It provides both secular and Judaic studies instruction for ninth through 12th grade students coming from various denominations within Judaism, including Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox.
[3] In April 1999, Rabbi Lee Buckman of Congregation Beth Israel (Milwaukee) was named the future school's headmaster.
[6] The school was set to open with ninth and 10th grades to start, tuition for a year would be $10,000, and every family whose child was accepted would receive a $2,000 subsidy.
[11] Jean Frankel and her husband, longtime Detroit-area real estate developer Samuel, had a long and distinguished history of involvement with and giving to the local university, cultural organizations, hospitals, and Jewish schools.
When the academy opened in 2000 with 51 ninth and 10th grade students, classes were held in the basement of the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.
In 2007 the school, having grown to 81 faculty and staff and more than 220 students, moved to a newly constructed facility on the third floor of the Jewish Community Center.
The disagreements had been brewing for several years and finally became public, as a fresh incident involving a "Denominational Differences" class at FJA pushed things to the forefront.
In August 2011 a group of Reform rabbis wrote a formal letter to FJA complaining at a "marked lack of denominational sensitivity".
However, recognizing the limitations of virtual learning, FJA started the 2020-2021 academic year returning to on-campus, in-person instruction with stringent health safeguards.
[22] In 2018 Frankel robotics team represented U.S. in Israel at international competition,[28] and in 2019 received first place for its 3D CAD design of a fuel injector.
[30] In 2015, junior Max Feber developed a cold coffee brewing apparatus BRUW and raised more than $10,000 from more than 180 backers on Kickstarter for its production.
[34] To increase enrollment, in 2022 FJA introduced the Shorashim Grants where current and incoming families, regardless of the ability to pay, can choose up to $10,000 per student annually.
[35] FJA has an active theater program that produces up to two productions per year under direction of Mitch Master, the school's founding director of fine and performing arts.
Rabbi Buckman, 37, from Conservative Congregation Beth Israel in Milwaukee, was recruited as the future school's founding head in April 1999,[4] having been chosen from about 80 applicants for this position.
"It is very difficult to make all Jews happy, but Rabbi Buckman was able to walk that line," said Debbie Wrotslaysky, FJA mathematics department head.
In 2009 he departed Michigan to begin his post as head of school at the Katherine and Jacob Greenfield Hebrew Academy in Atlanta, leaving behind "a joyous legacy of learning".