Bill Cohen

Having recently returned from the outstanding North American Jewish Day School Conference in Atlanta, a number of ideas and thoughts have crystallized in ways that they had not previously. Here are some foundational thoughts: There are a number of Schechter Schools who are oversubscribed, and who maintain waiting lists. Those schools are limited by location or space, and cannot expand. One challenge for these schools is to “select” the best recruits for their long-term sustainability. However, these school are the vast minority of Jewish Day Schools in North America. For a majority of us, growing our schools by increasing new student enrollment combined with better returning student retention is the key to the future. Yes, like you, I spend a lot of my time doing fundraising (both annual campaign and major gifts), Board of Trustees partnership and committee work, and managing our administrative team. But, in the end of the day, I am convinced that growing our school is the key issue to be addressed over the next five years.

This year, we were able to grow our Elementary School by 13% (from 107 to 122), but our Middle School and Early Childhood Education Center remained stagnant and the percentage of families receiving Tuition Assistance continues to increase. So we live in a moment a great challenge to achieve long-term sustainability. And, again, at this moment, I would suggest that growing our school through innovative strategies, programming and efforts are the key to our long-term future.

Our school is working hard to promote ourselves within our community. We spend a lot of time thinking about PR, and have added social media (Facebook mostly) and better connection to our communities Conservative Synagogues (we are an “independent” Schehcter school not located at a Synagogue) to the top of our agenda. But still, it isn’t enough. We need to develop new ways of reaching out to more potential students and families, and to work harder to convince them to enroll at our school. Then, once they are here, our program and community must be GREAT enough to keep them here for many years to come.

So, with this background in mind, I would like to put forward the following ideas and concepts that we are thinking about:

The Schechter Pre-School Network: Thanks to a session that I attended at the NAJDS Conference with Rabbi Shelly Dorph, the idea developed that we need more “feeder” schools that are connected to us and to Schechter. What better way to achieve this than to develop a network of Schechter Pre-schools? These schools could either be connected through Synagogue, or maybe even better, if they are not. BUT, if students attended Schechter Network pre-schools, we could have a whole new method of enticing them to continue their education at Schechter Elementary Schools. One question is “How would these Pre-Schools benefit from a Schechter connection so that they would want to be included in the Network?” And so, we would need to develop a plan for the pre-schools themselves to benefit through the connection.

We need to do a better job of “shining our light” to the broader community. Many of you have seen Jeffery Swartz’s brilliant piece from the PEJE Keynote of 2010 Chazak Chazak V’nitchazek. If you haven’t seen it yet, and shared it with your Board, I highly suggest it. The idea of shining our late, utilizing our facility and “giving it away” by providing free programming or events to the community is a poignant one. What better way to meet “potential” families than to bring them onto our campus and to “give them” a great experience? We will be working hard to develop this concept as a public relations and recruitment tool in the near future. The question is not what you can do for us, but, what can we do for you?

Connections to the PJ Library or other people who have lists of potential students. Wouldn’t it be great to partner with the PJ library to a receive a list of their kids who are receiving books, with the specific thought of “selling” the concept of Jewish Day school to the PJ library families? How about story-time at our school along with a “meet the author” event?

Even though we have a wonderful pre-school of our own, our true long term success will be based on our ability to grow our school in terms of student population. My vision is to be a “two-track” school from K-5, where we currently maintain one class per grade. (although this year we have 30 Kindergarten students). It will take bold steps and creative ideas to invigorate the potential student interest which we need to create. However, everything else, including strong fundraising, payoff of our mortgage, beginning a substantial endowment, and even annual campaign investment, is contingent upon our school, and yours, maintaining student population growth for the next five years. People love to support a thriving institution, and for many, “thriving” is defined simply in terms of students population growth. While we may not agree with this analysis, it is a reality which could be of significant benefit to us.

“L’chi lach, on your journey I will bless you.” As the third graders beautifully sang this song at their milestone event, I had tears in my eyes. This moment in the life of a third grader marks the beginning of a lifelong journey of learning and studying Torah. They have reached a point in their education where they are ready to dig deeper, ask richer questions, and understand at a new level.

I can relate to their feelings because I was in their shoes when I experienced my third grade milestone. I remember looking out into the audience and seeing my parents, grandparents, and teachers watching me as I started this journey. Their proud and loving faces provided me with the support and knowledge that I was not alone in this journey. I felt like a grown-up ready to start this new chapter in my learning. I also remember being surrounded by my classmates and friends. I wasn’t alone; we were connected as a class ready to start something new and different together.

Now, as I looked at my students leading T’fillot, singing songs, reading their similes about Creation, and sharing a piece of the text, I knew they had made it. I could tell by their proud smiles and confident voices that they were experiencing what I had felt. Together as an entire third grade, the bond between them all was evident. Their journey is beginning and the joy and eagerness I get from being able to guide and experience this journey with them is incredible. They are ready, I am ready, and we are taking off to new exciting levels of learning, questioning, and understanding the Torah.

Julia Horowitz is a third grade teacher at KSA and an alumni of the school, class of 2002. The third grade milestone is Bereshit – The Book of Genesis, In the Beginning.

Rabbi Ellen Bernhardt

Most of us have heard the expression, “A pintele Yid,” literally means the dot of a Jew. What it really means is that there’s a spark of Jewishness inside. I find that working with parents, I need to find that pintele and ignite it. I want to ignite it so that they may feel the passion of being Jewish as I do. I’ve taught many classes to parents in which we go on a (metaphorical) journey to uncover long-lost positive feelings of Jewishness from childhood. Reclaiming the childhood memories is sometimes painful, but usually leads to self-disclosure about how that part of themselves got closed off later in life for a specific reason.

“I hated my Hebrew school teacher.” “My parents stopped talking to me because I was dating a non-Jew.” “I experienced anti-Semitism in college,” and so on. But now I have these young parents sitting with me in a circle. They have their children in my school for some reason that I hope is positive and will lead to positive Jewish feelings and continued involvement in the Jewish community. If I can say or do something to invoke the memory of sitting next to Zaydie in shul and playing with his tzitsis, or eating my grandmother’s chicken soup, or that first experience visiting the kotel, I feel quite certain that we can build on those memories so that they, too, will want to create memories for their own children.

I try to impart the self-awareness that creating Jewish memories is important for them as parents, that looking at life through a Jewish lens can have long-lasting benefits for their children and their children’s children.

One has to be careful in handling these situations so that the parents don’t feel manipulated, but if it successful, it can be one of the most powerful experiences for young parents.

Description: “Retiring Head of School, Rabbi Larry Scheindlin, is the longest serving head of school in the Schechter Network. This article is a tribute to his extraordinary leadership. Larry was feted at the school’s annual gala on January 21st.”

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Rabbi Shira Leibowitz

They visit on my facebook newsfeed – playful, thoughtful, thriving – middle and high school friends with whom I have little contact beyond their status updates, but who were once an integral part of my daily life. While I have not reconnected with my teachers, I still often think of them and of my principal, Mr. S. Hirsch Jacobson (May His Memory Be a Blessing). They guided and nurtured me through my adolescent years, ultimately serving as role models for the career I would later embrace. In tribute to them, I choose to write this post not primarily in my capacity as a rabbi, a Ph.D. in Jewish education, or even as Lower School Principal of Schechter Westchester, but rather as a graduate of a Schechter Day School – shaped by an exemplary education for which I am profoundly grateful.

I’ve been associated with Schechter schools for slightly more than three decades, having begun my journey at the then Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union, now Golda Och Academy, as an eleven year old sixth grader. Golda Och herself (May Her Memory Be a Blessing) was my high school Jewish history teacher and her impact, like that of so many other teachers in my life, was profound. She, together with Mr. Jacobson, offered me perspective that has enabled me to experience the ebbs and flows of recent American Jewish history at least in part through the lens of our schools.

The age of Soviet, Jewish emigration in the late 1970’s, when I was in middle school, began my experience of connectedness to Jewish history in the making. My school opened its doors wide to embrace new émigrés fortunate enough to have been able to gain the then coveted permission to leave their native land. While I would later become a student leader within the Soviet Jewry Movement, at the time I felt blessed to get to know my Russian classmates who to me seemed like pioneers, part of something that mattered.

Then came the growth years of the early 1980’s when I was in high school and believed all things were possible. Our own school saw the move to a new, larger building needed to accommodate our burgeoning numbers. We experienced the introduction of computers into our school and felt the hope of expansive possibility. We were exuberant to be part of something that mattered.

Soon recognition within the Jewish community of dwindling numbers of Jews and declining Jewish commitment brought the charge to produce talented Jewish educators able to infuse passion and knowledge into the next generation. As a young rabbinical student, my destiny became intertwined with that of the day school movement. I was actively recruited to complete a doctorate in Jewish Education and courted to embark on a career leading Schechter schools. Education was at the time one of the primary communal answers to growing concerns about apathy and assimilation in the Jewish community. Armed with my ordination and my Ph.D., I was sent out into the trenches of the day schools to participate in work that mattered.

With the onset of the twenty-first century came the beginnings of disillusionment, but by no means despair. Day schools were falling from communal favor for a range of reasons and our work, once extolled, felt to me almost at times marginalized. Sometimes lonely, yet committed to our students and our mission, day school educators reached out to connect with the broader world of education in search of insight. Our schools became stronger educationally, reaching ever higher levels of accomplishment while remaining grounded in our enduring Jewish values and tradition. Although at times at least some of us felt underappreciated, we remained part of something that mattered.

Finally, came 2008 and an economic downturn that has impacted not only Jewish day schools, but most schools – parochial, independent and public. The affordability crisis so often pointed to in the news is not merely a day school challenge, but an education challenge. And what have we found? Amidst challenge stems creativity. Lean budgets have by no means limited educational innovation as we have felt the responsibility to continue to strengthen the quality of our schools while managing our costs. And, despite all the challenges, so many of our schools continue to thrive. More than ever, we know we are part of something that matters.

Rabbi Shira Leibowitz, Ph.D. has been Lower School Principal at Schechter Westchester in White Plains, New York since, 2000. She holds a Ph.D in Education and Rabbinic Ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America as well as a BA from Cornell University. She speaks and writes on educational topics, with particular interest in character and values education. You can follow Rabbi Leibowitz on twitter @shiraleibowitz or on her blog sharingourblessings.wordpress.com.

Rabbi Fred Elias

Next Monday is our semi-annual Faculty Development Day at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County. Like many schools, these days begin appropriately so with tefillah (a prayer service). For the past couple of years, we have increasingly examined the value of having the entire community together to begin our day. Whether it is for ideological reasons of belonging to a different faith or those who pray in a different ideological setting (i.e. where men and women sit separately) from ours, some of our faculty has felt disconnected to the community by the school’s compulsion on faculty days to attend a mandatory Conservative Jewish prayer service.

On one hand, one could make the argument that as a teaching member of a Schechter faculty at a Conservative Day School, everyone should be expected to attend the tefillah. On the other hand, if our mission is indeed child-centered, shouldn’t we on faculty development days be creating opportunities for our faculty to connect with and understand why every student’s day starts with tefillah? Additionally, if we are also tasked with enriching our students’ tefillah on a daily basis, should we also not enrich our faculty’s prayer experience on our faculty development days?

So, next Monday on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s Birthday and the commemoration of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s 40th yahrzeit, we will be mandating our entire faculty to participate in one of the following two “Beginning Our Day sessions:”

Option 1:
Shaharit tefillah with Storahtelling Torah Service: This prayer service will have a modified tefillah structure.  It will include all the prescribed prayers that according to Jewish law should be said at a Shaharit (Morning Service) and will focus on an interactive Torah reading and exploration of the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.

Option 2:  
Discussion Entitled: “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: Thoughts on Educating Students in a Faith-Based Environment.”  This discussion led by Rabbi Elias will not contain any elements of public or private prayer and will take place in the curriculum library.
In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, “the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.” By inviting our entire faculty to participate either in a dynamic tefillah or an important discussion of the impact of learning in a faith-based environment, our focus on the experiences of two of the most accomplished and thoughtful people of the 20th century who marched together for the freedom of all will in Rabbi Heschel’s words, “combine loyalty to one’s own tradition with reverence for different traditions.” At the same time, we will have demonstrated and modeled for our faculty that all of us irrespective of religious faith and/or denomination are all responsible for the spiritual and intellectual growth for all of our student body.

50 years
The Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston celebrated its 50th year on November 26^th.

Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago is in the middle of celebrating its 50th year

The Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, a K-8, in Jacksonville, FL turns this 50 this year with celebrations culminating with events the weekend of May 4-6.

30 years
Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos, CA will celebrate our 30th anniversary on March 18, 2012.

Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley

25 years
Pressman Academy – 25 years

10 years
Chicagoland Jewish High School is celebrating 10 years. Our celebratory event was on November 19th.

Sally Baer

I would like to share with you parts of an article I wrote in September for our weekly school communication, The Shabbat Shofar. The article, entitled Being Bullies; Being Bullied was intended to offer parents and students concrete responses for dealing with bullying issues while cautioning against use of the bullying label too often.

Among the many values we work to instill in our children are those of kindness, respect, honesty, and a sense of responsibility. As Jewish educators and as parents, we know the value of modeling character traits that we want to build in our children. We talk about ways to exhibit these values, and we offer guidance and advice when our children are faced with difficult situations.

The September, 2011 issue of Educational Leadership is dedicated to “Promoting Respectful Schools.” While there is a wealth of material available on social skills, respectful attitudes, and on anti-bullying campaigns I have seen little information that I believe is as specific and properly targeted as the articles in this magazine. In their article What Students Say About Bullying, Stan Davis and Charisse Nixon write what students believe they can do for themselves, what peers can do for one another, and what adults at school can do that helps the most. I would like to share with you some of the beliefs of what children can do for one another.

Children interviewed by Davis and Nixon believe that peers helped one another the most by responding to the child who was bullied in the following ways:

• Making sure the child who was bullied always had friends around
• Paying more attention to their friend
• Distracting the friend so the focus was not on having been bullied
• Listening to their friend and encouraging him or her to ignore the bully.

These are, of course, only a few ideas as seen by students who were interviewed for the article. We continue talking to our students, listening to their ideas, and offering our thoughts to them. As responsible educators, we must ensure that our students feel protected, safe, and supported, but how do we do this?

I have consistently read that students who feel connected to adults whom they believe care and listen have more success in dealing with the problems they face. Children need our help if they are hurt by the way another child treats them or if they witness another child being hurt because they may not know how to respond. Even the child who is hurting others needs our help. Active involvement and listening on the part of adults helps students learn how to communicate effectively and become secure and responsible.
I believe that conversations with our students and teachers are a critical piece of building the bonds that students so desperately seek. We might ask teachers who are most closely connected with their students how they build those relationships. We might ask students what helped to create those bonds that cause them to feel closely connected with adults in the school. We need to continuously revisit active listening. Educators and parents must listen to what their children are not putting into words. We must observe those behaviors that may look innocent on the surface but have hidden meanings and implications.

If you are not already familiar with Facing History and Ourselves, I strongly encourage you to check into it for the sake of your students. Although not originally slated as such, I see it as a current day anti-bullying program. The curriculum and materials that are currently geared toward learners not younger than middle school, are insightful and sensitively handled. Philosophically, the program is intended to teach tolerance, acceptance, and respect. It helps us to look at ourselves and examine our own values while expanding our thinking regarding the impact of others throughout history. There is a particular focus, but not exclusive, on the Holocaust.

As the dynamics of education continue to grow and change frequently, we must not lose sight of the need for every student to feel respected. The integration of respectful attitudes into our Judaic programs comes naturally. Students must hear about respect, observe respectful behaviors modeled by the adults in their lives, and have guidance when putting respectful attitudes into practice. This too is part of their learning experience, part of what a Solomon Schechter education offers.