Beth David Reform Congregation in Gladwyne is set to open The Harmony School at Beth David, the synagogue’s preschool program, this fall after facing legal hiccups.
The opening of the preschool was originally set for the fall of 2025, after the Lower Merion Township’s board of commissioners approved zoning for the synagogue to expand its educational hours to include the school day.
However, the synagogue’s neighbor, St. John Vianney Church, raised concerns about operations, appealing the application.
The church’s office and rectory are located on Vaughan Lane, where the Beth David Reform Congregation building resides.
“They raised traffic-related concerns about our zoning application and ultimately opposed our zoning application during the hearings before the township,” explained Beth David Immediate Past President Rodd Bender.
Still, the township’s board of commissioners approved the synagogue’s application.
However, St. John’s then appealed the decision and it is now pending review from the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in Norristown.
“They also filed a separate piece of litigation that is based on their assertion that they own a portion of Vaughan Lane, the street itself, and their belief that because of that ownership St. John Vianney has the right to limit our ability to use Vaughan Lane to operate the preschool,” added Bender.
Despite the ongoing legal processes, Beth David is moving forward with the opening of its preschool in the fall.
“We’re really in the home stretch here, it’s an exciting time at Beth David,” said Sarah Gladwin Camp, director of early childhood programs at Beth David.
In addition to the school itself, the synagogue also broke ground on a new playground that will include lots of trees, a mud kitchen, logs to climb on, pathways through gardens, tunnels and more to immerse the preschoolers in nature. Construction is set to be completed by August, right before the start of the school year.
“We have a really beautiful, rich play-based and tactile experience-based playground coming,” Camp added. “[The playground is] really immersed in nature with lots of creative elements that will keep them curious and keep them engaged and playful and imaginative as well.”
Camp noted that while the synagogue is approved for up to 90 students to attend the preschool, it is currently launching with 12 enrollees to give “personalized attention” and “forge deep family connections,” but it is still accepting applications.
“One of the things that’s really important to us is making sure that we’re in partnership with the families,” she added. “We’re going to keep this initial group really small, and then ideally add a class each year after that and grow very organically.”
Rabbi Beth Kalisch, who joined Beth David’s clergy in 2013, said she wants the preschool to be a place where families can discover how they want to incorporate Judaism into their children’s lives.
“Jewish preschools are a really important way for families to have the structure and the resources to learn how to live Jewish life at home in a way that’s meaningful for them,” Kalisch said. “We have lots of interfaith families in our community, and lots of families where parents were raised Jewish, but don’t necessarily know everything that they want to be able to teach to their kids as Jewish parents, and so we’ll be partners helping to teach songs and learn about the holidays to translate Jewish values into language that’s understandable for young children.”
As for the physical classroom, the synagogue’s building already has classroom space that is currently used for its religious school and summer camp — part of its education wing.
“They’re really good-sized classrooms. They have giant windows with bright sunlight that’s coming in all day and high ceilings,” Camp added. “We will be keeping that wing very busy in the coming months.”
Camp also noted that they plan to add three additional staff members for the first year and have already hired a preschool co-director.
“Because we’re small and have lots of classrooms and are hiring really, really skilled staff, we’re also able to accommodate a wide variety of neurodiversity and complex learning needs,” said Camp.
Bender added that Beth David is confident the preschool will be able to open in the fall.
“We are working towards opening the preschool in September and doing all the things necessary to be able to do that,” Bender added. “At the same time, while we’re confident in our legal position, we’re trying to work cooperatively with our neighbor St. John Vianney, to try and address their concerns and resolve the dispute amicably so that we can continue to have a good relationship with our neighbor and be able to just focus on operating the preschool.”