Author: Jon Mitzmacher

Dr. Jon Mitzmacher is the Head of the Ottawa Jewish Community School. Jon is studying to be a rabbi at the Academy for Jewish Religion and is on the faculty of the Day School Leadership Training Institute (DSLTI) as a mentor. He was most recently the VP of Innovation for Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools. He is the former Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network. He is also the former head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, a K-8 Solomon Schechter, located in Jacksonville, FL, and part of the Jacksonville Jewish Center. He was the founding head of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Las Vegas. Jon has worked in all aspects of Jewish Education from camping to congregations and everything in between.

#What Matters Most

These are heady times for our school. The inevitable anxiety and excitement of the open enrollment period. The gathering rush of a 50th Anniversary weekend. The powerful reflection through impending re-accreditation. The tidal wave that is becoming edJEWcon.

I write a lot.

And when I do, I tend to use lots of words. This is not so very different from how I speak.

And I speak a lot.

A lot of my speaking comes with the position and some of it from my natural proclivity to be wordy. (Anyone familiar with this blog or with me is likely nodding their head.)

One side effect of producing so many words – and between conversations, emails, blogs, letters, etc. I put out into the universe a lot of words – is that you run the risk of losing the forest of what matters most through trees of verbiage.

The blogging platform lends itself to endless writing for those so inclined. One interesting (and almost poetic) byproduct of Twitter is that it forces a 140-character structure onto the writer. As someone who cannot text in anything less than complete words, sentences, proper capitalization, grammar, etc., Twitter becomes an exercise in self-discipline. I almost never get the first or second tweet to fit the space and I wind up having to edit and edit to get a thought down to its essence.

With two liminal rites of passage to celebrate this weekend (our annual Kindergarten Shabbat Service & Dinner on Friday and our First Grade Consecration on Shabbat) in the heart of all the planning for the major events to come, I want to take a moment and engage in what I hope will be a collaborative exercise. Beginning here, I am going to encourage y’all to express #WhatMattersMost about @MJGDS and @JewishDaySchool.

[I am putting it “Twitter-speak” both for those who already utilize Twitter AND to use Twitter to solicit responses. I am going to offer some of my own thoughts here. I am also going to tweet out the request. And I encourage you to add your own 140-character suggestions either on Twitter using the #WhatMattersMost OR as comments to this blog post. I will update the post with responses I receive (both from our school and the field) from Twitter.]

#WhatMattersMost @MJGDS from @Jon_Mitzmacher

Each child deserves a floor, but no ceiling…

No one will know your child better or work harder for their success than we will.

We may not get it right the first time, but we will partner with parents until we do.

The audience for student work was once the teacher; now it is the world.

21st Century Learning is not a slogan, it is a revolution.

The future of education is happening at a Jewish day school.

Having a child with special needs should never

preclude an inclusionary Jewish day school education.

A parent should never have to choose between the

best secular education and Jewish day school.

We are proud of our graduates, not because of what they

know and what they can do, but because of who they are.

Your turn!

Quality Comments

I spend about an hour each Friday morning commenting on our student’s blogfolios. Having begun last year with our Middle School, we now have active student blogfolios for students in Grades 3-8. [You can click here to access the ones for students in Grades 5-8.] I start at the beginning and make my way through as many as I can. During that hour, I can see which spelling words are being emphasized in a particular grade. I can see which kinds of writing forms and mechanics are being introduced. I learn which holidays (secular and Jewish) are being prepared for, celebrated or commemorated. I see samples of their best work across the curricula.

But what I enjoy seeing the most is the range of creativity and differentiation that expresses itself through their aesthetic design, the features they choose to include (and leave out), and the voluntary writing.

This is what we talk about when we focus (not obsessively!) on students’ ability to create meaningful work. It isn’t just about motivation – we can imagine that more easily. But when you look closer, it really is about doing their best work and reflecting about it. Look at how much time they spend editing. Look at how they share peer feedback, revise, collaborate, publish and reflect.

Seriously. Look at it. Take whatever time you would have spent reading my typically wordy and repetitive post and not only read one of their posts…post a comment! It brings them such joy…pick a few at random and make their day. Just click here and begin!

Transparency in the “Abstract”

I blogged here about what the impact of my successful completion of my Ed.D. from JTS might mean for my work as a practicing Head of School. What I did not do, at that time, is share my work. That is because although I had technically earned the degree with a successful defense of my dissertation, I was required to make “minor revisions”. Those revisions were made over Winter Break, submitted, and accepted. The dissertation is complete.

The final step in the process, is having that dissertation “published”. Doctoral dissertations are published through ProQuest/UMI Dissertation Publishing and when you submit your dissertation you are required to choose between “Traditional” and “Open” publication. “Traditional” means that only your abstract is available to read or download – anyone wishing to access the entire dissertation would need to pay. “Open” means that the entire dissertation is available for reading or download. Our school’s attitude towards transparency might lead you to conclude that I would have opted for “Open”. I did not.

I may change my mind, but because I am unsure as to whether or not I wish to see my research published in another form, I have opted – somewhat uncomfortably – for the “traditional” mode of publication. I write this with all due hubris; I am quite confident that there is no line of people awaiting my dissertation’s publication. And I am very aware of the mild hypocrisy involved with insisting my school’s “product” be completely open and transparent, but my own “product” reserved only for those who choose to pay. So, as I said…I might change my mind.

However, in honor of my dissertation’s official publication, I will post here, its abstract and offer anyone who might actually wish to read it, the opportunity to email me directly. I would be happy for anyone who might be interested in this topic to have a chance to take from it what value there is to be found.

Next week? Updates on edJEWcon 5772.0 and the results of our first-ever survey on bullying and its impacts.

THE FOUNDING OF THE “ZION ACADEMY” DAY SCHOOL,

2002 – 2007

ABSTRACT

JON MITZMACHER

In this study, I examine the founding and first five years of the Zion Academy Day School, which was created in 2002 as a new Schechter Network Day School to serve as the third Jewish day school for the Jewish community of San Marino, a fast growing community located in the Southwestern region of the United States.

The questions I sought to answer through this study were how theories of educational leadership impacted the founding of the school, and how the head of school’s understanding and implementation of leadership theories impacted growth.

To answer these questions, I examined all minutes and published documents of the school, interviewed many of the key stakeholders connected to the school to learn about its history, mission, and changes over its first five years, and analyzed the personal journals and autoethnographic writing selections of the founding head of school (the researcher). I framed my research in the context of the relevant literature. First, I placed Zion Academy within the history and current state of Jewish day school education and San Marino within the history of emerging Jewish communities; I then examined my data through the lenses provided by the literature on educational leadership, institutional politics and organizational culture.

My analysis of the data addresses the reasons behind Zion Academy’s founding and examines how and why Zion Academy grew and emerged over its first five years. I found that over the course of Zion Academy’s first five years that its vision and culture were largely determined by best practice as determined from the university and professional programs that provided credentials to its founding head of school. I found that Zion Academy’s culture was profoundly shaped by its relationships to other schools and institutions in its local community. I also found that leadership sometimes required spurning best practice and that risk-taking may also contribute to successfully founding a new Jewish day school.

Notions from #NAJDSCONF 5772

This seems to be the weeks of sequels! Last week, I revised my love of Wordle with a second-annual graphic summary of a year’s worth of blog posts (here). I am still waiting for comments (hint, hint parents & teachers!) to see how comparing the first and second Wordles reveals anything about a shift in emphasis or direction. I love hearing that someone is reading the blog…I really love when someone comments on the blog.

This week, I will try to creatively share and reflect on my experiences in Atlanta from which I just returned from the North American Jewish Day School Conference. This year’s theme was “Current Landscapes, Changing Horizons” and you can read all about the conference and find links to presentations and materials from the conference, here. You can check out all the official conference tweets, which includes links, photos and videos not on the website, here.

Coming on the heels of another reflective blog post about Jewish day school conference attendance (here), I don’t want to be repetitive. I did a fair amount of tweeting from the conference, which you can check out, by either clicking above to follow me on Twitter, or by clicking, here. And you will find pictures, videos and thoughts from the conference that I may not get to in this blog post.

I attended the conference with our school’s 21st Century Learning Coordinator Andrea Hernandez and we co-presented a session on the first day called “21st Century Learning in Jewish Day Schools – A Conversation”. It was well attended and augured well for the rest of our conference experience. If you would like to see the presentation, you can click here and scroll down to the entry entitled “NAJDS”.

On Day 2, I had the pleasure to be a part of a panel discussion hosted by DeLeT on the topic of “Teacher Leadership”. The rest of that day was spent exclusively with the Schechter Day School Network. Sitting next to Andrea, I was captivated by a new app she was using and I immediately purchased it and started playing with. As she says on her blog post from the conference,

I am trying to build fluency with my iPad, so I used the Corkulus app to take notes. Not only do I feel that the practice was good for my iPad fluency, I am happy with the notes that I am able to share, not only here on my blog, but I was able to email the notes to the person sitting next to me, as well as others who were not at the session.

I spent the rest of the conference playing with it and loving it! So, for something different, here is my summary of Day 2 of the conference via Corkulous:

Depending on how you are viewing this, I realize it may be a little blurry (even after clicking on it). If you cannot blow it up, and would like to see it (or if you have the app and want me to email it to you in format), please feel free and email me directly. It includes thoughts from a text study, the new branding initiative for the Schechter Network and DeLeT.

On Day 3, I had the honor of playing a (very) small part in Michael Mino’s morning keynote. I don’t have permission to share the presentation, but I can share my small part of it, which you can find here under the heading “Mobile Learning”.

I spent lots of time networking about edJEWcon! I suspect we will be fully enrolled by the end of the month. I look forward to announcing the schools and partners who will be joining us for this exciting opportunity. Our thanks again to The AVI CHAI Foundation for their generous support. Stay tuned!

I closed the conference by live blogging a fascinating session on Games-Based Learning facilitated by Barry Joseph. Here is my Corkulous-produced live blog from the session:

We are in the process of exploring bringing gaming theory into our repertoire of 21st century skills and literacies. We are engaged in serious conversation with a few thought-partners in this field and look to make some announcements of new initiatives soon.

After the conference ended, I stayed on for an extra night to participate in a board meeting for the Schechter Day School Network. Despite all the negative press, the future for Schechter is quite optimistic. We struggle, as all Jewish and private schools do, in a down economy and increased competition. But we also offer a unique and valued product. Good things are coming.

All in all, it was a wonderful opportunity to learn, share, reflect, connect, collaborate, present and feel the power of being with over 600 people who care deeply about securing the Jewish future. I plan to bring the positive energy and innovative ideas I got from this year’s conference back to help secure our own school’s future.

But tonight I rest…

Wordle Up – The Sequel

Please click here for my blog post about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Jewish community.

I’m off on Sunday for the North American Jewish Day School Conference in Atlanta! (Click here for my reflections on last year’s conference.) I am one of many official live-blogger’s for the conference, so please look for posts next week. You can also follow the action on Twitter. You can follow me @Jon_Mitzmacher or the conference @najdsconf. I will share an overall reflective blog post on the experience afterwards.

My first Wordle appeared as a means to summarize my blog post and appeared about a year ago:

I thought it would be a fun way to see what the “State of the School” is by comparing the above Wordle to the one below, which is based on this year’s collections of blogs:

Interesting hmmmm? What do you think it reveals (if anything) about our priorities this school year? Please comment!

The Dreaded Bullet Point Blog Post

Yes, it is time again for another dreaded blog post in which I weave together a variety of bullet points, links, and thoughts representing the torn-in-20-directions this head of school is experiencing in the early dawn of 2012.

What can I do? I have not blogged since we went into Winter Break and the clock is ticking on a Friday school afternoon! Having been convinced that a less-than-perfect blog post is better than no post at all, I offer you a sample of what’s on my mind.

Yet another video from Talie Zaifert, our amazing Admissions & Marketing Director, debuted over the break celebrating another wonderful Chanukah Celebration.

http://youtu.be/ltOypX_zWEA

Thanks to our friends at AVI CHAI and PEJE for helping us promote!

I may need to reread my own blog post about the value of unplugging in a technologically obsessed era. We spent one week in Cancun and I overspent my international data plan within the first two days. How can I possibly deny the world my valuable tweets and status updates? [Seriously, how could you have not wanted to see this as it was happening?]

Next vacation…no iPhone and no iPad and I mean it! (Anybody want a peanut? Click here if you need to know how that is funny.) Other than my difficulty disconnecting and the fact that my daughter now expects to be serenaded by a Mariachi band at all meals, it was a great opportunity to relax and refresh for this new (secular) year.

I did manage during the break to guest blog on the PEJE Blog on the topic of “Entrepreneurial Educational Leadership: Seeking Excellence Beyond Our Resources”. Thanks much to Ken Gordon (as always) from PEJE for the editorial work and the opportunity. You are welcome to read it, comment on it, share it, etc., here.

Next week, Andrea Hernandez, our school’s 21st Century Learning Coordinator, and I will be off to Atlanta to participate and present at this year’s North American Jewish Day School Conference. It will be a great opportunity to network, represent, learn and connect with colleagues from all over. As soon as we finish our presentation (!), we will be happy to link to it for anyone interested. And I will hope to follow up my last blog post from a conference (here) with another multimedia presentation describing my attendance experience through a 21st century learning lens.

Closer to home…between now and July 1:

Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS) Re-Accreditation Visit: March 12th-13th
edJEWcon 5772.0: April 29th-May 1st
Martin J. Gottlieb Day School 50th Anniversary Weekend: May 4th-6th
The launch of the “Academy” model at the Jacksonville Jewish Center: July 1 (Click here for a reminder. Official press release coming next month!)

Four extraordinarily significant events in the life of our school will take place between now and July 1! This is in addition to all the ongoing events that make school administration so rewarding. What an amazing six months this is going to be!

We are right on track with each major item. I am so grateful to my administrative team, support staff team, synagogue partners, lay leaders and volunteers for all their ongoing contributions to ensuring the success of these endeavors. Each of them alone could take up a school’s yearly agenda – all four within six months? (Plus two new ventures not yet ready to announce! But amazing ones!) It shall surely be transformational.

Next week? I’ll be back with singular focus and a single topic: presenting an overdue “State of the School”.

21st Century Conference Attendance – One Head’s Meta Experience

I spent this past Sunday through Tuesday attending the Day School Leadership Training Institute’s (DSLTI) Alumni Retreat in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was the first conference I have attended this season, with at least two more coming up. I will be in Atlanta, GA in January attending (and presenting) at the North American Jewish Day School Conference and we will be hosting edJEWcon 5772.0, right here at our school in May. There have been years, when in addition to those, there might be other Jewish or secular conferences in education I have attended or presented at. That is, admittedly, a lot of time to be out of my school and (particularly in this economy) a lot financial resources being spent for me to attend theses conferences and retreats. It raises the very legitimate question, “Is it worth it for the school to have you attend or present at all of these conferences”? My teachers, parents, students, board members, donors, etc., all have a very legitimate right to ask what benefits come from this investment.

I had thought (prior to the retreat) about writing a blog post describing what I would learn from the DSLTI Retreat with suggestions of ways it might impact my practice. But then I remembered that I am supposed be Mr. 21st Century Learning and couldn’t I employ another method for delivering that content?

So…my first order of business was to ensure that I captured my experience of the retreat utilizing 21st century technologies. We quickly developed a Twitter #hashtag to organize a back-channel for the retreat; for us to comment, and collaborate, and – for me – to experiment with using Twitter for my own personal professional development. Every time I would have written a note, or typed a note, I sent a tweet. For those who already follow me on Twitter (and you can click on the “Follow” button on my blog if you’d like to), it provided them with a running live experience of who I was listening to, what I was thinking, what questions it raised, and some cases what I was seeing (as I attached pictures to my tweets using my iPhone).

Whether you have a Twitter account or not, you can review the entire #DSLTI Twitter feed simply by clicking here or by going to www.twitter.com and searching for “#DSLTI”. (You will notice that the conversation has continued past the conference – which means it was and will be a meaningful professional development vehicle.) But for a taste, I am going to simply show you my tweets from the retreat. [Warning: I have given this to you as snapshots – NONE of the links will work. You would have to get that from going directly to Twitter.] This is one answer to the question of what the experience meant to me:

So besides tweeting from the retreat, I also took “notes”. Using the “Note Taker HD” app on my iPad, I was able incorporate my hand-written notes, typed notes, and photos. Again, it may not all be legible (I am a doctor now) and it all may not make sense because I wasn’t writing it for public display, I do think it is useful to show for two reasons. One, as above, is to ensure no one thought I spent my time sipping drinks by the pool. But, it is also to provide some meta-analysis about the experience of attending a conference and how 21st century learning has impacted my experience. It may also stimulate some thought about whether we need to train teachers or students about how they can adapt new ways of “taking notes” in a 21st century learning context. Here’s what I came up:

The third thing I did was enter each new book I was stimulated to buy onto my Shelfari page, which you can see to your right on my blog as a widget or by clicking here.

I came back front the retreat jazzed up about what I had learned, how I had learned, and how I hope to have my practice informed by new learning. I hope this blog post does a fraction of any of those things for you!

And if you are interested in where #DSLTI goes from here? Follow us on Twitter!

Is my school any better now that I’m a doctor?

Because isn’t that the only question that really matters to anyone outside my family?

Yes, I take a tremendous amount of personal pride in having reached this academic achievement. It took me 8 years (6 of them ABD) to successfully defend my Ed.D. dissertation at the Jewish Theological Seminary – which was accomplished (pending minor revisions) this past Monday. During that time, I helped found one Jewish day school and assumed the headship of a second. When I started, my wife and I were a recently married couple living in an apartment in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. When I finished, we were a family of four living in a house in Jacksonville, Florida. But what matter does it make outside of my own world? My parents are kvelling, but am I a better head of school having gone through this experience? Are the schools I have been blessed with the opportunity to run any better off? (And, therefore, would I recommend that other heads of school, principals, etc., pursue doctorates of their own for the purpose of improving their craft?)

I can only blog for myself, but as challenging as the process was, the answer has been an unequivocal, “yes”!

My research questions were how do theories of educational leadership help understand the founding of a new Jewish day school, and how does the head of school’s understanding and implementation of leadership theories impact the founding and growth of a new Jewish day school. You can see that I had the opportunity to make my work the subject of my doctoral research and, therefore, I was not only able to further my own education, but (hopefully) I was able to contribute to the school(s) I was employed to head. Had I chosen a different research topic, perhaps, I would feel differently, but I’m not entirely sure. The discipline of doing doctoral research in education – the books I have read, the methodology I have mastered, the academic vernacular I have had to learn to write in, the necessity to defend my work to tenured professors of education – all of this has undoubtedly caused me to reflect more deeply on practice and, thus, made me a better practitioner.

Once my dissertation is published, I may (or may not) choose to edit it into an academic article or another vehicle for publication. But because my work actually included an investigation as to to the worthiness of academic degrees in being a head of school, I thought I would share a snippet of my research to close this post:

The importance of credentials

There was no doubt that my credentials, primarily being an alumnus of the American Jewish University (then called the University of Judaism), a student at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and a member of the Day School Leadership Training Institute, played a significant role in my hire (as founding head of school). The hope of the search committee was that I would bring best practices learned from those schools and programs to my job so that the school could be successfully founded. To the degree that I was able to utilize my leadership skills, I believe this hypothesis has been proven accurate time and time again. I have little doubt that without the training I received, particularly the experiences of the Day School Leadership Training Institute, I would have fallen on my face from day one.

My experiences were largely spent trying to move the school’s leadership and to understand and endorse the best practices I believed were, in fact, ‘best’ because of what I had learned through my academic and professional programs. Founding committees should rightly consider the importance of academic credentials and that programs such as DSLTI should continue to be promoted and taken seriously. There are no guarantees that it will take the specific skills mastered in the specific toolbox of each academic or professional program provides to successfully perform the job of founding a new school. It is, however, reasonable to assume that the more skills available to the practitioner, the higher the likelihood is for success to occur. Both the literature review and the data have clearly demonstrated how educational leadership is as much about knowing which skills to apply when then it is about mastering one best specific set of skills.

I do think it is reasonable to make a few conclusions about how academic and professional programs designed to prepare people for the headship could increase the odds for success. There is great value to emphasizing real-world and real-work situations. DSLTI does a terrific job presenting mini-case studies for fellows to struggle through in a learning environment prior to confronting them in the workplace. Mentoring and coaching are essential components. Opportunities to shadow and reflect with experienced heads would be useful as well. It is impossible to replicate and role-play every situation that could occur in the headship, but it is possible to shift the emphasis from theory to practice, particularly in professional preparatory programs. This also holds true for the schools. New schools and schools preparing for new heads should seriously consider building coaching into the normal practice of professional development.

Discuss. 🙂

Dr. Jon Mitzmacher

A (Very) Transparent Thanksgiving

I have learned a lot of important lessons over the last month. One of those lessons? It is very easy to espouse “transparency” as a value when things are going well and/or when the issues are simple and non-controversial. It is another thing altogether when things are more complex, risky and deeply personal. As a complicated episode in my professional life has played out over the last few weeks, I have felt compromised between my professional desire for transparency and my personal desire for privacy. I have struggled with the decision about whether or not it was appropriate to utilize this “professional” blog – property of the school, not the person – to discuss events which have had a profound impact on not just me, but my family. With the episode (thankfully) resolved, it just did not seem right to pretend that it never happened (by its absence in my primary vehicle for reflective practice, this blog).

[I realize that although the primary audience for this blog was and is the school family, there is an extended readership who may or may not be interested in some of its content. I try to manage those potential audiences through how I do (or don’t) promote the blog via social media. Another side-effect of “transparency”? If the boundaries were semi-permeable before, they sometimes feel as if they have disappeared altogether. I’m not sure this is a good thing, but it feels like the truth.]

The facts are relatively straightforward and have been public knowledge since November 1st. An unanticipated opportunity to compete as a finalist for the headship of Sinai Akiba Academy in Los Angeles, CA resulted in my exercise of an opt-out clause in my current contract. My wife and I went to LA for our finalist visit and returned to Jacksonville. After meeting with my lay leadership here, I withdrew my candidacy for the position at Sinai Akiba and have renewed my commitment to remain here at MJGDS.

It seems so simple when you write it like that!

Both institutions handled this delicate situation with tremendous grace and with incredible transparency. A series of public meetings here in Jacksonville with all concerned constituencies (parents, faculty, boards, etc.) resulted in the formation of a search committee charged with seeking out my replacement (since closed). My candidacy in Los Angeles was a matter of public record on the school’s website and my finalist visit was conducted openly as all such visits are.

Needless to say, the situation left me (and my family) rather exposed on all sides. That it was self-imposed did little to dull the piercing spotlight the month of November has brought to us. Again, let me clear. The choices were mine. The responsibility for them was mine. And the situation could not have been handled any more professionally or compassionately by everyone. But I would be lying if I suggested that it also was not deeply and personally stressful. It was, in fact, agonizing.

As I said to the search committee for Sinai Academy when I withdrew…

“…I write to officially notify you of my decision to renew my commitment here in Jacksonville, thus withdrawing my candidacy from Sinai Akiba. I thank you all for your hospitality, your warm welcome, and the opportunity to have been a finalist. I am confident with lay leaders like yourself and the high quality of your other candidates that only bright days lay ahead for Sinai Akiba. I look forward to following your success and working with your next head as a fellow Schechter colleague.

Thank you again for the time and care you put into my candidacy.”

I have nothing, but positive things to say about Sinai Akiba Academy. We met lovely people during our visit and our desire for their continued success is genuine. But our decision and our future is here – at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, the Jacksonville Jewish Center and in Jacksonville, Florida. And for that we are thankful.

We have barely begun to write a chapter in the book of the life of this remarkable school which turns 50 this spring. The idea of leaving so much exciting work undone certainly contributed to my professional desire to continue as head of this school. It has been a dynamic and satisfying year and a half since we came here, but the “job” of becoming the school we wish to be is hardly “done” (if such a thing in an organic learning organization could ever be accomplished)! We have so many exciting projects in the near and long-term future. [I don’t want to use this post to re-list all the initiatives and ideas that are in progress or fomenting. A quick scroll through this blog or our school’s website provides a thorough recap.] I couldn’t imagine not being part of them. And I am thankful that I don’t have to.

But more than the work are the people…

…as I wrote to my teachers last week:

“As we enter into a holiday week, let me take a moment to express my gratitude to all of you for the opportunity to be part of this team. As you know, it has been a topsy-turvy few weeks for me (and for everyone) as events unfolded, but it is with genuine humility that I tell you that a most significant factor in wanting to remain here is the opportunity to continue to work together to make this the finest, most innovative, highest-quality school it can possibly be. I come to work each day excited about what we can accomplish together. I am thrilled to have the chance to continue this journey with you and look forward to brighter and brighter days ahead.”

And I gladly extend those thoughts to this entire community – parents, students, colleagues, communal partners, etc.

So as we head into Thanksgiving tomorrow…let me express how joyously thankful I am for the blessings in my life: The blessing of a healthy family. The blessing of a caring community. The blessing of blossoming friendships. The blessing of fulfilling work. The blessing of committed and generous lay leaders and volunteers. The blessing of extraordinary colleagues. The blessing of dedicated and talented staff and faculty. The blessing to have an opportunity to work each and every day with others to ensure a Jewish future. The blessing to feel one’s roots dig a little deeper into sacred ground.

For these blessings and more, I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving.

edJEWcon 5772.0 – Ride the Wave!

It has been a topsy-turvy week in the life! I have a lot to be thankful for and will make that the subject of next week’s blog post. The benefit of rest and reflection will hopefully render me more articulate on the topic than I currently feel capable of.

In the meanwhile, let me thank those heads of school, foundation partners, researchers, and colleagues in the field for their continued interest and support for edJEWcon! Your emails, tweets, Facebook comments, etc., has helped spark the fire and fuel the applications.

Check out the trailer here:

If you are interested in edJEWcon 5772.0 and want to learn more…click here. If you are ready to apply while spots still are open…click here. We are working on creating additional tracks and opportunities for those of y’all who are not part of school teams, but want to be part of the experience.

Our team is in conversation with many interested parties these days and exciting new ventures are brewing! I have no choice, but to leave that as the simple tease it is. As ideas become realities, we will have much to share in the upcoming weeks and months. But the snowball is cresting the hilltop…and the educational revolution is underway. We look forward to playing our part and learning from those walking down the road with us.