital campaign.

“We’re working hard on it. Fifty per cent has already been raised. This campaign is just off the ground. We’re raising [funds] as we build,” Septon said.

Septon acknowledged that school officials had expected demolition approvals to have been issued closer to the end of the school year last June. Work on tearing down the facility finally began in mid-August.

In addition, other approvals were needed before the portables could be used as a venue for the school while construction continued.

The decision to build was precipitated by a rapid growth in enrolment and a feeling the building was not up to the new demands, Septon said.

The yeshiva began renting the now-demolished structure from the Toronto District School Board about 30 years ago. Five years ago, the school purchased the building, along with two acres of land on the five-acre site.

At the same time, young Orthodox families continued to move into the Bathurst and Lawrence area, flocking to the school, which had been built to accommodate around 300 children.

Classes were divided, portables brought in, but in the end, the school was bursting at the seams. Enrolment reached 530 kids last year, and an additional 55 were expected for the 2016-17 school year, Septon said.

The all-boys yeshiva, which Septon described as featuring an “ultra-Orthodox” orientation, is geared to children from junior kindergarten to Grade 8. It charges tuition of around $13,000 per year, but only about 25 per cent of families pay the full freight. Seventy-five per cent receive partial to full subsidies. As a result, the school relies on donations from supporters of around $2 million per year to meet its operating costs.

The capital campaign is another matter, but Septon believes the money will be raised on time. The yeshiva has already received several high-value gifts from various donors.

“This is a community school, and there are a lot of good people in the community who understand the need,” he said.