{{Use American English|date=September 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox school | name = Ida Crown Jewish Academy | image = Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Skokie, IL.jpg | logo = ICJA logo.jpg | motto = ''Inspiring Bnei and Bnot Torah to thrive in the Modern World'' | address = 8233 Central Park Avenue | city = [[Skokie, Illinois|Skokie]] | state = Illinois | zipcode = 60076 | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|42.031677|-87.717774|type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-IL|display=inline,title}} | type = Parochial; Coed | religious_affiliation = [[Modern Orthodox]] | established = 1942 | dean = [[Leonard Matanky]] | mascot = Ace | nickname = Ida Crown, ICJA, The Academy | rival = [[Rochelle Zell Jewish High School]] and Fasman Yeshiva High School | website = {{URL|www.icja.org/}} | enrollment = 216 (as of 2022) | faculty = 36.0 [[full-time equivalent|FTEs]] | ratio = 6.8:1 | tuition = $25,900 (2022)<ref name=Tuition>[https://www.icja.org/admissions/financial-aid/ Tuition & Financial Aid - Ida Crown Jewish Academy. Accessed November 22, 2017.]</ref> | fees = $1,430<ref name=Tuition/> | colors = {{Color box|blue|border=darkgray}}{{Color box|white|border=darkgray}}{{Color box|red|border=darkgray}} Blue, White, and Red | campus = [[Suburban]] }}
'''Ida Crown Jewish Academy''' is a [[Modern Orthodox Jewish]] high school in [[Skokie, Illinois]],<ref>"[http://www.icja.org/ Home]." Ida Crown Jewish Academy. Retrieved on February 5, 2011. "8233 Central Park, Skokie, IL 60076."</ref> under the auspicies of the [[Talmud Torah|Associated Talmud Torahs]]. Its current dean is [[Leonard Matanky]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.icja.org/pages/administration/44.php| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080926155703/http://www.icja.org/pages/administration/44.php| archive-date = 2008-09-26| title = Ida Crown Jewish Academy}}</ref> ICJA places emphasis on both Judaic and Secular studies and holds its students to high academic standards. ICJA encourages its students to pursue a year in [[yeshiva]] or [[Midrasha|seminary]] in [[Israel]] before attending college. Ida Crown serves students from all over the [[Chicago area]], including [[Chicago]], [[Lincolnwood, Illinois|Lincolnwood]], [[Skokie, Illinois|Skokie]], [[Northbrook, Illinois|Northbrook]], [[Highland Park, Illinois|Highland Park]], [[Glencoe, Illinois|Glencoe]], [[Deerfield, Illinois|Deerfield]], Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, and [[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]].
As of the 2021-22 school year, the school had an enrollment of 216 students and 36.0 classroom teachers (on an [[full-time equivalent|FTE]] basis), for a [[student–teacher ratio]] of 6.8:1.<ref name=NCES>{{cite web |url=https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/privateschoolsearch/school_detail.asp?Search=1&ID=00354774 |title=Ida Crown Jewish Academy |publisher=[[National Center for Education Statistics]], [[Institute of Education Sciences]] |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref>
==History== Leaders from the Associated Talmud Torahs (ATT) and [[Hebrew Theological College]] met in 1942 to address growing educational concerns.<ref name=About>{{cite web |title=Learn About Ida Crown Jewish Academy |publisher=Ida Crown Jewish Academy |url=https://www.icja.org/about-icja/ |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref><ref name=JUF75>{{cite news |title=Ida Crown Jewish Academy celebrates 75 years |work=JUF News |publisher=Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago |year=2017 |url=https://www.juf.org/news/local.aspx?id=444507 |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref> The primary problem centered around the fact that many Jewish children began to drop their studies around [[bar mitzvah]] time, setting the scene for rampant assimilation and a loss of tradition. They eventually established a plan: to create a high school which taught Judaic studies. Ideally, these students would move on to pursue Jewish higher education.
The school began as Chicago Jewish Academy and was first located on the West side of Chicago.<ref name=About/> It was situated on the corner of Douglas Blvd. and St. Louis Ave. and began as a coeducational junior high school with grades 6–10; subsequent grades were added with each upcoming year. The school became a complete four-year secondary school in September 1945. The first Commencement ceremony took place in June 1946.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}
By that time, the school outgrew its facilities. The ATT purchased the building of the Metropolitan Masonic Temple in the Garfield Park area; the school moved to the building in 1947. The three-story building was remodeled during the two-year waiting period to accommodate the needs of an academy.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}
Despite ample room and much progress, the West side of Chicago began to deteriorate as a whole by the early 1960s. The Academy was forced by virtue of circumstances to relocate in 1961 to the Torah Center. The move helped catalyze the institution of a new branch, a [[yeshiva]]; a section of the high school for boys, which included intensified [[Talmud]]ic studies. To satisfy the needs of parents and help hinder overcrowding, a third branch, a Girls' school, was established in September 1967.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}
The Chicago Jewish Academy made another move in 1968 due to overcrowding. To fund the move, the ATT proposed a campaign to raise funds for a building to house up to 400 students. This building, in the [[West Ridge, Chicago|West Ridge]] area, a center of Jewish community regionally, was named the Ida Crown Jewish Academy, after a generous donation from the Crown family.<ref>{{cite web| author=Rapoport, Rabbi Shlomo| year=1967| title=A Quarter Century of Progress By the Academy| url=http://www.idacrownjewishacademy.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=8&tabid=9&ModuleID=206| access-date=2006-04-17| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928162532/http://www.idacrownjewishacademy.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=8&tabid=9&ModuleID=206| archive-date=2007-09-28| url-status=dead}}</ref>
Later, the Academy would drop its junior high school, and both branches became their own separate Jewish high schools. The Yeshiva became [[Fasman Yeshiva High School]], in [[Skokie, Illinois|Skokie]], and the Girls' School became Hannah Sacks Bais Yaakov. Still, the atmosphere and philosophy has generally remained the same over more than fifty years of progress.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}
Ida Crown Jewish Academy made another move, this time to Skokie, to satisfy a student body that is primarily from the North Shore area and to address overcrowding at the current building. The building, the Esformes Family Campus, officially opened for learning on January 4, 2016.<ref name=NewBuilding>{{cite web |title=ICJA Dedicates New Building |publisher=Ida Crown Jewish Academy |url=https://www.icja.org/icja-dedicates-new-building/ |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref>
==Statistics== *Days in year: 165{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} *Hours in day: 9.67{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} *Enrollment: 216<ref name=NCES/> *Tuition (2022–2023): $25,900/student<ref name=Tuition/>
==Recent athletic achievements== *The wrestling team won the 2012 team IHSA Class 1A Regional at Walther Lutheran, the first regional title for ICJA, and the first regional wrestling title won by any Jewish high school in the US.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} *The baseball team came in 1st at the Columbus Baseball Invitational 2011, 2014, 2018, and 2022{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} *Yeshiva University's Red Sarachek Tournament Champions 2008.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} *Boys' basketball team won the Joseph Weiner Memorial Basketball Tournament in 1990 and 1995 and 2008; Girls' team won in 1994 <ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.btfiloh.org/weinerhallfame.htm | title= List of Tournament Champions | access-date= 2006-06-09 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050902174055/http://www.btfiloh.org/weinerhallfame.htm | archive-date= 2005-09-02 | url-status= dead }}</ref>
Men's Teams: * Basketball * Baseball * Cross Country * Fencing * Wrestling * Soccer Women's Teams: * Basketball * Cross Country * Fencing * Soccer
==Curriculum== *Levels: 0, not calculated into G.P.A.; 1.0, Modified/Regulars; 2.0, Honors—A is 5.0, B, 4.0, and so forth.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}} *Scheduling: Arrival at 8:05{{nbsp}}am; prayer and breakfast until 9:05; followed by twelve thirty-nine-minute periods. Day ends at 5:39{{nbsp}}pm.{{Citation needed|date=May 2026}}
===General Studies=== *Requirements: Hebrew, 4 years<ref name=GradReq>{{cite web |title=Graduation Requirements |publisher=Ida Crown Jewish Academy |url=https://www.icja.org/academics/graduation-requirements/ |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref>
===Judaic Studies=== *Required. *Single-gender classes for Judaic studies. *Boys' track: Four years of [[Tanakh]] and [[Talmud]]ic Studies *Girls' track: Four years of Tanakh; one year of [[Mishnah]]; three years of either Talmud or [[Jewish philosophy]]/Oral Law; one half-year on family purity.<ref name=Curriculum>{{cite web |title=Curriculum |publisher=Ida Crown Jewish Academy |url=https://www.icja.org/academics/curriculum/ |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref>
==Notable alumni== * [[David Draiman]] (born 1973), lead singer for the band [[Disturbed (band)|Disturbed]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Disturbed's David Draiman on Israel, October 7 and anti-Zionism |work=The Jerusalem Post |url=https://www.jpost.com/j-spot/article-807995 |date=June 28, 2024 |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref> * [[Yochi Dreazen]], Deputy managing editor and foreign editor of ''[[Vox (website)|Vox]]''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alumni Profile: Yochi Dreazen |website=Ida Crown Jewish Academy |url=http://www.icja.org/pages/alumni_profiles/98.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118000000/http://www.icja.org/pages/alumni_profiles/98.php |archive-date=November 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref> * [[Nosson Tzvi Finkel (Mir)|Nosson Tzvi Finkel]], former Rosh Yeshiva of the [[Mir yeshiva (Jerusalem)|Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem]]<ref>{{Cite news |title=Mir Yeshiva leader Nosson Finkel dies at 68 |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |url=https://www.jta.org/2011/11/09/lifestyle/mir-yeshiva-leader-nosson-finkel-dies-at-68 |date=November 9, 2011 |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref> * [[Gil Hoffman]], Executive Director ''[https://honestreporting.com HonestReporting]''<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 23, 2023 |title=Instagram - Ida Crown Jewish Academy |url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CyvvRdGrt_E/ |access-date=January 19, 2026 |website=Instagram}}</ref> * [[Rachel Goldberg Polin]], Hostage Advocate<ref name="PolinICJA">{{Cite news |title=Who are Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, the Israeli-American hostage parents speaking at the DNC? |work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |url=https://www.jta.org/2024/08/21/united-states/who-are-rachel-goldberg-polin-and-jon-polin-the-israeli-american-hostage-parents-speaking-at-the-dnc |date=August 21, 2024 |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref> * [[Jon Polin]], Hostage Advocate<ref name="PolinICJA"/><ref>{{Cite news |title=Hersh Goldberg-Polin among five Hamas hostages with Illinois ties |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/10/21/23926392/hersh-goldberg-polin-hamas-hostage-israel |date=October 21, 2023 |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref> * [[Jeff Seidel]], director of the Jewish Student Information Center in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeff Seidel, '75 |website=Ida Crown Jewish Academy |url=https://www.icja.org/campaign/jeff-seidel-75/ |access-date=May 24, 2026}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Chicago|Illinois|Judaism|Schools}} * [[History of the Jews in Chicago]] *[[Jewish education]] * ''[[Menora v. Illinois High School Association]]'', court case on religious freedom involving Ida Crown
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{official website|https://www.icja.org}}
{{Skokie, Illinois}} {{High schools in suburban Cook County, Illinois}} {{Private schools in Cook County, Illinois}} {{Religion in the Chicago Area}} {{Jewish schools in the United States}}
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[[Category:Modern Orthodox Jewish day schools in the United States]] [[Category:Educational institutions established in 1942]] [[Category:Jewish day schools in Illinois]] [[Category:Orthodox Judaism in Illinois]] [[Category:Private high schools in Illinois]] [[Category:1942 establishments in Illinois]]