How We Spent Your Summer Vacation

Greetings from (my) home office!

Hopefully your summer has had lots of views like this one and that whatever your goals were for the summer – professional development, vacation, relaxation, rejuvenation, reconnection, spending time with family, etc. – you accomplished them and more.

As August heads towards September and our earliest schools have already begun to welcome teachers and parents back to school, we continue to follow events in our beloved Israel with acute concern and sadness.  I have been monitoring the many blog posts, Facebook messages, tweets and constant contacts you have been sending to your local stakeholders and am proud of how our network of schools continues to stand proudly with Israel.

We have a team of professionals and lay leaders enthusiastic about the future of Schechter and as we head into another school year, we look forward to inspiring you to feel the same. They say that “kol hatkhalot kashot” – but not at the new Schechter!  We are full speed ahead in furthering our programmatic agenda – to deliver resources to our members schools, to listen and learn from you about how we can do both more and better, and to contribute to the success of the field as a whole.

Here is how we spent your summer vacation:

Summer 2014 Update

Programming: Connecting the Schools

Coaching

Experienced former Schechter heads of school provided high-level coaching and expertise to school leadership, addressing critical issues in each school.

• Successfully implemented in 12 schools throughout the country.
• Schools reported that they received incredible value from the coaches.
• FY 15: We will continue to implement this program, providing services to new schools.

Eduplanet21

A virtual platform for Schechter schools that connects schools to high quality professional development as well as to other schools.

• Unveiled the platform to the schools in March, 2014.
• 103 educators have signed on to this platform.
• Hired Silvia Tolisano to oversee creating content and building communities of practice.
• FY 15: We will upload additional courses and recruit more educators to join the site. Eduplanet21 will also be utilized post-edJEWcon, providing a platform to deepen the connections made in person.

Programming: Developing Leadership & Professional Practice

edJEWcon

Partner with local institutions to create a regional conference focused on 21^st century learning, with content shaped by local needs and with local input

• Expanded to new geographic regions, Los Angeles and Miami, bringing together over 30 schools and approximately 200 educators who represent the full spectrum of Jewish day schools.
• Planning underway for edJEWcon Cleveland in fall 2014.
• Hired Andrea Hernandez to oversee growth of programming, partnering with new communities and customizing the experience for local institutions.
• FY 15: We will expand the program to three new communities.

iJED

A three-day conference held in March 2014

• Convened over 500 educators and lay leaders.
• Discussions focused on 21^st century learning, financial sustainability, and supporting diverse learners.
• FY 15: The North American Day School Conference will take place in Philadelphia in March, 2015.

Machon Hadar Summer Institute

An immersive study experience for Jewish studies faculty in June 2014, designed to inspire their own continued study as well as to consider ways of bringing elements of this experience back to their own schools.

• Brought together 15 middle and high school Jewish Studies faculty.
• Evaluations showed extremely positive experiences.
• FY 15: Plans are underway to secure funding for the next 2 cycles of this program.

Capacity Building

Development

• First Development Director started April 1.

o   A work plan, training, and introductions to the board chair and other board members were completed by June 30.

• Created a fundraising plan for FY 15 as well as internal systems to track progress.
• Established new relationships with five foundations, and deepened relationship with three more.

o   Invited to submit proposals for three foundations, one of which has been submitted and the other two to be completed by end of August.

Governance

• Established 501c3 status

Board of Trustees

• Installed new board Chair (Dara Yanowitz).
• Recruited four new board members for FY 14 and a fifth joined as of July 1 for FY 15.
• Finished governance documents and in process of finishing by-laws

Advisory Board

• Held first meeting in May.

Leadership and Staffing

• In FY 14, hired five positions: Associate Director (who served in FY 14 as Interim Executive Director); Senior Advisor, Planning and Programming; Network Liaison; Development Consultant; Development Director (noted above).
• Executive Director stepped into role full-time as of July 1.
• Held successful first staff retreat at Camp Ramah Nyack.

 

OK, yes, some of that started before summer, but most of it didn’t and all of it reflects our newfound capacity, programming, enthusiasm and dreams for our schools and the field!

And to put a bow on summer, let me take this opportunity to formally welcome the Jewish Montessori Network of schools into our Schechter family and to express how much we look forward to what this new collaboration will bring to our schools.  (And based on the press this announcement continues to generate, we are not the only ones!)  Brukhim Ha’Ba-im!

Finally, please know that it is both a personal and a team goal that we visit in person as many of our schools as possible in the year ahead, with an overall goal of having a Schechter professional at each SDSN school within the next two years.  We can use your help in accomplishing this goal by letting us know about important dates, galas, events, programs, etc., coming up in your school and community.  If a personal visit makes sense, we’d love to build our travel agenda around such moments of joy and significance.  We encourage you to be in the habit of sending us copies of announcements and invitations so we can share the good news and kvell along with you in these important moments in the lives of our schools.

For those of you whose summer is continuing, we wish you relaxation and rejuvenation. For those of you whose summer is beginning to end, we wish you joy and fulfillment as you welcome back teachers, staff, parents and teachers. It is going to be an amazing year…we are proud to share it with you.