School Gets $275,000 Grant for Expansion

It’s been a good year for Heschel West Day School in Agoura.

The fledgling Jewish elementary school, founded four years ago by parents in the Conejo Valley, an area with a burgeoning Jewish population, was recently awarded a $275,000 grant to start a middle school.

The money comes amid a healthy growth spurt at the small school, which serves about 140 students. Heschel West’s two sites were recently consolidated into one campus on Canwood Road. Three months ago the school was the recipient of another hefty grant--$100,000 from the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.

“It’s been an extraordinary period of growth, to have a school of this magnitude in four years,” said Diane Perlich, who became the school’s first principal in July.

The $275,000 grant, from a philanthropic group based in Massachusetts called the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, will be spread over four years. The school now offers classes through fifth grade, and next year it will add a sixth grade, Perlich said.

The school plans to expand to 500 students and offer instruction through eighth grade. Heschel West accepts students of all Jewish denominations and teaches Hebrew and Judaica in addition to secular subjects.

“We think that there’s a demand out there for a middle school,” said Bernard Gero, president of the school’s board of directors. “It’s a natural progression.”