Community Building – Page 11 – A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

Religious Purposefulness: A Community of Kindness Reframe

First, let me thank those who offered encouraging, and candid, feedback on my first attempt at vlogging. [If you want a recap, pop a dramamine, and click here!] Separate from the technical feedback (perhaps staring at myself in the webcam was not the most useful technique) and the performance feedback (perhaps rocking incessantly back and forth in my chair was not the best staging), useful as it is, it is the form and content feedback that I found most interesting. Awkward as it may have been to watch (and shoot), I think the occasional vlog post will be a helpful way to ensure the tree of my voice finds its way through the forest of words I generate most weeks. There is an intimacy that sound and image brings that no typed sentence can match. I may have plenty of room to grow as a vlogger, but I think I am convinced that it is worth the investment of time and energy to accomplish. I imagine the blog will remain my primary vehicle of communication, but supplemented with targeted vlog posts.

And I promise to sit still next time.

Second, as I am typing the afternoon that will soon become Erev Yom Kippur, let me take this opportunity to offer my sincerest apologies to any and all I may have inadvertently harmed or hurt during this last year. I will try to do and be better in the new Jewish year just begun.

Third, let me offer my annual hope for parents to make Sukkot as much a part of your annual attendance as Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur. Please click here for an impassioned plea for marching with fruits and vegetables. New this is year is an incentivization program that will provide an extrinsic motivation designed to ensure sufficient attendance to allow for the much preferred intrinsic motivation of celebrating the joy of Jewish holidays with friends and community.

If any parents have questions about the new program, please email or call me at your convenience. We are looking forward to seeing you on our most joyous of holidays.

Now onto the business at hand…

Dr. Steven Brown, now a Program Officer at the AVI CHAI Foundation, wrote a wonderful blog past last week called “Religious Purposefulness on the High Holidays” (click here for the whole post), in which he issued the following challenge:

Day schools have been fairly successful in the cognitive domain, seeing student learning accomplishments of high order in Jewish studies and Hebrew language. But I raise some questions:

How can we create Jewish day schools or summer camps which truly affect students’ commitments to seeing the world through Jewish lenses (in whatever denominational form), making Jewish life and practice part of their daily lives now and in the future?

If you are connected to a Jewish day school or summer camp, what are examples of religious purposefulness that you can see and can describe in your school or camp?

What are the biggest challenges in cultivating religious engagement and purposefulness in the Jewish educational context you know best?

He then asked the field to contribute examples of religious purposefulness in Jewish day schools, and I said to myself, “Community of Kindness“!

Utilizing the questions Dr. Brown asks provides me with the perfect opportunity during this period of reflection to reframe “Community of Kindness” as an example of religious purposefulness in action. As we move from the initial phase into surveys culminating with calls to action, I find it helpful to remind ourselves of why we are doing this in the first place. Although there is nothing new in what follows, I find the reframe a useful way to reorient and refocus on what is most essential. Without further adieu…

Religious Purposefulness Vignettes

Goal: To begin a national conversation on the nature of religious purposefulness in Jewish day schools by providing succinct examples in the form of vignettes about practices in our schools.

What is the activity or learning experience? What does it look like?

I am pleased to share the first-ever initiative of the new Galinsky Academy [the home for all the schools of the Jacksonville Jewish Center including the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, the DuBow Preschool, the Bernard & Alice Selevan Religious School and Makom Hebrew High] will be an exciting pilot program called “Creating a Community of Kindness”! We launched at the beginning of the school year and are partnering with Jewish Family & Community Services to create a sustained, meaningful, comprehensive program that will not only include our schools, but also our clergy, to ensure the fullest participation and the maximum impact possible.

Why is this an example of teaching or modeling religious purposefulness?

The purpose of this program is to create a community of kindness amongst students, teachers and parents at Galinsky Academy. This is intended to support what is already being taught with the message of chesed throughout the religious institution. Jewish schools are in the character-building business. It is a significant motivation for parents to enroll their children in our schools. We care at least as much about who our students are as we care about what they can accomplish. We utilize Jewish value language across the curriculum to reinforce the idea that being a mensch is not something one does only in certain classes, but something one is all day long. Our teachers, along with our clergy, work hard all day to ensure that our school lives up to the ideal of being a community of kindness. And even during school we struggle to achieve our goal. That’s precisely why we launched the “Community of Kindness” initiative in the first place. We recognized that in order to become that community it required all of our schools working together with our clergy to build the safe, loving environment our children deserve.

Where and when does it sit in the life of the school (classroom, shabbaton, school-wide, extracurricular, one-time occurrence, ongoing) and to whom is it directed?

Our plan from the beginning, has been to avoid the one-shot assemblies or training that have some, but fleeting impact on the lives of our students, teachers, and parents and move to something deeper and more powerful.

We began last month month with teacher workshops during “Preplanning Week” and “Faculty Orientation”. We also presented information at PTA-sponsored “Back to School” brunch. Student, parent and teacher surveys are in creation and are scheduled for October. Depending on the data, programs, trainings, workshops, town halls, etc., are scheduled to begin in November.

What is the context enabling this activity to happen? How does the school administration and staff lead and manage this activity? How do you measure success?

Prior survey data from our schools indicate that the most prevailing form of “bullying” or “mean” behaviors throughout our institution are those of social exclusion. Our students, academically, know what the right thing to do is. But many suffer from a pervasive “by-standerism” that prevents rightful action from occurring.

The schools are capable of responding appropriately once behaviors happen. The reactionary system is working appropriately, by and large. We need to create a culture that reduces, if not eliminates, those kinds of behaviors from happening in the first place. We lack a proactive system. It will take students, parents, teachers, administrators, volunteers, and clergy working together to create a common vocabulary and to build a culture where a child of 3, a teen of 15, and a parent would each be equally willing to come forward when faced with “mean” behaviors and articulate that this is not how we behave here.

We will know we have succeeded when we hear peers tell each other that…

“We don’t let friends eat by themselves here.”

“We don’t let our classmates play by themselves on the playground.”

“Of course you could be my math partner!”

“No one works by themselves on class projects here.”

“We invite all our friends to birthday parties in our community.”

You can supply your own appropriately positive quote. But we will know the culture has shifted when those kinds of expressions are voluntarily offered, not teacher prompted.

Do I have a stake in who my students are when they are not in school?

Hebrew-brothers-keeper — (Am I my brother's keeper?)

We are completing our third week of school today (!) and I wanted to take an opportunity to reflect on a question that bubbles up from time to time that I struggle to provide a clear answer to. It gets asked in lots of different ways, but essentially boils down to the same idea: Do I or does the “school” have a responsibility to address behaviors that take place outside the bounded times and spaces of school?

Typically the question is specific to an incident of negative behavior, although it is just as fair to ask about positive behavior as well, and I intend to address both.

Jewish day schools are in the character-building business. It is a significant motivation for parents to enroll their children in our schools. We care at least as much about who our students are as we care about what they can accomplish. We utilize Jewish value language across the curriculum to reinforce the idea that being a mensch is not something one does only in certain classes, but something one is all day long. Our teachers, along with our clergy, work hard all day to ensure that our school lives up to the ideal of being a community of kindness. And even during school we struggle to achieve our goal. That’s precisely why we launched the “Community of Kindness” initiative in the first place. [Click here for a recap.] We recognized that in order to become that community it required all of our schools working together with our clergy to build the safe, loving environment our children deserve. But even this important new initiative emphasizes what happens under our watchful eye.

What about the text sent out at 9:00 PM?

What about the play-date on Sunday? Or the ones some children are not invited to?

What about the hallways during Shabbat services?

Let me be clear that I am purposefully leaving parents out of this behavioral equation. Not because I either blame parents for their children’s behavior nor because I abdicate parents of their responsibility to effectively parent. I am simply asking a different question. If I witness or discover noteworthy behavior of my students when we are not technically in school, what exactly are my responsibilities to respond or react? Do I have a stake in who my students are when they are not in school?

The simple answer is “yes”. I care deeply about who our students are when they are not in school because how they behave when no one is watching matters a whole lot more than how they behave under close supervision. That’s the true measure of character. That’s derekh eretz.

OK, that part is simple. I am proud when students behave well outside of school and disappointed when they don’t. But do I share those feelings with them? Do I share those feelings with their parents? Is it my place to hold them accountable for those behaviors?Those are the vexing questions I struggle to answer effectively – especially when the behaviors are grey.

The black-and-white ones are easy; they always are when the level of behavior is so significant it cannot be ignored. We already engage parents when we discover social events where students are excluded. We already employ effective discipline when students bully outside school walls and times. We already impose consequences if the physical facility is harmed after hours. And on the positive end of the spectrum, we already celebrate students who are honored elsewhere. We already praise students for their outside academic achievements (i.e. high school placement). We already highlight students who perform significant acts of lovingkindness outside of school.

The grey ones are more complicated; they always are when the level of behavior is insignificant enough that it can be, and often is, ignored. We don’t always engage parents to ensure all our students have access to frequent play-dates and smaller social opportunities. We don’t always praise students for their random acts of lovingkindness outside of school. We often ignore disruptive behavior on Shabbat and holidays because we are ostensibly “off-duty” and we surely do not call those students to account for those behaviors when next back in school. And we don’t properly incentivize participation in Shabbat and holiday celebrations so important we are willing to close school.

I am no longer willing to stand on the sidelines.

With regard to “community of kindness” we say that we will know if the program is taking hold if students on their own are willing to address their own behavior or that of their friends. That children will be willing to say to themselves and to each other that “we do not behave like that here”. To me this is no different. We need to do a better job instilling pride of school, pride of academy and pride of self in our students so that they feel the responsibility of representation outside our direct reach. A Galinsky Academy student simply does not behave like that. A Galinsky Academy student behaves with derekh eretz whether they are in school, synagogue, the football game, or the mall.

I have a role to play and I am working up the courage to empower myself to do it. If I am made aware of discouraging behavior, I will share my disappointment regardless of when or where it took place. If I am made aware of positive behavior, I will share my pride regardless of when or where it took place. They will know that I have high expectations. They will know that we treasure their participation in Shabbat and holiday celebrations and have announced a new program to incentivize it.

The older ones will know that I don’t issue a character reference or a principal recommendation lightly. If you want me to recommend you to a high school, an honors society, or even to babysit, you will earn that recommendation by making for yourself a good name.

My students will know that I care who they are and that who they are matters.

Putting it All Together

What a week! I want to use this week’s blog post to add some closing thoughts to recent weeks’ blog posts, tying some threads together, as we officially open school on Monday.

Thread #1:

I blogged last week, here, about what we would be doing this week in our annual Faculty Pre-Planning Week and writing on a Friday afternoon, it has been a tremendously positive, energizing, motivating and informational week culminating in Thursday’s “Meet & Greet” for Grades K-5 and today’s “Middle School Orientation”. We are ready to go!

Here we were on our opening World Cafe (click here for more info):

The lead question was about “mentoring” and here is one sample of how our conversation unfolded:

We collected all the creative output of our cafe and uploaded it to our faculty ning for further conversation and collaboration.

Another highlight was an opportunity to gather with our Galinsky Academy colleagues in the DuBow Preschool for some team-building activities:

We had a fantastic week and cannot wait until Monday!

Thread #2:

I blogged a few weeks ago, here, about our amazing cast of new and returning faculty & staff. There were a few gaps that I updated through postscripts in future blogs, but one gap had until now been left unexplained. While I was on vacation, Jessie Roman, who had served ably as our secondary support staff person in the Day School for over seven years, informed me that she had accepted an opportunity too important to her family’s well-being to pass up. We understood and continue to wish her well in her new endeavor. She is missed.

We have quickly gone through a search and interview process to find a capable replacement. I am pleased to announce that we have identified a new employee and have signed her to a contract. Technically we are still awaiting background data to confirm her employment, so I cannot, as of now, share her name. But pending a surprise, she will begin her work a week from Monday. I will share her name as soon as she clears!

Recognizing we have been one person short in our office this month and next week, we appreciate your patience. We’ll be back to full speed soon.

Thread 3:

I blogged more recently, here, about the official launch of the first Galinsky Academy initiative: Creating a Community of Kindness. It began this week with our teachers, and continues next Monday at our annual PTA-sponsored “Back to School” brunch for Preschool and Day School parents with information sharing on the new project. [NOTE: This will be repeated for teachers and parents in the Bernard and Alice Selevan Religious School at their upcoming Faculty Orientation and PTA-sponsored “Back to School” brunch. All Makom Hebrew High teachers also work in another Galinsky Academy school and received their information there.]

In the spirit of transparency, I wanted to share with you the overall vision for that program as has been worked out by the professionals of the Academy, the clergy of the Jacksonville Jewish Center, and our partners at Jewish Family & Community Services. It is a starting point – a work in progress – not the entirety. As data is collected (surveys in September across the Academy), we will revise to keep the project moving forward in the right directions. Here, however, is at least where we will begin:

Outline for Curriculum for 2012-2013

Galinsky Academy

The purpose of this program is to create a community of kindness amongst students, teachers and parents within Galinsky Academy. This curriculum is intended to support what is already being taught with the message of Chesed throughout the religious institution. The plan would be to kick-off this program prior to the beginning of the school year with teachers during pre-planning week and we would be available to do similar with parents.

For the DuBow Preschool:

Facilitating classroom activities based upon the themes of the monthly Character Words. Examples of activities include assisting teachers in creating a monthly classroom bulletin board and leading an activity that corresponds to the monthly reading of a PJ Library book.
Utilizing the book Conscious Discipline by Dr. Becky A. Bailey as a resource to develop classroom activities to support teachers plan/agendas
How to take home what is being learned and processed in school: Examples include facilitating conversations with parents and teachers about how to create a community of caring, implementing specific projects that can be done at home with their children and brought back to school, classroom projects with teachers (i.e.; creating Tzedakah boxes)

For the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School:

School-wide projects (part of this will include engaging the student council—attending the monthly meetings with them to encourage their support and involvement in activities) Examples include: creating themed bulletin boards about definitions/examples of caring, implementing peer to peer support groups, implementing a school-wide award system/acknowledgment of students acts of kindness, an award system for teachers, implementing a system/plan for parents to recognize teachers/staff
Classroom workshops and projects— would include an activity (with processing upon completion), then leaving teachers with worksheets/mini-projects for follow-up to do in classroom and/or send home with kids

For the Bernard & Alice Selevan Religious School & Makom Hebrew High:

Teacher workshops. Possible topics include: how to facilitate communication with parents and with students, how to recognize special needs and emotional issues in children, how to encourage peer to peer support amongst students, assertiveness training, bullying prevention ideas
In-classroom projects with follow-up activity for child to bring home and do with parent(s)
Teacher coaching–initial meeting with teacher about classroom issue(s), then observe classroom and make suggestions (behavioral management)

Examples of possible workshops for students

Value of friendship–how we choose friends
Hands-on sensitivity training—“walking in their shoes” (bring in guest speaker to help understanding physical and emotional disabilities—have students walk blindfolded, etc.) Focusing on accepting differences and strengths, what makes each of us unique
Self-esteem/empowerment topics
Communication—how to talk to your parents or those in authority
Why do we bully? (classroom and cyber)—what to do when you see bullying occur
Dealing with conflict
Healthy boundaries/healthy relationships
Assertiveness vs. aggressiveness
Role-playing—practicing kindness—what to say to peers, processing discussion
Classroom project/team-building—how to make the classroom a safe place

Examples of possible workshops for teachers and parents

Recognizing signs of bullying behavior (including cyber and classroom); threats to our children
Recognizing possible mental health issues/needs
Coaching on how to talk to parents about sensitive topics (for teachers)
How to talk to student/child in a way they will understand

Putting into Action/Other learning opportunities

Field trips and Mitzvah projects: 1-2x a year kids will go off-site to volunteer with another agency which provides services to children (Sulzbacher, Community Connections, etc.)
Availability to meet with parents and teachers—before or after school day, during summer, before holidays, etc.
Acceptance of referrals for short-term counseling and/or crisis intervention
Availability for classroom management intervention/suggestions per request from staff
Availability for specific interventions with child and/or family related to bullying issue
Follow-up sessions with aggressors or victims of bullying on an on-call basis
Pre and post tests/evaluations of knowledge and resources available to students

Resources

Books by Dr. Becky A. Bailey—Shubert series and Conscious Discipline

Employee certified in training of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits

Stephen Covey— The Leader in Me

Tying those three threads, along with others, together helps create the fabric of what will surely be an amazing year in the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and the Galinsky Academy.

Off to enjoy a restful Shabbat and to get ready for an amazing week!

The Official Launch of the “Creating a Community of Kindness” Initiative!

[NOTE: For a more expanded read of my blog on Jewish gaming from last week, here, please check out my guest blog for Jewish Interactive, here.]

I am thrilled to announce the first-ever initiative of the new Galinsky Academy [the home for all the schools of the Jacksonville Jewish Center including the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, the DuBow Preschool, the Bernard & Alice Selevan Religious School and Makom Hebrew High] will be an exciting pilot program called “Creating a Community of Kindness”! We will be launching at the beginning of the school year and partnering with Jewish Family & Community Services a sustained, meaningful, comprehensive program that will not only include our schools, but also our clergy, to ensure the fullest participation and the maximum impact possible.

Thanks to Colleen Rodriguez and Rachel Weinstein from JFCS for working with our school professionals and clergy to draft a program and a curriculum we are excited to bring to life in the month and year ahead!

Our plan from the beginning (you can catch up on some of our early thinking on the subject, by clicking, here, here and here), has been to avoid the one-shot assemblies or training that have some, but fleeting impact on the lives of our students, teachers, and parents and move to something deeper and more powerful.

Our assumptions are as follows:

Survey data from our schools indicates that the most prevailing form of “bullying” or “mean” behaviors throughout our institution are those of social exclusion.
Our students, academically, know what the right thing to do is. But many suffer from a pervasive “by-standerism” that prevents rightful action from occurring.
The schools are capable of responding appropriately once behaviors happen. The reactionary system is working appropriately, by and large.
We need to create a culture that reduces, if not eliminates, those kinds of behaviors from happening in the first place. We lack a proactive system.
It will take students, parents, teachers, administrators, volunteers, and clergy working together to create a common vocabulary and to build a culture where a child of 3, a teen of 15, and a parent would each be equally willing to come forward when faced with “mean” behaviors and articulate that this is not how we behave here.

We will know we have succeeded when we hear peers tell each other that…

“We don’t let friends eat by themselves here.”

“We don’t let our classmates play by themselves on the playground.”

“Of course you could be my math partner!”

“No one works by themselves on class projects here.”

“We invite all our friends to birthday parties in our community.”

You can supply your own appropriately positive quote. But we will know the culture has shifted when those kinds of expressions are voluntarily offered, not teacher prompted. We will begin next month with teacher workshops during all each school’s “Preplanning Week” or “Faculty Orientation”. We will also present more information at upcoming PTA-sponsored “Back to School” brunches for each of our schools.

I cannot think of a better first-initiative for our Academy to engage in. I am looking forward to taking a major step forward next year to becoming the Academy our students deserve. Parents looking to get involved are welcome to! Feel free to comment on the blog or email me directly at [email protected]. [Those interested in seeing the details of the plan are welcome to contact me directly for a copy.]

Enjoy the remaining weeks of summer, knowing that upon your return the work of ensuring our children a safe and nurturing environment to learn, to explore and to grow has already begun.

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo: What one Jewish Day School Head learned on his Disney vacation

Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo from the Disney film, Cinderella, 1950. Copyright Disney.

Lyrics:

Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put ’em together and what have you got
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
It’ll do magic believe it or not

I do believe it.

I spent the majority of the last week with my family on a Disney cruise. (My poor children were crushed on our first night back home to discover that no one had created elaborate towel animals on their beds or left chocolates on their pillows!) We have cruised a bit in the past, but a “Disney cruise” is a completely different creature. Disney is not messing around – no one takes customer service more seriously. As the days moved on and memories piled up one on top of the next, like any good reflective practitioner, it occurred to me that it would be worth reflecting on what lessons might Disney have to offer me in my (not-with-mouse-ears) Jewish Day School Head’s hat.

Let me begin by stating clearly that I am hardly the first or best one to think about this question. I am most familiar with my former American Jewish University (then University of Judaism) professor, Dr. Ron Wolfson’s work in this arena. He is well-known for bringing students to Disneyland for a firsthand taste followed by reflection and application. [Click here for a brief article about Dr. Wolfson’s work and here for his book, “The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation Into a Sacred Community”, where he shares his work in this area.] I am not sure how much I can add to the conversation, but when in Disney…

Cleanliness is next to Princess-liness

I have never seen a cruise ship, or even a large room, as meticulously groomed as the Disney Dream. Whether they were soaking up moisture on the pool deck in order to avoid slipping or polishing the brass railings at 11:30 at night, someone was always cleaning up something somewhere at sometime. Details are important and appearance does matter. Students are not employees, I realize, but I would like to see our student body take more pride in our school’s appearance. It doesn’t matter who you are or what role you play in the organization – caring about picking up litter, taking an extra half-second to clean your shoes on the way inside, not standing by while someone else damages property – pride shows through.

Everyone is a Greeter

This comes straight from Dr. Wolfson’s work – it is a core Disney principle that each employee understands that they are a “greeter” first. For our school to truly embrace a “spirituality of welcoming” each student, teacher, parent, staff person, etc., would recognize that they have a responsibility to make everyone else feel welcome in our school. It extends well beyond greeting a stranger – imagine how much closer we would be towards becoming a true Community of Kindness (here, here and here) if we treated each other as someone deserving of the feeling of being truly welcome. Older students looking out for younger students. Teachers looking out for parents. Parents looking out for teachers. What struck me on the cruise is how clearly this cut across hierarchical lines – the maintenance person swabbing the deck and the captain of the dining room treated each of my daughters like true princesses. [Insert gratuitous photo here.]

Time is of the Essence

There is not a minute of wasted time on a Disney cruise. They have constructed a schedule to allow for a maximal experience. We certainly know the challenges of doing the same in a Jewish day school! I am finishing up presently a revised schedule for our Lower School and it has taken hours and hours and still isn’t quite ready. [Spoiler Alert! It will for the first time make transparent hours of instruction dedicated to each subject. I think it will be a most positive surprise.] It is a worthy goal to make each moment of our Jewish day school be filled with maximum meaning.

Personal Navigation

This may be my favorite one (and one that I will likely think the most deeply about in the weeks to come). The Disney cruise line calls their daily schedule a “personal navigator” and I don’t think it is simply a matter of semantics. They create a schedule which allows each customer to clearly identify which activities create the most meaning – activities for each demographic, activities for different lifestyles, activities that bridge and activities that winnow, etc. We would sit down as a family each evening to plan out the next day, factoring in the interests and abilities of our complete family – the four of us plus my wife’s father and wife. The schedule was our invitation to take responsibility for meaning-making.

I talk a lot in my work about how the truest reflections of a school’s values can be found in two places – the budget and the schedule. If you want to know what a school really believes to be important you need not go any farther than how it chooses to spend its money and its time.

As we continue to walk down the common paths of differentiation and 21st century learning, the answer to the question posed in Alan November’s new book “Who Owns the Learning?” is obvious: The Student. If the student owns the learning, how does that impact what we teach, how we teach, when we teach, etc?

What would it mean to organize learning by the paradigm of personal navigation?

I hate to mix metaphors on a Friday afternoon, but as one moves from student to teacher to principal, one peeks behind the curtain and realizes that the Wizard is simply a person like anyone else. Similarly as to how one moves from camper to counselor to rosh at summer camp and one realizes how the magic is made. But it doesn’t make the experience any less magical for the student or the camper just because there was a science behind the magic-making. My daughters’ experience of the Disney Dream was magical even if I know how they did it.

I realize that creating a culture at our school that embraces these ideas will be harder than singing “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo”. But if we could achieve them? Well that would be some real magic.

The Transparency Files: Introducing the 2012-2013 MJGDS Faculty!

It is hard to believe that we are already in the last week of school! Graduation was this morning at 10:30 AM, the last day is tomorrow, and for teachers summer begins next week!

Just as last year, we want to follow up conversations about standardized test results (here), annual parent surveys (here) and my own self-evalaution (here) with announcing as much as we can about who the primary people will be charged to take that data and make the next year even better than this one – the 2012-2013 MJGDS Faculty & Staff.

Before I provide the list, I want to highlight four things:

We have a few more openings than I typically have heading into summer. We are still searching for a (second) Middle School Math Teacher, a Kindergarten Assistant, a First Grade Assistant, and a Fourth Grade Assistant. I have been collecting resumes and have begun the process of conducting interviews. I hope all four positions are secured in the upcoming weeks. However, we shall not rush. Each position is important and due diligence shall be taken.
All Grades in K-5 will be redoing their schedules so as to delineate dedicated instructional time for each General Studies topic: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. Those schedules will be published when complete. In addition, Mrs. Jo-Ann Kagan will be taking on Science instruction in Grades Three-Five. We feel this level of specificity and engagement is necessary to ensure we are providing the highest quality Science program possible.
We will be making an additional exciting change to our Fourth & Fifth Grade Program for 2012-2013. Mrs. Stephanie Teitelbaum will remain the Fourth Grade General Studies Homeroom Teacher and Mrs. Shelly Zavon will remain the Fifth Grade General Studies Teacher. But in a move to create a more successful bridge between the Lower & Middle Schools, and to benefit from “looping” and “departmentalization” beginning next year, Mrs. Teitelbaum will teach Language Arts for Grades 4 & 5 and Mrs. Zavon will teach Mathematics and Social Studies for Grades 4 & 5. [NOTE: We are not combining classes nor team-teaching.] Studies prove that the first quarter of each school year is lost while teachers “learn” their students—assessing their academic levels, evaluating their behavior, figuring out how to motivate, etc. By looping—rotating students from one specialized teacher and class to the next–students and teachers bypass wasted time and are instead able to better focus and be focused on. With Looping, students in Grades 4 & 5 have the same Mathematics, Language Arts, and Science teachers across two school years providing greater consistency and understanding for both student and teacher. This form of specialization called departmentalization allows each teacher to instruct to their own passions and strengths. Student’s benefit from each teacher’s talents and subject specialization maximizes individualized instruction. What’s more, subject specialization lends itself to clearer and more frequent assessments. Parents will better understand where their child is in a subject and be able to more closely monitor their progress. Looping and departmentalization are designed to work in tandem to accomplish more—more focus, more understanding, and more learning—and all in the same amount of time. We are very excited about this change for next year!
We have two new fabulous teachers to introduce!

Introducing our new First Grade General Studies Teacher, Ms. Pamela Lewis! Ms. Lewis is a former MJGDS student and current JJC Camp KiTov CIT Director. Ms. Lewis is graduating this year from the University of North Florida and comes to us with glowing recommendations from all her student teaching assignments. She wowed us during her interviews and model lesson with her energy, ideas and positive attitude. We are pleased to welcome her back home to MJGDS and look forward to her having a long, successful career on our faculty.
Introducing our new Third Grade General Studies Teacher, Mr. Seth Carpenter! Mr. Carpenter has his Masters from the University of Pittsburgh and has taught successfully in St. Johns County and in Pittsburgh, PA. He and his wife are the proud parents of two, including an incoming MJGDS Kindergartner! In addition to his teaching experience, he also brings a love and talent for the arts that comes from his experience as a professional actor and artist with the Cirque du Soleil. We are looking forward to Mr. Carpenter’s energy and creativity for years to come!

And now without further adieu, the 2012-2013 MJGDS Faculty & Staff:

Lower School General Studies Faculty

Kindergarten: Mrs. Arlene Yegelwel & (A second teacher to be hired soon!)
First Grade: Ms. Pamela Lewis & (A second teacher to be hired soon!)
Second Grade: Ms. Amy Stein & Mrs. Shannon McVearry
Third Grade: Mr. Seth Carpenter & Mrs. Carla Bernard
Fourth Grade: Mrs. Stephanie Teitelbaum & (A second teacher to be hired soon!)
Fifth Grade: Mrs. Shelly Zavon

Lower School Jewish Studies Faculty

Kitah Gan: Morah Edith (Ita) Horovitz & Morah Mazal Spalter
Kitah Alef: Morah Robin (Rachel) Morris & Morah Hannah Bendit
Kitah Bet: Morah Rivka Cohen
Kitah Gimmel: Morah Liat Walker & Morah Mazal Spalter
Kitah Dalet: Morah Rivka Cohen
Kitah Hay: Morah Liat Walker

Kitah Bet-Gimmel Resource Teacher: Morah Rivkah Ohayon
Kitah Dalet-Hay Resource Teacher: Morah Mazal Spalter

Middle School Faculty

Science: Mrs. Susan Burkhart
Social Studies: Mrs. Judy Reppert
Language Arts: Mrs. Deb Kuhr
Middle School Mathematics: Mrs. Lauren Resnick & (A second teacher to be named soon!)
Hebrew & Rabbinics: Morah Rivka Ohayon
Hebrew & Mitzvot: Morah Edith (Ita) Horovitz
Hebrew & Bible: Rabbi Jesse Olitzky
Rabbinics: Rabbi Jonathan Lubliner

Resource Teachers

Music: Mrs. Jeanine Hoff
Art: Mrs. Shana Gutterman
PE: Coach Jared Goldman
Jewish Music & Tefillah: Hazzan Jesse Holzer

21st Century Learning Team

Director of Teaching & Learning: Mrs. Andrea Hernandez
21st Century Learning Specialist: Mrs. Silvia Tolisano
Library & Media Specialist: Mrs. Karin Hallett
Academic Resource Specialist: Mrs. Jo-Ann Kagan
Technology Coordinator: Mrs. Kim Glasgal

MJGDS Administrative Team

Administrative Assistant: Mrs. Jessie Roman
Executive Assistant: Mrs. Robyn Waring
Admissions & Marketing Director: Mrs. Talie Zaifert
Middle School Vice-Principal: Mrs. Edith Horovitz
Head of School: Dr. Jon Mitzmacher

I will provide updates to our staffing as it becomes final and, of course, remain always available for questions or concerns. It has been a remarkable 50th anniversary year at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School. Next year, we kick off another amazing half-century!

MJGDS 50th Anniversary Speech

What a magical evening last night was!

I was asked if I would publish my remarks and it is, of course, my pleasure to do so.

50^th Anniversary Gala Speech

I come before you this evening with unbridled gratitude and extreme humility. I am in but my second year and I stand on the shoulders of giants like Marilyn Sandler, Willard Kennedy and Carole Goldberg who are with us tonight for this extraordinary evening. It is but a quirk of the calendar that brings me to the dais as head of this special school during its 50^th anniversary year. Without their monumental gifts of talent, time and love, this milestone could not have been reached. I may be the one standing on stage tonight, but they are the ones who built it.

What a true blessing this weekend has been! The anniversary was 50 years in the making; the planning for it has been almost a full year. We have and will continue to thank the volunteers and staff who dedicated untold hours of care so we could celebrate this historic event in the life of our school, our synagogue, and our Jewish community. I would like to take the prerogative of the moment, however, to add my personal appreciation for a person for whom no words of praise are sufficient. Mauri Mizrahi has been my rock and my partner these last two years and never has a lay leader worked or cared so much. No one, except maybe Alan, will ever know how much effort and energy she has given to guarantee that the beginning of the next fifty years of our school will match, if not exceed, the fifty glorious years we are honoring tonight.

We have spent a weekend reliving and celebrating the past and the present. And as we have seen tonight, there is much to be proud of. Our alumni’s achievements astound; our volunteers’ passion unmatched; and our faculty’s love unrivaled. And as twenty-one schools and fourteen agencies validated this past weekend at edJEWcon, our present is fulfilling the promise of our past. But this is not merely a celebration of and for the Day School. This is an achievement that required the vision and courage of a synagogue to found a Jewish day school in Jacksonville, Florida. This is a moment only reached because of a Jewish community that continues to believe in the power of Jewish education. This is a dream fulfilled because of the support of a generous and forward-thinking Jewish Federation. Our hearts overflow with the outpouring of support this anniversary has generated.

And we are not merely celebrating the past this evening. We are ensuring the future. And it will be a future filled with academic achievement and passion for Judaism for our Day School and for all the schools of the Jacksonville Jewish Center. And it begins with a story…

Samuel and Esther Galinsky were, by all accounts, modest and unassuming members of our synagogue. They participated in synagogue life and were respected members of the congregation. They cared about Jewish education, but had no children of their own. They were, in many ways, like any other couple. When they died, their friends mourned their passing. And that should be the end of the story. But it isn’t. Because this ordinary couple did something extraordinary. With no fanfare and no notice, Samuel and Esther Galinsky left the Jacksonville Jewish Center amongst the most significant gifts it has ever received – $3 million. And it was given for one purpose – this childless couple gave their fortune to ensure that Jewish children would be able to have a Jewish education. Has there even been a more selfless gift? Have any people ever more embodied the idea of L’dor V’dor?

And so it is in the spirit of this gift – of that remarkable couple – that we officially announce the creation of what will forever now be known as “Galinsky Academy”.

[Reveal model.]

Galinsky Academy declares our intent to live up to the charge the Galinsky’s have given us – to provide Jewish children of all ages the highest quality education possible. Galinsky Academy consists of all the schools of the Jacksonville Jewish Center – our Preschool, the Bernard & Alice Selevan Religious School, the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, and Makom Hebrew High. It represents our commitment that all of our children – regardless of the path their parents choose – will benefit from the finest teachers, an engaged clergy, the highest-quality curriculum, and the most cutting-edge technology. Galinsky Academy will be a 21^st century learning organization like no other. No artificial boundaries. No territories. No excuses.

Tonight we set the course towards the future. Just as those pioneers fifty years ago bravely created a day school in spite of the obstacles, we tonight create an academy unlike any that has ever been created before. We will walk in our founders’ footsteps and dream in big and bold colors. And like them, we will need the ongoing support of our community to make those dreams come true. We have surpassed our wildest dreams in this magical year in terms of fundraising, but let no one think the work of funding Jewish education is done or even on hold. We continue to live in difficult economic times. L’dor V’dor becomes our Academy’s most important annual fund and we hope you will be inspired to continue to support this fund each year as a key component to sustaining the future of all our schools.

Finally, this evening, I have the pleasure of one more special announcement. In the spirit of the Galinsky Academy, the Bernard and Alice Selevan Religious School, and the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, another family has stepped forward to do their part to ensure that each child in the Academy will begin their educational journey on the right foot.

[Reveal label.]

I welcome you to the new DuBow Preschool. Children in the DuBow Preschool will spend their early years in a state-of-the art facility and will experience a world-class preschool education. They will be set on a path towards academic excellence and Jewish identification. Our appreciation to the DuBow Family is limitless – the gift they have given the children of our community is priceless.

The gift they have given is also unique – it marks the first gift endowed to Galinksy Academy. It will not only benefit our preschool, but all the schools of the academy. We are confident that this will be the first of many Academy-endowed gifts that will allow our schools to deliver on our promises and inspire our children to be their best.

And so tonight we pause to shed naches at what was and to prepare for what will be. As it says in the Mishnah: “Lo alecha ha’mlacha legmor…” – “It is not incumbent on you to finish the work, neither are you free to exempt yourself from it.” (Mishnah: Avot, 2.16). As the proud head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and the first head of the Galinsky Academy, I am inspired to do my part – with you – to carry this dream forward into the next fifty years.

Thank you.

Nine Days

I was going to try to get out with another “too busy to blog” tweets (like I did last week), but I have, in fact, spent a good chunk of my day editing the premiere of “Jon’s 2nd #NoOfficeDay with a #PrincipalStudentSwap” movie! Yes, I am three weeks behind, but it was now or never. It is still a bit rawer than I would like (and longer), but I still prefer the “now” to the “never”.

I blogged the background to the video, here. It ends, perhaps, the first chapter in our “Community of Kindness” conversation that I have blogged about here, here, and here. My swap partner, Shoshana H., is still working on her version of the day, and you can check out her blog, here, for updates.

It was a wonderful experience to not only get out of my office (you can read the blog and see the movie of my first #NoOfficeDay, here), but to live life for a day like one of our students. I think the students enjoyed it as well. I’m not sure I’ll be able to squeeze in a third this year, but our students know that if they create their own two-minute “Community of Kindness” videos, they are liable to earn themselves a good ol’ swap!

So, without further adieu, I present “Jon’s 2nd #NoOfficeDay with a #PrincipalStudentSwap”:

The next nine days will be among the most amazing, exciting, enjoyable, moving and monumental in our school’s history. Sunday begins edJEWcon 5772.0 and later that week we begin celebrating our 50th Anniversary! I will blog about them both in the weeks to come. And if that wasn’t enough, in our final weeks I still need to blog about:

Our Annual Parent Survey
Our Annual Faculty Survey
Our ITBS Results
Big Plans for the Future!

It is going to be quite a ride during these final weeks to the school year!

The Transparency Files: Re-accreditation

This has been yet another action-packed week at MJGDS!

We had all our Model Seders this week and closed out with Parent-Teacher Conferences.

But in between, as you may recall from this blog post, here, I spent one day this week engaged in my second “No Office Day” – but this one had a twist. It was a “Principal-Student Swap”! I switched places with Shoshana H. who created and posted her own 2-minute Community of Kindness video on her blog post, here. It will take me until after Passover Break to edit my video into a “movie”, but you can get a taste of it by checking out a bit of the raw video:

I look forward to editing the video and doing a reflection on the experience as my next blog post. And Shoshana will be doing the same on hers.

This post will hopefully be the first in a series of “Transparency Files” that will likely take me through the rest of the school year. This is the season that we learn lots of important information about our school…and in the spirit of transparency we try to share that information with our stakeholders. We currently have annual Faculty and Parent Surveys being filled out and returned. I look forward to sharing those results when they are ready. I also look forward to sharing the results of our standardized tests when they come back. We did last year (here, here and here) and we will do so each year. It is part of our pledge of transparency. We always have room to grow and to learn.

Speaking of which…we finally received our FCIS (Florida Council of Independent Schools) preliminary report! (The final draft will go to the June FCIS Board Meeting for approval.) I wanted to use this opportunity, while we are still in session, to share the commendations and recommendations we learned from FCIS. (When the final report comes in, I may make sections of it available on our website.) It was a very affirming experience for all involved. It reinforced our strengths and gave us concrete steps towards improving our deficits. I look forward to building upon the commendations and acting upon the recommendations in the months and years ahead. What follows is taken directly from the report:

Florida Council of Independent Schools

Florida Kindergarten Council

Evaluation for Martin J. Gottlieb Day School

March 11-13, 2012

Executive Summary

The Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and the Jacksonville Jewish Center Preschool are integral programs of the Jacksonville Jewish Center, a conservative Jewish community with nearly two thousand members. The educational programs of the Synagogue have operated independently, but will soon be unified under the leadership of the current Head of School of Martin J. Gottlieb, who will report to the Educational Cabinet of the Jacksonville Jewish Center. The chair of the Educational Cabinet serves as the Vice President of Education on the Board of Directors of the Synagogue.

Responsibilities for the physical plant, maintenance, finances, food service, and security are all the responsibility of the Executive Director of the Synagogue, while all religious matters are the responsibility of the Senior Rabbi. Both the Preschool and The Day School have experienced declining enrollments, but due to energized leadership and excitement with the 21^st century learning initiative, enrollment has stabilized and projections for 2012-13 call for a slight increase. The FCIS-FKC evaluation was postponed by one year due to a change in leadership at Martin J. Gottlieb.

SCHOOL HISTORY AND MISSION

DESCRIPTION: The Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and the Jacksonville Jewish Center Preschool are affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The Preschool was founded in 1942 and the Day school began operation in 1961. In 2012-13, 69 students are enrolled in the Preschool and 125 students attend the Day School. The Mission of the Preschool is “to provide a superior program that meets the social, physical, ethnic, and academic needs of each child. The Preschool’s foundation is built upon a philosophy of hands-on learning while providing an atmosphere that instills confidence, acceptance, self-worth, and character development.” The Mission of Martin J. Gottlieb Day School states, “We are committed to providing a caring, supportive community in which each student can grow academically, emotionally, socially, and physically. The students are presented with a philosophy of life based upon the values and concerns embodied in Conservative Judaism, stressing social action and social responsibility.”

ACADEMIC ORGANIZATION, FACULTY, AND ADMINISTRATION

COMMENDATIONS:

The school has identified a clear need to streamline the organizational leadership structure for the three separate schools at the Jacksonville Jewish Center, and as such, have developed a task force to strategically develop a plan to make the necessary and appropriate changes.
The Gottlieb Day School has brought on quality professional senior administrators to lead the school in its current time of transition.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

It is recommended that the elementary school teachers meet as a group more often than once monthly.
With the “merger” of the existing schools, and in particular in the case of the Gottlieb Day School and the Preschool, it is essential that a greater parity of faculty salaries be established.

FACULTY TEACHING CONDITIONS AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

COMMENDATIONS:

Teachers feel supported by the Head of School and report that he is working to increase hours and improve benefits.
General Education and Judaic Studies teachers are to be commended for their commitment to planning interdisciplinary units for students.
Ongoing Professional Development opportunities are made available to teachers and teaching assistants.
The Faculty Ning has provided teachers with a method to evaluate, assess, and reflect on their lesson plans.
The 21st Century Learning Team provides on-going coaching and support while authentically integrating educational technology into academic areas.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The administration should continue to work to improve the “benefits package” available for teachers.
The administration must structure a plan which makes an adjustment to teacher salaries so that pay is equitable across all divisions.

STUDENT DISCIPLINE AND MORALE

COMMENDATIONS:

The overall morale of students in both the Preschool and Day School is positive as students readily display cheerful and content attitudes in classrooms and about campus.
Students are respectful and courteous to each other, school personnel, and visitors.
The faculty and staff of the Preschool and Day School are dedicated professionals who strive to make the academic, behavioral, emotional, and religious needs of the students a top priority. This is reflected in the positive interactions between students as well as between students and the faculty/staff.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Continue to provide and expand lessons that teach students appropriate ways to handle difficult situations while treating each other in a kind and respectful manner.
Continue the practice of helping others through service projects in the larger community.
Continue the strong focus on Jewish values, which will continually foster the nurturing environment already established throughout the school.

STUDENT ADMISSIONS AND QUALIFICATIONS

COMMENDATIONS:

The Admissions Director is an extremely beneficial position for the success of the school. With declining enrollment over the previous five years, the school hopefully has an opportunity to reverse this trend.
The Day School offers a generous financial assistance program that enables more families to attend the school.
An inviting website has been developed to introduce prospective families to The Day School.
The school has sponsored several programs to secure a more visible presence for the school in the community.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

With the acceptance of the McKay Scholarship, The Day School should examine the special needs they are able to accommodate within their school setting. The administration needs to develop a program with appropriate staffing that will enable these students to be successful.
Attention should be given to developing more comprehensive standard entrance assessments for grades 1-8.

ACADEMIC PROGRAM

COMMENDATIONS:

Benchmarks and standards have been created across all grade levels to ensure integrity of the academic program.
The Lower School has added the Singapore Math Program in kindergarten through fifth grade to ensure acquisition of foundational and fundamental math skills.
The creation of blogfolios for lower school students demonstrates the authentic integration of technology tools into the curriculum.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Implement an academic support process for students who do not have prior instruction in Singapore Math to facilitate a smooth transition into the math program.
More attention needs to be given to curriculum development and scheduling in Social Studies and Science.
Block scheduling may increase the ability of teachers to meet the needs of all learners.

COMMENDATIONS:

The students in the Middle School seem happy and engaged in their own education.
The 21^st Century Learning community has created an environment of cutting edge education at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School.
Each student has developed a blogfolio that is an important component of a student’s assessment.
Small classes enable the Middle School teachers to truly differentiate their curriculum.
The Middle School students have taken ownership of their spiritual learning by leading the Tefillah (prayer service).
The Mitzvah Program, on Friday mornings, enables the students to volunteer in the greater Jacksonville community.
The math curriculum allows students to advance into courses that enable them to receive high school credit.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The PE department should consider expanding their afterschool sports program to increase student participation and include 5^th grade students on their teams.
The Middle School Vice-Principal wears many hats within the school community. The school should consider additional support for this position.

LIBRARY/MEDIA CENTER

COMMENDATIONS:

The media center is an inviting space that supports student learning through various means including an extensive book collection and electronic resources.
The media specialist is very knowledgeable in the area of 21st Century learning and is instrumental in encouraging students and teachers in gaining knowledge pertaining to information literacies.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Continue to budget for and purchase additional electronic and book collections, especially nonfiction titles.
Encourage volunteerism in the media center to assist the media specialist in the updating of the card catalog and the assessment of the current collection.

TECHNOLOGY

COMMENDATIONS:

The administration, faculty and staff are commended for their understanding of 21st Century literacies and the implementation of a school-wide initiative to ensure that technology is embedded into the curriculum as tools for students.
The interdisciplinary use of technology and digital media such as that used in the art program enhances and supplements classroom instruction in a meaningful way.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

The Technology Plan needs to be rewritten and updated to support the school’s mission and philosophy.

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AND ATHLETIC PROGRAM

COMMENDATIONS:

It is clear that the school has embraced its new mascot (pictured on campus murals, spirit wear, and other school paraphernalia). Campus spirit and pride are positive across the broad spectrum of stakeholders (students, alumni, faculty, and staff).
The ability to develop a Middle School inter-scholastic girls’ volleyball team after only one year is commended.
Having a new perspective on the objectives of the Knesset and how the students are elected, function, and pursue their purpose is now recognizably in line with the school’s overall philosophy and mission.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Given the wonderful resources present at the current facilities, it is recommended that attention be given to the outdoor basketball and tennis courts in order to provide safe spaces for additional after-school athletic options.
Consideration should be given to creating a developmental sports team this spring, which could engage the students now and provide them the confidence to be ready to compete in that sport next year.

SPECIAL COMMENDATIONS

The Jacksonville Jewish Center is commended for developing a new governance model for its educational divisions. The Galinsky Academy will unify the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, the Jewish Center Preschool, and the JJC Religious School under one administrative structure. The visiting team believes that this will increase efficiencies, improve the transition between divisions and better utilize staff and facilities.
The 21st Century Learning model is transforming teaching and learning in the school. Evidence of this is particularly noteworthy in the blogging program as a vehicle for improving analytical writing skills. Furthermore, the program is expanding global awareness and increasing depth of understanding of complex issues.
It is evident to the Visiting Committee that a strong spirit of community is present in the faculty, students, and parents of the Jewish Center Schools. The personal relationships between the members of the community are supportive and represent strong alignment with the mission of the schools.
The school facilities are clean, well maintained and attractive. Commendations are specially noted for the new Preschool Garden, the wall murals, and the colorful decorations in the hallways and classrooms.
Faced with declining enrollment, the Day School is commended for hiring a full-time admission and marketing director. An important challenge for 2012-13 will be to update and revise publications, materials, and the web site to reflect the new Galinsky Academy structure.
The Director of the Preschool, Head of School and the Vice-President of the Education Community are commended for effective leadership during a time of change and challenge for both schools. All three are committed to the Mission of the School and are dedicated to furthering its advancement.
The faculty in both the Preschool and the Day School are commended for their exemplary professional development. Of particular note are their regular communication and sharing through the NING website, the extensive use of outside speakers and the time devoted in faculty meetings to presentations by professionals who work here.

SPECIAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Combine elements of the Strategic Plans developed by the Preschool and the Day School into a comprehensive plan for the Galinsky Academy that outlines the steps required to fulfill the vision for the new school.
Continue to implement the 21st Century Learning Principles throughout the school by offering professional development, mentorship, and providing adequate funding.
Clearly articulate the parameters for admission and the support necessary to admit and accommodate special needs students into the Martin J. Gottlieb Day program.
Explore additional ways to increase enrollment and retention, including developing partnerships with other Jewish institutions (JCA), communicating regularly with alumni, and marketing effectively through Jewish publications.
Finalize and approve all elements of the Galinsky Academy governance structure including the revised organizational chart, the Governing Principles, committee responsibilities, and job descriptions.
Complete the renovation and remodeling of the Preschool and the second floor of the Day School facility while upgrading the technology to support the 21st century learning model, as needed.

If you made it this far in the blog…congratulations! I know it was a lot (and there was plenty more I did not include), but we want to put as much out there as we can. This was my very first experience with accreditation; it was a tremendous learning experience for me and for our team. We feel good about where we are and have a roadmap to being somewhere even better quickly.

From my family to yours…Chag Pesach Kasher v’Sameach!

Taking #NoOfficeDay to the next level…get ready for a #PrincipalStudentSwap

It has been a tremendously exciting couple of weeks!

I had hoped last week to blog about our successful FCIS (Florida Council of Independent Schools) Five-Year Re-Accreditation visit, which took place on March 12th & 13th, but the week got away from me. ‘Tis the busy season, what with standardized testing, re-enrollments, report cards, parent-teacher conferences and model seders to squeeze in before Passover Break. And I am still going to save that blog post for a later date because I would like to be able to quote and share parts of it with you.

Spoiler Alert.

We came through with flying colors! We have only a very few number of record-keeping issues to clean up and we should have our first-ever “clean report”! In fact, two areas that the school was flagged for during our last evaluation have been transformed from “violations” to “commendations”. The first was in the area of professional development. The second, which should serve as an inspiration to all those schools still fretting about taking first 21st century steps, is to know that six years ago the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School was flagged for being a technological wasteland. Yes, the school that will bring to the field next month edJEWcon – the first significant conference on 21st century learning and Jewish day school – was, just six years ago so far behind in technology that it constituted a violation. Speaking of edJEWcon, anyone within shouting distance of Jacksonville is invited to hear our major keynote:

But more on FCIS accreditation and edJEWcon in upcoming posts.

I want to focus this blog post on linking together two great initiatives from this year into one brand-new idea.

On Wednesday, March 4th, I will be taking “No Office Day” to the next level by officially swapping places with Shoshana H. in Grade Five. Shoshana will be “Principal for a Day” and I will be “Student for a Day”.

What did Shoshana H. do to earn this reward? She created our first student-made, 2-minute “Community of Kindness” video, called “Being Nice”.

You can tell her what a great job she did yourself, by visiting and commenting on her blog, here. (Please do.)

Now it was her idea to be “Principal for a Day”, not mine. But since it has been so long since my last (and only) “No Office Day” this seemed like a great opportunity to tie some threads together. The purpose of having regular “No Office Days” is to get principals unchained from their computers, untethered from their meetings, unleashed from their desks and out into classrooms. [You can click here for my original blog on the idea and here for my blog on the experience itself.]

Here is what Shoshana and I have worked out so far for our swap:

She will come dressed as principal; I will come dressed in uniform.
She will greet families at the door; I will be on Safety Patrol.
She will visit classrooms during the day; I will be in Grade Five.
She will join me at our weekly Staff Meeting.
She will lead Grade One Tefillah (one of my regular duties).

We will both wield Flip cameras to document our days in each other shoes and will both blog about our experiences, including our video diaries.

So in one fail swoop, I get to reward a student for taking the initiative in helping our school develop its Community of Kindness AND experience a twist on No Office Day.

Talk about a win-win!