Stan J. Beiner

The definition of a head of a Jewish day school has changed dramatically over time. To be successful these days, one must be able to oversee marketing and branding, fundraise, manage the budget, respond to pandemics, maintain personal relations with donors, parents, grandparents, and community leaders, blog, tweet, facebook, google, provide supervision, be visionary, make good hires and timely fires, foster leadership, communicate effectively, lower carbon footprints, lead davening, oversee curriculum development- both Judaic and General studies, stay on top of emerging educational trends, promote alumni relations, communicate well with students, promote positive faculty culture, solicit major gifts, and evaluate technological needs. Specialization is for insects.

I don’t recall coming across a graduate program that quite prepares you for being the CEO of a Jewish school which is always built with ceiling to floor glass windows. One of my non-Jewish employees was confused by some of the lines that sometimes are crossed. I explained to her that unlike many other school communities, Jews tend to live, shop, pray, and socialize together. We wear different hats all the time and have to learn to live with the confusion that sometimes can result.

I am not complaining. I think I have a great job and love being the head of The Epstein School. And if I am ever feeling a little down, I just have to walk along the hallway and let the three year olds all talk at me at once or listen to the enthusiasm that accompanies students at work and play.

What is becoming more of a concern to me is the changing role of the teacher. Teachers are a different breed. They teach because they love their craft and adore their children. They do not take classes in budget, parent relations, and ambassadorship. Yet, in the world of private school education, we are expecting them to produce at levels they may never be able to master.

We now are expecting that in addition to being excellent educators, our teachers are to be superior communicators, web designers and facilitators. Technology, differentiated instruction, formative assessment, brain based learning, curriculum integration, Understanding by Design, and bilingual education are all areas in which faculty must demonstrate proficiency. I worry that we are expecting so much of our staff and are not necessarily providing the support and time needed for them to master these new demands.

My leadership and I are grappling with how we raise the level of expectations for both administrators and teachers while not overwhelming the already overwhelmed staff. And at the same time, we struggle with the increasing demands of our own rapidly changing jobs. A few years ago, I would have thought social media was a group of friendly reporters. Who knew?

In struggling with this issue of changing expectations, I find it helpful to stay focused on one essential question: What is right for the kids? We need to figure out how to best educate each child and demonstrate to their families that we know what they need, who they are, how they best learn and that we love them. And each teacher is going to carry around his/her own personalized toolbox.

Not every teacher can be proficient in every area just as every head of school can’t be an expert in each aspect of their job. However, in a rapidly changing environment there is one clear expectation: every educator has to continue learning and exploring. Every educator should be networking and reading blogs, journals, and feeds to stay on top of what is new in the field of education. Every educator has to find a way to reach each child which means pulling from many strategies and approaches that they continue to be exposed to and put it in that ever changing toolbox.. As schools, we can not expect our teachers to do things in “one way-our way.” We must allow them to differentiate their approaches and styles within the philosophical parameters that Schechter schools allow.

The assumption that every teacher and administrator must be a superstar who can excel in every area is a recipe for failure. Rather, we must look at how the school, as a whole, can excel utilizing the skills that each staff person brings to the program.

Above all, we must be flexible in how we approach the education of a child and recognize that change is forever a part of being a good teacher, educator, and administrator. We have no choice. A year from now, I may read this blog and totally disagree with myself based on some new dynamic at work. Like I said, it’s complicated.