School in session on the Gaza border: Academic year starts in Sderot

The school year began in September. Israeli school systems were finally recovering from the stresses of providing education during the COVID-19 pandemic years of restricted classroom attendance. No years of experience or advanced degrees in education could prepare principals, teachers, or parents for what would lie ahead in the coming year.

In the early morning hours of October 7, 2023, Hamas invaded from Gaza and rampaged in southern Israel, including the city of Sderot. The terrorists murdered elderly citizens waiting at a bus stop for a holiday excursion. Police on duty were overwhelmed by the number of armed terrorists, and 18 officers were killed as they fought to defend their city. Most Sderot families huddled in their home bomb shelters for safety for terrifying hours. One hundred homes were destroyed and public places were damaged in the horrifying 48 hours under attack. Bullet holes remain in the outer walls of some buildings that have been repaired. 

Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from Sderot to safer locations. They were placed in hotels in Eilat, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and other locations, while some families stayed with relatives. It was over five months before the residents of Sderot were allowed to return home and students went back to their schools. The vast majority did return to Sderot. 

In Israel, the new school year opening on September 1, 2024, was not as anyone imagined. Waking to the news of six murdered Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza was another new blow in an already difficult year of Operation Swords of Iron. The Jerusalem Report went to Sderot on September 4 to see how schools and students were coping, and we were impressed and inspired by the schools visited.

Less than a mile from the Gaza border, Sderot has a population of over 35,000 people. Since 2001, it has endured rocket and missile attacks from Gaza. As the missiles and mortars got stronger, so did the fortification of the cement walls of shelters. Sderot was founded in 1951 as a transit camp for immigrants from Arab countries. Immigrants from Morocco, the former Soviet Union, and Ethiopia also settled there. Several large companies opened Sderot branches, with their employees settling in the area.

School year begins in Sderot

In the first days of September, high school (10th-12th grade) teachers were on strike following months of disagreement with the Ministry of Education. The Teachers’ Association excluded schools in the endangered South and North from the strike, and all Sderot schools opened on September 1.

AMIT Director General Amnon Eldar has decided to work one day a week from Sderot this year. “A commitment to support the city during its recovery. Our mission is clear: help Sderot rise above its challenges and become a place of social mobility and a hub for excellence.” Eldar spent the first day of the school year in Sderot visiting the three high schools – AMIT Makif Sderot; AMIT Religious High School; and AMIT Be’eri Girls Ulpana – and reported an increase of more than 150 students in the high schools. In Sderot, there are 10 elementary schools. 

Sderot has a large percentage of traditional Sephardi/Mizrahi families, many of whom observe traditional Jewish practices, even though the family may not consider itself religious. Observant young boys play ball during recess. The blending of cultures is seen in their style and clothing. As Eldar elaborates, “Recognizing the critical role of building bridges in Israeli society now more than ever, our recent senior leadership meeting focused on looking at this strategically and expanding what we are doing and the role we can play as change agents, through the prism of education. Our role as a reshet [network] of the Israeli community, with schools of all sectors of Israeli society, becomes even more meaningful. The importance of being part of the klal [greater community], feeling the pain of society at large and of those around us, and moving these emotions to action are critical educational elements that we aim to instill in our students.” 

AMIT Makif Sderot is the new municipality high school building that opened at the beginning of the school year 2023. It was constructed and designed so the students did not have to run for shelter. It is a sheltered building. However, I felt like I was entering a luxury mall, with its gleaming white walls and impressive open design. The hall of classrooms with open glass walls to the corridor felt more like a modern office building than the classrooms of the past. The large outdoor campus did not have the small bomb shelters seen in other southern school locations, making it more expansive and inviting. However, in the futuristic facility, in one corner of the main lobby is a stark reminder of the past and present: a wall of remembrance for the fallen officers and citizens who were murdered.

Principal Edi Dagan worked for 15 years on the design and construction details while running the school through a pandemic, and then with the school population dispersed around the country for nearly half of the past year. But more than volunteering and new modern buildings are needed to produce healthy children during these difficult days. Under the leadership of Hagai Vigoda, AMIT began an innovative program called Tatzam, a Hebrew acronym for “personal professional growth plan.” In four years, Tatzam has grown from an idea to helping 50 AMIT principals, 100 groups of teachers, and 5,000 students in 39 schools respond to deep emotional needs. 

The program was created to address the deep emotional needs of all those in the school system – principals, teachers, and students – and is based on self-determination theory (SDT), which Prof. Avi Assor has adapted to education in schools. SDT is a psychological framework which posits that human motivation is driven by the need to satisfy three basic needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. The influence of emotions on success is a factor that is frequently overlooked in educational environments.

The Tatzam Program for Healing and Resilience in Sderot is:

Tatzam for Teachers: The teacher undergoes personal development within his or her peer group through regular group meetings, creating a deep sense of belonging and developing skills of observation and awareness. 

Tatzam for Students: A teacher/mentor meets weekly with a group of up to 15 students, beginning in the 7th grade, and provides personal mentoring for each student, with structured meetings six times during the year.

The principal, the field leader, teachers, and students are all part of this Tatzam culture, and all are supported by the network experts in Tatzam. The program includes the creation of materials for mentors and leaders, workshops, annual training, and continuing education days for deepening and expanding knowledge and skills. 

At the Kiryat Hemed AMIT school complex in Sderot, in one of the newly developed rooms designed for Tatzam meetings, experienced professional Haim Shmila explained the uniqueness of the program. There is no text. Mentoring materials are provided with session-specific goals, including an opening, a focused activity, and discussion guidelines for mentors. In Sderot, the development process will be flexible and responsive to the evolving dynamics within the community, emphasizing the needs of groups and individuals – empathy, perseverance, educated decision-making, and the ability to control and regulate emotions.

The ratio of one mentor and teacher to 15 students is revolutionary in a school system that has up to 40 students in a classroom. The idea is to “read themselves,” to look inside and express themselves and their feelings in a safe and secure space. Shirel, a student who has participated in the Tatzam program for the past year, told the Report that she was “able to go forward,” and it gave her strength. Another student, Orel, admitted she thought it was silly at the beginning and hesitated to share feelings in front of friends. However, now she believes it works; the students “feel free” and do not judge one another. She found it helped her succeed in school and relieve stress. While there is hope that the Tatzam program will spread throughout the Israeli school system, Orel added that she especially hopes it gets to her cousin in Ukraine.

Vered Cohen, an educational counselor and Tatzam coordinator in the school, has found from her experience through years of continuous trauma that “wellness is the key to excellence of the students in all areas. The revolution is that wellness of the children is the top priority.” 

All Sderot schools will have two treatment centers with two counselors each to facilitate school group therapy. In Sderot, 500 teams are planned, with all teachers and principals participating. After years of increasing trauma, Sderot is growing and thriving, in part because families want and receive a good education for their children.

Rabbi Ari Katz, PR director for The Max and Ruth Schwartz Sderot Hesder Institutions, was enthusiastic: “The fact that schools are opening and we once again hear the voices of children, that in itself is the sign that we have essentially won, and Sderot will continue to grow stronger, bigger, and better!”