Jewish Federation correspondence, meeting minutes, and other records, item 17

JEWISH OF LAS FEDERATION VEGAS COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE Monday, March 28, 1988 MINUTES PRESENT: Ron Kirsch Leo Wilner Lotte Polis Beverly Eisen Norm Kaufman Brian Berman Michael Cherry, Chairman Mike Novick Dorothy Eisenberg Barry Eisen Bill Feldman Elise Ax Ed Goldman David Mendelson Judy Steele Mel Schrager Mark Goldstein Scott Gale, AIPAC Speaker The meeting was called to order at 7:35 P.M. by Chairman Michael Cherry, who welcomed Scott Gale, our guest speaker from AIPAC, He then welcomed the following new members to the committee: Ron Kirsch, Barry Eisen, and Lotte Polis. Beverly Eisen was then called on to report on the Community-wide Holocaust Service in Edythe's absense. It will be held at Congregation Ner Tamid, with Rabbi Sanford Akselrad serving as this years' Chairman. The program was compiled by both Rabbi Akselrad and Cantor Simon Bergman. Notices will be sent out to all members of the four participating Congregations. The Service will begin at 7:30 P.M. and the guest speaker will be Paulette Fink, who was a Holocaust Freedom Fighter. On display in the library will be the art work and poetry of the children of Terezen Concentration Camp. Refreshments will be provided by the Sisterhoods of the 4 Congregations. There will be live TV coverage by Channel 13. Prior to the event, there will be a large write-up in the Sun Newspaper by Lynn Berk. Beverly was next asked to report on Israel Independence Day. The Celebra?tion will be held at Inter-Expo on Sunday, April 24, 1988 from noon until 5:00 P.M. The plans are shaping up nicely and the brochure this year will be very nice. Booth reservations are coming in; they are to sell Judaica items, made in Israel items, organizational materials, and one booth will do eye glass checks at no charge. Other items will not be for sale that day at any of our booths. The ticket sales are progressing, under the direction of Fran Fine. Dr. Pokroy has reported to his committee that all food and serving committees are set and ready to go. Under Israel Affairs, Dorothy Eisenberg said there wasn't much to report on, other than discussing the headlines in the newspapers. Mike Cherry spoke in regard to the up-coming elections in the U.S. Dorothy stated that John Ralston, who is Jewish, recently wrote a good article. 1030 East Twain Avenue Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 (702) 732-0556COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING 3/28/88 Page 2 Norm Kaufman spoke of his recent trip to Los Angeles with Arne Rosen- crantz and Lenard Schwartzer to hear Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir speak. There were over 1,50Q people in attendance. Since Hal Ober was ill, Mike Cherry reported on the education issues. He briefed us on the meeting held with members of the Clark County School District, himself, Hal, Norm, Rabbi Hecht, and Arne. They discussed the recruitment area, and the issue of needing to be an administrator to hire on the spot. There may be some changes made in this direction. They asked that our committee people be permitted to be involved in the policy revisions. Just today, we received notification of the locations of the areas of the country, where the interviews will be held. Mike feels we need to work on promotion policy first, as we need people in upper administrative positions; then we need to correct hiring practices. Norm Kaufman further reported that some of our CRC people will go with ideas to a policy committee meet?ing of the CCSD and share our views with them. The group has been selected of those who have been involved. Elise Ax spoke on behalf of the teachers, and read a quotation to us from: "Leo Rosten's Treasury of Jewish Quotations." Ed Goldman spoke of the injustice of percentages of the administrative positions in the school district. Judy Steele stated the lack of promotions of qualified Jewish teachers has existed for many years. She also stated that hiring .-has definitly been biased against Jews. Bill Feldman said, "It is very important to understand that the whole problem is greater and broader than just the School District; we must show strength and back our educators and teach our children." Mark Goldstein spoke of the April 6th policy committee meeting of the school district. He stressed the importance of an objective system for selecting administrators. He then asked for CRC approval for this type of resolution. He also informed us that the Black Coalition will be in atten?dance at that meeting. Mike Cherry stated that we the CRC Committee will go on record as indorsing a request of the Policy Committee of the Clark County School District for an "objective system for selecting administrators." Brian Berman questioned the interview system and further discussion followed. Norm Kaufman reported on the latest incidents involving the skin heads and said that he is working with a special unit from Metro on it. They are aware of the activities of this group. We wish to keep the publicity down, as that is just what they are looking for; public notice. There was no report on Soviet Jewry at this time. Mike then introduced Scott Gale, who spoke on several issues, mainly the election of Senators and Congressmen in the 1988 up-coming elections. He then had a question and answer period. The business portion of the meeting ended and the session stood adjourned at 9:10 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Coordinator Community Relations Beverly Eisen