Rich Keitel and Elisabeth Roark's decision to send their 11-year-old son, Jordan, to a private school this fall was reached only after two years of searching, questions and campus visits.

Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Asher Kinyon, front, and Eli Straussman, both 10, listen to their science teacher at Community Day school in Squirrel Hill. Click photo for larger image. Previous stories in this series Educators can fatten paychecks by taking on extra responsibilities A 'green' school saves on costs of energy These freshmen blaze new path as first in their families to attend college Carnegie Library goes high-tech with MP3 books Coming tomorrow A new consortium of colleges and tech schools will offer one-stop shopping for students to be trained in various skills.

They'd all loved Minadeo Elementary School in Squirrel Hill, where he'd been part of the gifted program, but weren't thrilled about middle school options. They wanted a school close to home where their son would be academically challenged, have a positive peer group and develop his identity. They chose Community Day, an independent Jewish day school in Squirrel Hill.

"Having the chance to form an identity among children and educators who have similar values -- both religious and core moral values -- was particularly important to us," said Roark.

"We consider it a good education. The additional Hebrew and Jewish studies are fundamental to the way we're raising our children."

Keitel and Roark are among a growing number of Jewish parents opting to send their children to Jewish day schools. Since 1990, both the number of Jewish day schools, where secular and Judaic studies are taught, and their enrollments have experienced one of the highest percentage increases of any type of religious day schools in the country.

Yet rising tuition costs and a struggling economy, particularly in Pittsburgh, have placed extra burdens on parents and schools. Jordan's tuition for sixth grade at Community Day is $8,485, a price tag that Keitel, an associate professor of theater at Point Park University, and Roark, an associate professor of art history at Chatham College, were able to meet only through financial help from the school and a financial boost from their parents.

"It is a sacrifice for us," Roark said. "But this is what's important to us."

Many Jewish parents have been reaching the same conclusion for years.

Of the estimated 850,000 Jewish school-age children in the country, about 200,000 are enrolled in the roughly 700 U.S. Jewish day schools.

The attendance represents a nearly 25 percent increase in student enrollment since 1990.

New schools have opened among all major Jewish denominations. The National Center for Education Statistics reports 613 Jewish day schools in the country in 1990 and 691 in 2000, but both figures are low, since they do not include schools such as Pittsburgh's Yeshiva Schools or others run by religious sects.

No new schools have joined Pittsburgh's Jewish day school roster since 1994, the year that Mesivta of Allegheny County, a boys' high school, split from Hillel Academy. After several years of enrollment growth, this year, all four Pittsburgh schools -- Mesivta, Hillel, Yeshiva Schools and Community Day -- are experiencing flat or lower enrollments. Enrollment in Pittsburgh's four Jewish day schools this year is estimated at 1,025 students.

Administrators blame economics for the dip in enrollment, and a national survey from last year supports them. The Avi Chai Foundation survey found that more than half of the non-Orthodox schools and 13 percent of the Orthodox schools surveyed said they had lost students because of parents' economic hardships.

About 85 percent of schools said scholarship requests had increased and two-thirds reported having greater difficulty in meeting their budgets, leading to late payrolls and staff reductions.

So why are Jewish educators so positive about the future of Jewish day schools? In a word: continuity.

Jewish day schools have burgeoned, in part they say, in response to high rates of intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews, and the overall eroding of Jewish community, culture and faith through assimilation. Half a century ago, Jewish philanthropists focused their largess on hospitals and foundations; education was a low priority.

As funding found its way to schools, Jewish education underwent a phenomenal change.

While 73 percent of Jewish adults reported in a 2001 survey that they had received some kind of formal Jewish education while growing up, for about one-third of them that meant a once-a-week class. Only one in 10 attended Jewish day schools or yeshivas.

But of the nearly 80 percent of Jewish children in the survey between the ages of 6 and 17 who receive formal Jewish education, nearly one-third attend a Jewish day school or yeshiva. One quarter are in programs that meet once a week.

"Part of it is the change in the Jewish community from being an immigrant population in the early 20th century ... to a more mature sense now of the possibility -- the ability -- to live fully in both worlds as Americans and Jews," said Elaine Cohen, associate director of the department of education for the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The organization represents about 760 affiliated synagogues and the 76 Solomon Schechter Day Schools around the country, including Community Day.

"This is more important in an increasingly multi-ethnic America, not in terms of nostalgia, but in active engagement with [Jewish] texts and living in the community," Cohen said.

Orthodox day schools such as Hillel, Mesivta and Yeshiva are virtually guaranteed the students of Orthodox families since chinuch, or a Torah-based education, is a dominant principle among them. Both White Oak-based Mesivta and Yeshiva offer boarding options for high school students, and both routinely have out-of-state and foreign students.

	Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Lori Geche teaches fifth-grade science class at Community Day, an independent Jewish day school in Squirrel Hill. Click photo for larger image.

Thirteen of Mesivta's 31 high school boys are boarding students this year, said the principal, Rabbi Nosson Tropper. The school day runs from 7:35 a.m. to 9 p.m., with Jewish studies in the morning and evening and secular subjects during the afternoon. There are no organized extracurricular activities such as a school paper or sports teams.

The program has shown strong results: Last year, the school's average SAT score for students was 1271, among the 10 highest scores in the region. Graduates usually study in Israel for a year before entering college or enrolling in post-secondary education programs.

The key, Tropper said, is a lifelong commitment to Jewish learning.

"When a student sees the value of Torah study as a way of life, not as an academic course, then that is a tremendous factor," he said. "Torah is what makes us successful."

Jordan Keitel will likely attend Allderdice High School after graduating from Community Day following eighth grade. By then, he will have learned three years of Jewish history, culture and faith, enough, his parents hope, to infuse him with a lasting love for his faith.

"It's an advantage in so many different ways," Roark said.