With all the unpredictability of yet another pandemic year, the one thing that you can be sure of as the calendar turns to May and June, is that I will deliver you a series of “Transparency Files” blog posts! OJCS Parents have recently received their link to our Annual Parent Survey, and so I will again begin with a self-evaluation and will continue with the sharing of results of that survey, the results from our Annual Faculty Survey (which is shared directly with them) and will conclude with a discussion of next year and an introduction of the 2022-2023 OJCS Faculty. [If this year is more like last year, these posts will not follow week-by-week.]
We are in that “evaluation” time of year! As Head of School, I have the responsibility of performing an evaluation of staff and faculty each year. Fittingly, they have an opportunity to do the same of me. Our Annual Faculty Survey presents current teachers and staff with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback of my performance as Head of School. Our Annual Parent Survey presents current parents with an opportunity to do the same (as part of a much larger survey of school satisfaction). Please know that the full unedited results of both are sent onto the OJCS Board of Trustees Head Support & Evaluation Committee as part of their data collection for the execution of my annual performance review.
You are welcome to review last year’s self-evaluation post before moving onto this year’s. Unlike in prior years, I am going to skip the cutting-and-pasting from my goal-setting document and simply present to you a few big ideas that come from my “principal’s” bucket, and not as much from my “head of school’s” bucket (i.e. fundraising, marketing, budgeting, etc.).
…one of the big highlights of the year has been the successful (re)launch of Junior Kindergarten at OJCS! I wrote a long post in December that I encourage you check out if you want to know what makes JK at OJCS so unique and special. A year ago we had no teacher, no students and a program on paper – we now have a master teacher, a thriving class and a program that is we know is setting up our students for success in SK. We appreciate and respect that Jewish parents in Ottawa have choices, and our focus will be ensuring that we continue to offer a program that is unlike the others, aligned with our OJCS North Stars and best prepares students for elementary school. Want to know more or to secure your spot for 2022-2023? Please contact Jenn Greenberg ([email protected]) for a tour or registration materials.
…one of the biggest initiatives that we were able to “unpause” from COVID was the [soft] launch of our “Mitzvah Trips” for Middle School. Please follow this link for the details of this initiative. For this year, our students have collaborated on projects with Tamir and JFS and will be engaging with Hillel Lodge in the weeks to come. More important than what I believe about this work, here is what our students believe about this work:
“It feels good to help those in need.”
“We want to continue to make others feel happy.”
“It’s nice to know that we are actually using what we learn in Jewish Studies.”
Yes, it is. This is poised to be a game-changer for Middle School at OJCS.
…speaking of big initiatives that got “un-paused” this year? We finally were able to move forward with the (re)launch of our OJCS Makerspace [built with a gift from the Congregation Beth Shalom Legacy Fund]. Thanks to a generous grant by the Jewish Federation of Ottawa‘s Fund for Innovative Capacity Building, OJCS worked with Future Design School over the balance of this school year on a strategic makerspace consultancy. I shared the result of this work and its next steps in a blog post. The relaunch of the OJCS Makerspace will help move our school that much closer to our North Stars and make learning that much more motivating and engaging for our students. We can’t wait to see what our students invent and create!
…we held our CAIS (Canadian Association of Independent Schools) Accreditation Site Visit on May 11th! This was the first exciting step (although I guess doing all the preliminary paperwork was pretty “exciting”!) on our journey towards accreditation – both satisfying a longstanding strategic goal and, hopefully, helping parents in our community better understand how we fit into the private school landscape, as OJCS will – eventually – join Ashbury and Elmwood as the only CAIS Accredited schools in Ottawa. The accreditation team consisted of the Head of School and CFO from Ashbury and the Head of School of the Solomon Schechter Academy of Montreal. We held a full schedule of activities and look forward to their feedback.
What did not get done or what still needs work?
A lot!
First order of business will be carving out a new normal that prioritizes health and safety, resuming paused activities and deciding what from COVID-functioning (like continuing to make virtual options for Parent-Teacher Conferences or Generations Day available) should carry forward. We have learned so much as a school during these last three years and we are determined to come out stronger, wiser and better on the other side.
Second order of business will be reconnecting with our families and our community. We aspire to be more than a school, but we have had to restrict our access and our bandwidth during these years of scarcity due to COVID. What can we do differently next year? What should we do differently next year? What should PTA be and look like? What kinds of friend-raising activities could we or should we be facilitating or encouraging for OJCS parents? What kinds of Jewish experiences could we be promoting or providing for OJCS families?
Third order of business will be moving forward on our amazing $1.5 million reimagination of classrooms at OJCS thanks to an anonymous gift we received this year! We are pleased to share that we have now selected an architect firm – Figurr – and look forward to the exciting work ahead. The future of education in Ottawa really will be built right here at OJCS!
Those are just highlights.
If you have already contributed feedback through our surveys, thank you. [Remember the deadline for your feedback to be included in reporting is May 13th.] Your (additional and/or direct) feedback – whether shared publicly, privately through email or social media, or shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I tell our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job each year and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.
Please stay tuned for a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT that will surely warm the hearts of those who place high value on French language and a MAJOR UPDATE on the future of Jewish Studies. There is A LOT to be excited about as we prepare to take the next big steps forward at OJCS!
