Transparency Files – Page 7 – A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

The Transparency Files: Let’s Talk About the “J” In OJCS

How amazing it is to have five full days of school in a week!

As joyous as the holiday season is – both here in school and at home – it is a lovely thing to be able to resume the regular rhythms of school. This time of year it almost feels like a second beginning to the school year as we are now able to fully inhabit schedules and string together sufficient contact time to bring meaningful projects to life. It is also wonderful to have put behind us much of the business of carpool lines, Google Classroom, hot lunch, parent communication procedures, PTA structure, behavioral expectations, care of the physical facility – so many of the preconditions for the transformational work ahead are sliding into place that we can take a collective breath and move forward.

We have discussed in prior posts as well as through many public and private forums of the need for OJCS to clarify its “Jewish mission and vision”. Let’s take a few minutes to unpack what that means…

Doesn’t OJCS currently have a Jewish mission/vision?

Yes.

From our Parent Handbook:

Vision Statement:

The Ottawa Jewish Community School is dedicated to enriching the life of its students along with strengthening their character and instilling their love for Israel. Inspired by Jewish values and heritage, a love of learning, and guided by teaching excellence, students reach for their potential, in order to become the leaders of tomorrow, and responsible citizens of the world.

Mission Statement

The Ottawa Jewish Community School is an all day, trilingual elementary school that aims to develop academic and personal excellence in its students, in an inclusive, caring, and pluralistic environment that is based on Jewish religion, culture and values.

The school’s mission is summarized in the OJCS community themes;

RESPECT, RESPONSIBILITY, REACHING FOR EXCELLENCE.

CORE VALUES

Talmud Torah / Love of Study: Lifelong learning rooted in Jewish and secular studies, emphasizing critical thinking, problem solving and creativity.

Kevod HaBriyot / Respect for Humanity: Living and learning in ways defined by decency, kindness, respect for oneself and others, and honouring diversity.

Ahavat Yisrael / Love of Israel: Centrality of the State of Israel to Jewish identity, and a deep connection to its people, land, and history.

Chashivut HaIvrit / Importance of Hebrew: Recognition of Hebrew as a living language, integral to Jewish life, and an essential link to Jewish texts, prayer, and modern Israel.

Tikkun Olam / Repairing the World: Instilling social responsibility and an engagement with the global community built upon the foundation of tzedakkah (charity), chesed (good deeds), compassion, and courage.

Mi Dor Le Dor / From Generation to Generation: Fostering Jewish continuity and instilling Jewish identity and a sense of peoplehood by transmitting traditions, participating in rituals, and engaging with the Jewish community at home and around the world.

So what’s the problem?

Let’s take a closer look…

Chashivut HaIvrit / Importance of Hebrew: Recognition of Hebrew as a living language, integral to Jewish life, and an essential link to Jewish texts, prayer, and modern Israel.

There are many ways OJCS could seek to live this value. What does “recognition” really mean? Does it mean that all students should learn to speak, read and write modern Hebrew? Does it mean that all Judaics classes should be taught with Hebrew as the language of instruction? What are the outcomes for Hebrew literacy that parents should expect through this core value?

Without further clarification, it is hard to know.

…pluralistic environment that is based on Jewish religion, culture and values.

What does OJCS believe to be true about “pluralism”? What is a “pluralistic environment”? Does it mean recognizing the diversity of our students as an audience? Does it mean the responsibility for creating experiences reflective of each denominational affiliation (as well as unaffiliated)? Are we a melting pot? A stew? Individual bowls?

Without further clarification, it is hard to know.

OK, so we go ahead and clarify our values. Is that the task?

Not entirely.

Time is a zero sum game. So even if/when we clarify each value and/or add new ones…how do we know what to prioritize by way of our time and outcomes?

For example…

Is Hebrew the most important academic subject within Jewish Studies? You might think so by virtue of its mention in the overall mission as a “trilingual” school. But is it? And should it be? It is likely true that our school would look very different, especially at the K-5 level, if Hebrew literacy was the highest value.

What else?

Where does tefillah live in all of this? It is interesting in and of itself that it is not explicitly named in the mission, vision or values. And yet from our conversations with parents and rabbis, there is clearly a felt need that students who attend a Jewish day school should come out with basic prayer and synagogue fluencies. If that is true, it will need to wind up as an explicit value with a specific curriculum and schedule. (In the meanwhile, as we have shared, it has been restored to the daily schedule.)

What does this have to do with the day-to-day teaching and learning?

Great question, hypothetical question-asker!

Unlike the work we do in secular education (which will also require revisiting and re-clarifying), there is no external set of benchmarks and standards that we are required to follow. There are no universally adopted textbooks or curricular materials shared by all Jewish day schools (or even by traditional groupings of Jewish day schools). We have to translate our school’s mission-vision-philsosophy into self-created (or borrowed) academic benchmarks and standards. We have to build a schedule around those outcomes. We have to choose curricula based on what we believe to be true about teaching and learning. Etc.

But the school is 69 years old. Surely it already has all of those things.

Kind of.

Like we have discussed in prior posts, the school has frequently added layers of program on top of program…it has done a great job of cluttering…not the best job of de-cluttering. So, yes, there are written descriptions of different strands of our Jewish Studies curriculum, but there really is not one coherent document – either for internal or external purposes – that actually describes what we do. And that’s a problem.

By the way, it does not mean that excellent teaching and learning isn’t happening in each of our grades in Jewish Studies! No one should think that this is some kind of lost year. We have talented and dedicated teachers working hard to provide a high-quality rigorous Jewish academic education and meaningful Jewish experiences. Good things are happening. But we need to move from “good to great”.

How will the work of clarification take place?

That’s where you (will) come in.

There are a number of critical stakeholder groups that we will call upon to contribute to this work. They include our community’s rabbis, soon to be invited to an Ad-Hoc Rabbinic Advisory Committee. They include our Jewish Studies Faculty, already beginning to do its due diligence on what was, what is and what could be. They include our institutional partners, synagogues, our pipeline schools and Federation. And they include our families – current and prospective. Vehicles will be created to onboard the feedback and recommendations from all these critical stakeholder groups.

The process through which these groups form and do their work will be shared and transparent. The feedback and recommendations will ultimately go to the OJCS Board of Trustees who, ultimately as charged by their role, will (re)establish the Jewish mission and vision for OJCS. That, too, will be proudly and transparently shared out with our full community. With that clarification will come the charge to the administration and faculty to bring that mission and vision to life. And, surprise, that will also be transparent.

If we are passionate about this, what can we do in the meanwhile?

Talk about it! Share your thoughts! (Comment on this blog post.) Make an appointment to come see us. What can be better than talking with people who are invested in our Jewish mission and vision? What topic can be more important for us to discuss?

At the end of the day…there is no reason for this school to exist if not for the “J”. We realize that that doesn’t necessarily mean that the “J” is everyone’s first priority. But, still. There is no reason for OJCS to be a Jewish day school, if not to be Jewish. Not Jew-ish. Jewish.

What does that mean? We’ll find out together.

The Transparency Files: OJCS Teacher Pre-Planning

I regret all the snarky things I ever said about traditional starts to the school year after Labour Day (you see how I spelled that Canada?). I am so happy we (all) have a wonderful holiday weekend to rest up for the start of an amazing school year here at OJCS.

“Why so tired, you ask?”

It is the best kind of tired. The kind of tired that comes from having had two amazing days with our talented and passionate teachers. The kind of tired that comes from having fully shown up and being surrounded by others who fully showed up as well. The kind of tired that comes from emotional investment and spiritual nourishment. The kind of tired that inspires dreams of what we will accomplish together in this year of change.

“Wow. Must have been quite the two days. What did y’all do?”

OJCS Faculty Pre-Planning

Wednesday, August 30th

8:30 AM Continental Breakfast & Welcome Activities

9:00 AM The Transparency Cafe

Here is the protocol.
Here is the question: “How does transparency impact teaching and learning in our school?”

10:00 AM Break/Work in Classrooms

10:30 AM The “Non-Discussible”

This was a positive and powerful conversation that will respectfully remain private. But I encourage any school, any organization, any company to see how it might improve the health of your culture.

12:00 PM Lunch/Work in Classrooms

1:00 PM Policies & Procedures

2:00 PM Responsive Behaviour Management

3:15 PM Break/Work in Classrooms

3:45 PM L’hitraot

Thursday, August 31st

8:30 AM Spiritual Check-In

Introduce the concept of “spiritual chevruta”
Provide the text and guiding questions: Lamentations 5:21: “Turn us to you, O Lord, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.”
How do you handle change?
What anchors you in times of change? How do you stay connected to a larger sense of purpose?
How do you think about your own core values and sense of who you are through times of change?
In what ways does change enhance who you are?
What are differences (if any) between how you react to changes you have initiated vs. those you are experiencing?

9:15 AM Google Classroom

The Big Idea
We believe teachers are learners just like students and, thus, deserving of personalization. We will treat Google Classroom like a ladder…everyone needs to be on the first rung with all the training and support they need to get there. But you can climb as high as you like/can!
K-4 Begin Work on Shared Google Classrooms (merge, create new, etc.)
- General & Jewish Studies Teachers
- French
- Art/Music/PE
5-8 Begin/Revise Work on Individual Google Classrooms
Mini Google Classroom Checklist – Aim for the First Week of School
- Fixed Pages
  - About Me
  - HW Policy
  - Behavior Management Policy
  - Daily Schedule
- First Posts
  - Welcome!
  - Warm Fuzzy

PSST! Why am I giving you so much detail about Google Classroom? Because it is where you will need to be. We’ll talk more at Back to School Night.

11:15 AM Break/Work in Classrooms

12:00 PM Lunch & Learn – Curricular Integration

1:00 PM Team Meetings

Grade Level IEP/ Support Plan Reviews
General/Jewish Studies Meetings

2:30 PM Break/Work in Classrooms

3:00 PM Who owns the learning? Who owns professional growth?

5:00 PM Welcome Back BBQ

Thanks to PTA for sponsoring our largest Welcome Back BBQ in years! Thanks to Jennifer Greenberg, our Recruiter (Admissions Director for you Americans) for all the time and hard work getting it organized. Thanks to Aaron Smith, our current Board President, and Trevor Smith who served as Grill Masters. Thanks to the JCC, Federation, Maintenance, Housekeeping and everyone who pitched in to make it so special!

And that is why I am the best kind of tired.

As we head into a holiday weekend, let me share with you what I shared with our dedicated, loving, enthusiastic and oh-so-ready-to-go teachers:

We start to tell the next chapter of the story of OJCS on Tuesday morning. Let’s hold ourselves and our parents and our students accountable to the highest standards. Let’s show up and be present. Let’s unleash our passion and our talent. Let’s be the best version of ourselves – the school we are capable of being and the one our children deserve.

Rest up. Be ready. Be on time. Be excited. It is go time.

Best. Year. Yet.

The Transparency Files: The 2017-2018 OJCS Faculty & Hebrew Pilot Program

We are, but 19 days from the return of our amazing teachers, followed soon thereafter by our incredible families and children! Can you believe it? Me neither!

Readers of my blog know that any blog post that comes labeled “The Transparency Files” is likely geared towards a primary stakeholder group and that it will share information, ideas, news, issues, etc., that I assume are new, newsworthy, important and potentially worthy of conversation. If you search for prior “Transparency Files” you’ll find posts about homework policy, scheduling, behavior management, evaluations, standardized test scores, new programs, etc. You’ll also find introductions of faculty and staff.

But before I share for the first time the full make up of the Ottawa Jewish Community School’s 2017-2018 Faculty & Staff, I want to…

…talk very briefly about “transparency” as a core value.

…introduce an exciting Core and Extended Hebrew Pilot for Grades 4 & 5.

…introduce our new teachers.

This much would normally occur over 2-3 posts, but because I have a sneaking suspicion that OJCS parents will be unusually interested in this post, I am going to pack it full and keep you (them) in suspense.

Transparency as a Core Value

As I prepare for the return of teachers and students and the full opening of my third headship, I am more sure than ever that our success as a school will be directly related to how deeply embedded “transparency” becomes as a core cultural value. When I say “transparency” I don’t mean to imply a lack of discretion or oversharing; when I say “transparency” I mean to imply honesty, candor, open and healthy communication, trust, vulnerability and faith. Transparency requires relationship and demands respect. Transparency raises the bar. Transparency tears down walls and uproots silos. Transparency lives in the classroom and in the boardroom. Transparency forces clarity. Transparency means you don’t only get to share the good news. Transparency fosters humility.

I take transparency seriously because it guarantees accountability. I believe in transparency because it engenders relationship-building. I have seen the power of transparency transform and the lack of transparency destroy. I cannot guarantee that all my decisions or ideas will be well-liked or even the right ones. (I can actually guarantee that they won’t be.) I can guarantee to operate in a spirit of transparency and I invite you to join me on the journey.

Hebrew Pilot Program for Grades 4-5

Speaking of transparency…

I must admit there is a bit of chicken-egg to this one, to be honest, because it was really the next item on the list (new teachers) that allowed us the opportunity to launch this pilot. Not that we wouldn’t have wanted to have done it anyway, but (again chicken-egg) it probably should have come as a more organic conversation about the role of Hebrew in our school and a larger conversation about revisiting our Jewish mission/vision – both incredibly important conversations that we will (transparently) begin this year. But when it dawned on us (and by “us” I mean Keren Gordon, our amazing Vice Principal and schedule-whisperer) that we might have a chance to pilot an enhancement to our Hebrew program…well…we couldn’t resist.

As OJCS families know (hopefully!), our French program goes deeper beginning in Grade Four with our “Core” students continuing to have a differentiated French language period and our “Extended” students adding on a second subject – Social Studies – with French as the language of instruction, thus providing an “extended” exposure to French. [Please note that I am purposely not launching the significant conversation-to-come about French immersion in this blog post, but that I am not ignorant of its pressing nature.] When it comes to our Hebrew program, however, we use the same “Core” and “Extended” terms, but with different meanings (I presume not only to confuse me). In Hebrew we have been using “core” and “extended” only to describe level, not contact time. That’s where the pilot comes in.

With extraordinary gratitude to two of our master Hebrew Teachers, Ada Aizenberg and Rachel Kugler – both of whom gracefully and enthusiastically accepted a rather late-in-the-game adjustment to their teaching portfolios to take this pilot on – OJCS “Extended” Hebrew students in Grades 4-5 will, like “Extended” French, have one period of high-level Hebrew instruction and a second subject – Judaics – with Hebrew as the language of instruction, thus providing an “extended” exposure to Hebrew.

Does this solve Hebrew fluency at OJCS? Nope!

Does this clarify the Jewish mission/vision of OJCS? Nope!

Will there be unintended consequences – both good and bad? Yup!

This is a pilot – an opportunity to try something new and to learn from it. We absolutely think it is a step in the right direction to enhance Hebrew fluency at OJCS. We absolutely think it will contribute to the larger conversations coming. We are absolutely thrilled about it and hope you are too. And if you are an OJCS parent of a child going into Grades 4-5 and have questions, concerns, feedback, etc., I look forward to those conversations most of all.

Introducing New Faculty

As of this writing, we have three new teachers joining our incredible faculty of returning teachers and I wanted to share a little bit about them so you can be as excited as we are.

Lianna Krantzberg will be joining us as our Kindergarten Educational Assistant. Lianna has her B.A. and B.Ed. and may be a familiar face to OJCS families from her time here during her student placement or her work at Camp B’nai Brith Ottawa. Lianna brings new energy and new ideas and we are thrilled she has chosen to launch her career at OJCS.

Shira Waldman will be joining us as our Kindergarten Judaics, Grade Four Core Hebrew, Judaics & Art, and Middle School Girls PE teacher. Shira has her B.A. and B.Ed. and may be a familiar face to OJCS families from her time working at Ganon Preschool. Shira brings extraordinary warmth, range and creativity and we look forward to what she will add to our school.

Melissa Anders will be joining us as our Grade Six General Studies Teacher. Melissa has her B.Ed. and an M.A. in Educational Technology and will soon be a familiar face to OJCS families. Melissa has significant experience teaching in Jewish day schools throughout Canada. Melissa brings a remarkable set of skills and we look forward to her contributions to our growth as a 21st century learning organization.

OK…I think that’s quite sufficient. I don’t typically do a 1,000-word preamble, but I hope you found it informational and useful. I have no more caveats or contextualizations. I simply have gratitude to be working with this gifted and loving group of teachers in the sacred work of educating our children. Without further adieu…

The 2017-2018 OJCS Faculty & Staff

Kindergarten

Ann-Lynn Rapoport – General Studies
Shira Waldman – Hebrew and Judaics
Marlène Colbourne – French Studies and Physical Education
Bethany Goldstein – Music
Lianna Krantzberg – Kindergarten Educational Assistant

Grade One

Ann-Lynn Rapoport – General Studies
Ada Aidenberg – Hebrew and Judaics
Marlène Colbourne – French Studies, Physical Education and Art
Bethany Goldstein – Music

Grade Two

Janet Darwish – General Studies
Bethany Goldstein – Hebrew, Judaic Studies, Art and Music
Marlène Colbourne – French Studies and Art
Linda Signer – Science and Physical Education

Grade Three

Julie Bennett – General Studies
Rachel Kugler – Hebrew, Judaic Studies and Art
Aaron Polowin – French Studies
Brian Kom – Physical Education
Bethany Goldstein – Music

Grade Four

Chelsea Cleveland – General Studies
Shira Waldman – Core Hebrew, Core Judaics and Art
Ada Aizenberg – Extended Hebrew and Extended Judaics
Stacy Sargeant –Core French
Aaron Polowin – Extended French and Études Sociales
Brian Kom – Physical Education
Bethany Goldstein – Music

Grade Five

Deanna Bertrend – General Studies
Ruth Lebovich – Core Hebrew
Rabbi David Rotenberg – Core Judaic Studies
Rachel Kugler – Extended Hebrew and Extended Judaics
Aaron Polowin – Core French and Physical Education
Stéphane Cinanni – Extended French and Études Sociales
Ruth Lebovich – Art
Josh Ray – Music

Grade Six

Melissa Anders – General Studies
Noga Reiss – Core Hebrew
Ruthie Lebovich – Extended Hebrew and Art
Rabbi David Rotenberg – Judaics
Aaron Polowin – Core French
Stéphane Cinanni – Extended French and Études Sociales
Stacy Sargeant – Leadership Program
Shira Waldman – Girls’ Physical Education
Josh Ray – Boys’ Physical Education and Music

Grade 7

Deanna Bertrend – English and Social Studies
Josh Ray – Math, Science, Boys’ Physical Education and Music
Stacy Sargeant – Core French
Stéphane Cinanni – Extended French and Études Sociales
Noga Reiss – Core Hebrew
Ruth Lebovich – Extended Hebrew and Art
Rabbi David Rotenberg – Judaics
Shira Waldman – Girls Physical Education

Grade 8

Stacy Sargeant – English, Core French and Social Studies
Josh Ray – Math, Science, Boys’ Physical Education and Music
Ruth Lebovich – Core Hebrew and Art
Noga Reiss – Extended Hebrew
Rabbi David Rotenberg – Judaics
Stéphane Cinanni – Extended French and Études Sociales
Shira Waldman – Girls’ Physical Education

Administration

Ellie Kamil – Executive Assistant to the Head of School
Deanna Bertrend – Student Life Facilitator
Stacy Sargeant – Special Education Advisor
Rabbi Howard Finkelstein – Dean of Judaic Studies
Jennifer Greenberg – Director of Recruitment
Keren Gordon – Vice-Principal
Dr. Jon Mitzmacher – Head of School

Here’s a super-secret sneak peak at our summer preparations for those of you who had the stamina to scroll…

See you soon!

O Canada? My Serendipitous Return to the Headship

Do they celebrate Purim in Canada? – Maytal M., Age 9

I’m not going to lie.

I distinctly recall the first day of the 2014-2015 school year. It was the first time I drove carpool as a day school parent (only). I was wearing shorts, flip-flops, and a t-shirt and as I wheeled through the line, I locked eyes with my colleague Rabbi Jim Rogozen who had just replaced me as head of my children’s school. He had just returned to the headship after a brief time out and I was just beginning my first year out of the headship after nine years in. I said goodbye to my girls, waved to Jim wearing his tie and nice clothes, turned up the music and headed back to my new home office to begin the day.

I was not unhappy.

To be clear, I had not been unhappy in my work. Leaving my headship at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School to become Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network was an agonizing and bittersweet decision. We were just becoming the school that so many of us had worked so hard to begin to be; the chapter in the life of the school that I was there to help author was not complete. But I was called into service for Schechter and I ultimately answered that call. It was both that simple and that complicated.

Now, I realize that nine years sounds like either a long haul or a blink of the eye depending on your vantage, but after nine years of night meetings, living and dying with each enrollment decision, going to synagogue and the supermarket with the potential for bumping into the micro-drama de jour, etc., I was ready for something different.

Like so many of the happy accidents that constitute my career path, these last three years have been a blessing. Having had the chance to be on the national stage, to engage with the foundations, agencies and donors who sustain our schools, to view the field from a different vantage, to visit over 50 schools, to help reimagine what a “Schechter” education can be, to participate in the birth and launch of Prizmah, and to dig deep into educational innovation – these have all been extraordinary professional experiences. I have learned so much more from my colleagues, first in Schechter, then in Prizmah, not to mention all my colleagues in the field that I could scarcely describe it.

I have also benefited from the opportunity to be more present in my family’s life than ever before. Despite a heavy travel schedule, when I’m here, I’m more here than ever before. Breakfast with my daughters each morning, carpool, the ability to participate in school activities, being home for bedtime, I know that these three years have bonded me with my family like never before at ages where my daughters still appreciate my active engagement (tick tock!).

So, with all the benefits that come with not being a head of school, why am I jumping back in? And why so far North!

Here is the simple truth.

A career is a function of what jobs are available when you are looking, which jobs you get, which jobs you don’t get, which jobs you want, which jobs you don’t want, who else is looking, how each interview is structured (or is unstructured), who you meet when, how you respond, how you are feeling, how other people are feeling, and who knows how many other variables. It is a remarkably unscientific process considering how important it is for everyone involved. I wrote about it at length when first considering it from the other side of the search process at Schechter.

When I describe my career as a series of “happy accidents,” I don’t mean to suggest that I wasn’t an active player, that I didn’t make choices or that I didn’t earn the jobs I received (or didn’t not-earn the jobs I didn’t get). I’m just being real – there are variables outside one’s control, there is a measure of luck, and sometimes the universe lends an unseen hand pushing you towards things you may not have chosen to explore on your own.

I’ve written and discussed many times the almost comical series of events that led me to become the founding head of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Las Vegas considering my professional experiences to that point. I’ve candidly shared that when “Jacksonville” popped on the list that I assumed it would be somewhere near Miami until I looked at a map. Yet my time here in Jacksonville made my career. Schechter was a calling I felt compelled to answer. And Schechter led me to Prizmah…

Once the decision was made to leave Prizmah, I found myself back on the market for the first time in a long time. Did I consider other positions besides head of school? I did. But as my process went on, it became clear to me that my passion for the headship remained intact. Looking at my options, what was most exciting, to me, was the opportunity to apply all this new learning I have accumulated at Schechter and Prizmah to the craft of the headship. These last three years have provided me with the humility of knowing how many great ideas other people are working on at Jewish day schools across North America. These last three years have shown me what can be done at schools of all sizes, flavors and geographies. These last three years have not had the power of intimacy, relationships, community and impact that nourish my soul.

Winter is coming… – Game of Thrones (HBO) and everyone who finds out we are moving to Ottawa

We may not know the story of Canadian Thanksgiving, Boxing Day, the metric system, or a word of French, but we do know a warm (no pun intended) community when we see it.

Our experiences, both professional and personal, here in Jacksonville were critical in our decision-making process this time around. I know that with generous donors, a committed Federation, a nourishing board, a passionate community, supportive parents, and talented and dedicated faculty, that you can be a school of global impact regardless of size or geography. We know that with kindness and love, that our family will thrive regardless of the number of kosher restaurants or the weather.

Putting it all together, when it came time for us to decide on the next chapter for our family, it was clear early on that we would seek to write it in Ottawa, Canada where I have enthusiastically agreed to become the next Head of the Ottawa Jewish Community School.

I’ll have much more to say in the weeks and months ahead about the work, the school, and the move. We are neck-deep in emigration law and relocation logistics. I appreciate all the unintentional political jokes moving to Canada provides at this unique moment in time. I know it will be cold.

But I also know something else. It will be great.

The Transparency Files: Annual Membership Survey

Another strange confluence of secular and Jewish holidays means that the beginning of the end of the 2014-2015 school year is upon us. Being in my first year in ten not serving as a head of school, I am not sure how accurate my “how quickly the year has gone by-omoter” is, but it does seem that summers are shorter than ever. As soon as you wrap up your last teacher meeting, you are planning for next year’s first! My hope is that all of our schools – their professionals and volunteers – will take the time this summer to relax and recharge, to look back in pride and look forward with anticipation, and to be as fully present with family and friends and we know they are to a fault with students and their families.

Here at Schechter we, too, want to begin wrapping up this historic first year of rebirth and regrowth and look to learn how we can be even better at meeting the needs of our schools and the field in the year to come. I have shared some reflection on how I think my first year as Executive Director has gone, and indicated places where I believe I need to learn and grow to do and be better next year. Here, I will share the feedback we received from our first Annual Membership Survey. In the weeks to come, we will lay out more detail about our programmatic agenda for next year and how feedback may have played into our decision-making process.

A few thoughts before the data…

This survey was completely anonymous. We have no idea who filled it out. It was sent to the entire family of Schechter schools (full and affiliate members) which numbers nearly 90 schools. We received 18 responses, which by percentage is appropriate for an online survey, but is only representative to a degree. The data will be taken seriously, regardless, but we know that the larger the sample size, the higher the degree of validity. One clear goal for the future will be to inspire more completed surveys.

The complete results have been/will be shared out. Although space will not allow each question’s answers to be shared and analyzed and open-ended responses will not be quoted in full, the entire survey – all responses, regardless of how positive or negative, – has been or will be shared transparently with all the staff and lay leaders who benefit from such knowledge. We as staff cannot plan effectively for the future without be willing to listen. We as staff cannot be evaluated effectively by our lay leadership without being willing to be vulnerable.

There are no trends! This is the first year of the survey so we can only use it as a baseline upon which future years are compared. Only with future data can we see if we are truly listening to feedback and growing from it.

OK, without further adieu let’s take some highlights from the survey.

First up…who took the survey?

No surprises here…professionals at our full member schools are the most invested and knowledgeable about our activities.

OK. Big picture. How did we do?

Hmmm…

…let’s say that there is always a temptation only to be transparent when you love what you are sharing and an equally strong temptation to be defensive about anything that is less than perfect. So long as I have say, Schechter will always be willing not only to hear the difficult truths that spur genuine growth, but the courage to share where we have fallen short in order to be held accountable.

So, on the one hand, obviously being good students we want to have the highest grades and this graph does not show that. I will say that the scale itself may not be ideal with seven categories and “neutral” as the middle. If “neutral” is “average” or “satisfied” then I could be inclined to feel good (enough) about how we did. The overwhelming majority would, in that case, be satisfied and then some. Great! If, however, “neutral” is something worse, then I am going to be more concerned with why half the respondents felt less than about our Network.

We will definitely use this as inspiration. Maybe it’s who responded (don’t be defensive!). Maybe it’s the scale (don’t make excuses!). Maybe it actually means we did great (don’t put your finger on the scale!). Or maybe it means we have real work to do. I don’t know from this alone…but I can promise you we will work hard to leave no doubts moving forward.

What else do we need to know?

Hmmm…

Greater analytics would need to see if those who said “no” also rated us near the bottom. Meaning, did the schools who are using our programs/resources rate us higher than those who didn’t? That would mean we need to do more work to ensure that more of our schools are aware and/or want to make use of what we have to offer. If it was the other way around, we would need to assess the quality and accessibility of our resources/programs.

What else?

We would have liked more participation on this question to better unpack the above, but this does indicate range that pleases us. My analysis of those who checked “other” would move most of it into “PEJE” and “Coaching”. My quick read on this indicates that places we have dedicated resources are finding an audience. Again, more analytics would help us decide whether any of these responses were tied to satisfaction scores. We’ll have more to say about this when we lay out our agenda for next year.

Let’s dive deeper…

Would have loved more responses…but, yes, we agree!

Let’s keep diving…what are we doing well?

Again, would have loved more responses…but we appreciate the feedback!

Here was the biggest surprise (to me):

If this response is representative it has implications for our programs, our thoughts of “region” and “cohort” and the challenges for schools geographically apart.

Final comments?

The survey may be closed, but your opportunity to provide feedback never is. Please use the comments for this blog, send us an email, pick up the phone, or just let us know when we see you in person.

This has been a year of many firsts. Next year be a very different kind of year. But one first we can look forward to a year from now is having an opportunity to compare next year’s survey with this one and to check how we listened, how we responded, and how we grew to better meet your needs. I can neither predict nor promise what it will say.

But I can predict and promise that no one will work harder than we will to live up to our obligations and our promises…

The Transparency Files: Evaluation of Blog

“Spitting in the wind.”

“Tilting at windmills.”

If a blog post falls in a forest and no one is there to read it…

You think you see where I’m headed.

🙂

But I do not wish to take this opportunity to grouse about whether people choose to comment, accept invitations to participate, etc., etc. I have come to accept that which I cannot control. Yes, of course, I would love for this blog to be more dynamic and interactive. And yes, I will continue to try to solve that riddle, whether it is by identifying better topics to inspire dialogue or better incentives to motivate conversation.

I do want to take this opportunity during this season of transparent reflection and evaluation to see if I am at least hitting the target topics for the this blog while still working to hit the target audience.

Of course there are many ways to perform this kind of analysis…and, of course, I will choose the simplest and most visual…a word cloud!

[I like to use Tagxedo sometimes instead of Wordle because you can upload images and it will build your word cloud around it.]

I must say that I like it! I really think it hits the right notes as laid out here and here. And in a year, I will create another one and do a compare and contrast to see how the blog has changed or evolved from one year to the next.

Housekeeping

I hope you have had a chance to review the latest update from the field with regard to plans for an exciting future! There will be LOTS more to share and discuss around this in the weeks and months to come. Please do stay tuned.

We are working on creating the survey instrument I mentioned last week so that we can get input from our stakeholders about our first year.

We are nearing the deadline for voting in the World Zionist Congress. You can revisit why I am proud to be on the ballot for MERCAZ and how you can lend your voice to the future of Israel by clicking here.

We are also working on a Summer Professional Development update that includes everything we believe to be of value (whether it comes from Schechter or not) as you think about your own and your school’s professional development agenda for this summer.

The Transparency Files: Evaluation of Self

This week was Yom Ha’Shoah, the day on the Jewish Calendar where we pause to remember the events of the Holocaust and the memories of all who perished therein. Next week we will celebrate Yom Ha’Zikaron, the day on the Jewish Calendar where we commemorate Israel’s Memorial Day, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut, the day on the Jewish Calendar where we celebrate Israeli Independence Day.

It is a remarkable juxtaposition of days – a complete 180 degrees of emotion that takes place with a click of the second hand and, in Israel, the siren’s call. Unlike in the States where Memorial Day for many (although less and less the last fifteen years) is spent enjoying beaches, barbecues and sales; in Israel no one is untouched by war’s destruction and all pause to personally mourn.

We know – firsthand and through social media – all the amazing programs, commemorations, projects and celebrations that have and will take place in Schechter schools whose love and support for Israel are baked into their DNA. We will do our part to collect, catalog and share out to you and the field those images and words during this very special week in our schools.

In the meanwhile…

Like many of you, we too, are using this time of year to solicit feedback, reflect and plan for the future. In this first year of the “new Schechter” each season brings new challenges and first-time opportunities. Here, too, we are faced with our first opportunity to evaluate ourselves and to ask for feedback from our key stakeholders. On the latter point, please look for an invitation to provide us with your feedback and suggestions on how this year has gone and ways we can improve to better meet the needs of our schools and the field in this interesting and exciting new year to come.

So…how have I done this year?

🙂

Well, honestly, I am not entirely sure!

In my first two blog posts in this new role, I tried to lay out a vision and provide some content for what I hoped Schechter would begin to become. But, I would have to go back to my very first year as a head of school to find the last time I was in the position of everything being so completely new for me. I will have to look forward to next year to find comfort in the rhythm and routine of a yearly calendar and knowing what to expect and what to do when. This year? Not so much!

The best way I know how to make sense of what I have done and ways I can do better is to revisit some of the planning documents created as part of our rebirth and see how well (or not) I have helped bring the agenda to life.

Like any self-evaluation, it is not intended to be exhaustive, but illustrative. [There are also aspects of my job performance, fundraising for example, that require greater discretion.] And unlike my past evaluations, this one does not come with comparative external survey data. Not because I don’t wish to have that data, but because we have not yet developed the instrument to collect it! This self-evaluation is more “self” than normal as a result, but I hope still helpful.

Relationship Building

A huge component to this year’s work was simply reintroducing ourselves to our schools and field. Prior to this year, we lacked the bandwidth to physically visit and, sometimes, even virtually visit our schools to the degree necessary to truly serve. I am proud that over the last nine months, we have physically reached over thirty schools. I have done much of it myself (over twenty site visits) and it has been undoubtedly the best and most important work I have done this year. To see schools in action and to spend time with the incredibe professional and lay leaders who run them is a never-ending source of inspiration. I have learned so much about our schools and even more about how we can better serve them because of these visits.

In addition to the site visits, we have spoken many, many times with each of our schools during this year and have had ample opportunity to share resources and field questions and concerns. I would rank renewing our relationships among our biggest successes this year. I would also commit ourselves (and me) to finishing the work by aiming to have visited each school in person by the end of next year.

Board Development

We had two critical tasks with regard to the board this year. Making the transition to independence required growing a philanthropic lay board, and under the leadership of our first-time board chair Dara Yanowitz and our Development Director, Alisha Goodman, we have nearly hit our benchmarks in recruiting new members. Although we have some geographic diversity, a goal for the future is to ensure even better representation from all of our key demographics. The second task was to transition the prior “board” – largely made up of professionals – to a “Professional Advisory Board” in order to provide us with a sounding board for new ideas, a safe place for workshopping difficult discussions and decisions, and to receive critical feedback from the field. Under the guidance of our Associate Director, Ilisa Cappell, we have been enriched by the work of the Professional Advisory Board and look to involve them even more deeply in the year to come to always be sure the work we do serves the greater good.

Placement

This was a new experience for us all! We have been active partners with all our schools going through transition. We played a more active role in schools who conducted their searches in-house, as to be expected, but worked with all our schools and many candidates to the best of our ability. I am very pleased that all our new heads (whether new to Schechter or new to the headship) will receive appropriate coaching and mentoring in the year to come to ensure smooth transitions for all. That was a top priority for us. We learned a lot from this first experience and are confident we will be even better prepared to help schools and professionals on similar journeys next season.

Field Collaborations

Whether it is the work laid out in this announcement or more modest collaborations with our sister networks and other organizations, I think Schechter’s reemergence has served as a catalyst for new relationships. Our work with the Jewish Montessori Society has created new relationships which we hope will yield fruit in the year to come. Our contributions to the planning and facilitation of this year’s North American Jewish Day School Conference, especially the “Small School Track” championed by our own Ilisa Cappell and RAVSAK‘s Dr. Marc Kramer, we believe helped make the conference a success. We have gladly marketed programs and contests that serve the needs of our schools regardless of who created them and have had our programs and contests gladly marketed by others. We look forward to only more and more in the year to come.

Thought Leadership

I would have liked to have achieved more in this area. Although a few articles were published, I don’t think we did enough to clarify for the field who we are and what we believe to be true. This blog is one attempt. This podcast is another. But on the whole I think we got swallowed up by organizational growth, program and other business and we were unable to dedicate enough time to this. We also need to do a much better job curating the thought leadership being done so well by our school leaders and positioning those school leaders to take on even more thought leadership in the future.

What about “Program” you may ask?

At 1300 words and counting, this is probably not the best time to begin a review of all the new programs we launched this year! Especially because they are the things we have written the most about. I will say that we are in the process of reviewing the successes and failures of all our programs and initiatives and I will surely report back here what we discovered and to lay out our programmatic agenda for 2015-2016.

As always, I welcome your thoughts, feedback, questions and concerns. Feel free to comment publicly or email me privately ([email protected]) and let me know how you think I am doing. I really want to know.

The Transparency Files: PEJE Atidenu Presentation

This past week, I had the pleasure of attending PEJE Atidenu and the privilege of presenting on how to effectively market the 21st century learning aspects of Jewish day schools for maximum impact. It was a great opportunity to learn with experts in recruitment and retention from within and beyond the Jewish day school world and to catch up with colleagues new and old. (I should also mention that Schechter is well-represented amongst a strong and diverse cohort of schools seeking a more secure future.)

Valuing transparency and possessing a strong desire to share what knowledge we have with any who may benefit from it, I am happy to share here my presentation (the first half of which is borrowed from the work of Silvia Tolisano, 21st century educator par excellence and Schechter’s Eduplanet21 Project Director):

(There was also a very robust TodaysMeet that remains open to participants for another few days, the transcript of which I have printed, but cannot share publicly for lack of permission. If you were in attendance, I encourage you to download it!)

In other news…

The Jewish Education Olde Thyme Radio Hour is back next week with our second podcast!

ELI talks presents “The Jewish Education Olde Thyme Radio Hour”!

Join hosts Dr. Jon Mitzmacher and Rabbi Marc Baker in a lively conversation with Allison Fine, author of “Matterness: What Fearless Leaders Know About the Power and Promise of Social Media.” We’ll explore the idea of matterness, the implications for Jewish education, and for educational leadership – and take your questions along the way!

This conversation will take place via Google Hangouts on Air.

Information on how to join will be sent to guests in advance of the event.

Space is limited! Be sure to RSVP through Eventbrite to secure your spot in the conversation:

For more about our guest, visit: http://allisonfine.com.

Marc and I had a great prep meeting and we are guaranteeing less “um’s” and more “hmm’s” this go-around! We are thrilled to have Allison Fine as our first official guest and look forward to a great conversation.

For those of you enduring rough winter weather, please stay warm and safe! Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday weekend…

The Transparency Files: What does a network head do all day?

We have a saying here at Schechter: “If you really want to know what we value most, you only have to look in two places – the calendar and the budget.”

And it is true; there are no more valuable resources than our time and our money. How we decide to allocate them is, therefore, the truest test of our values. All the rest is commentary, as they say…

Or, to get at it another way, my younger daughter, Maytal (6), asked me the other day, “Do you just sit at your desk all day looking at your computer?”

Now that I am at about the 1/4-year mark of my first year as Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network, I think it is a reasonable and useful question to ask: What exactly does the head of a network of schools do and are those things the best and most useful allocation of time for those schools or the field?

The first part of the question is pretty easy to answer, and I will attempt to transparently quantify and qualify how I’ve been spending my time. The second question is somewhat a matter of opinion, and although I will share mine, yours might be of even greater value.

That pixellated calendar above is actually a screenshot of my calendar for this week – the first full week of work those of us in the Jewish world have had in a while. I don’t know (yet) if this is a typical (non-travel) week for me, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that it is. Let’s also base the the percentages on a 40-hour work week, knowing that no one actually works that amount of time. Better a straw man to poke at than a pile of straw.

So, let’s see how the numbers stack up for this week:

Let’s start with how I define my terms:

Staff Meetings: These are any meetings that take place with different constellations of Schechter professional staff. It could be a full staff meeting (weekly) or scheduled meetings with members of the professional staff to discuss and work on projects (EduPlanet21, edJEWcon, etc.).
School Consults: This includes conversations with either the head and/or board chair of a member school.
Thought Leadership: This includes activities that further the cause of participating in thought leadership for the field, such as writing articles, blogging or engaging in social media for the sake of providing resources or facilitating conversations.
New Business Development: This includes all activities that could lead to “new business” for the network – projects, initiatives, pilots, opportunities, etc. – that could result in new activities for the network and/or the schools.
Placement: Working with both schools and heads engaged in the search process.
Foundations: This includes reporting on current projects, grant writing for new projects and all the stewardship thereof.
Intra-Network Meetings: This includes all meetings and conversations that take place between the networks and agencies who service the field on current or potential collaborations. This year, of course, it includes work on the upcoming North American Jewish Day School Conference.
Correspondance: Keeping up with email and phone calls!
Board Development: All communication and planning for the development of our lay board.
Fundraising: Raising money for the network and its schools.
Professional Development: Making sure I continue to grow as a leader.
Supervision: Making sure I facilitate the growth of others.
Miscellaneous: Whatever didn’t make a category.

So. That’s what the week of October 20th, 2014 looks like for me.

Again, leaving aside what weeks of travel look like (it will be a busy November!) and whether this one week is truly representative of the rest…is this a good use of my time?

You would have to fold in the rest of the professional team, compare and contrast to our strategic plan, etc., to really give a scientific answer, but my read of it includes the following observations:

These feel like the correct categories of activity for the head of a network of schools.
Considering where Schechter is in its rebirth, I am torn between a variety of activities that all feel critically important – helping to build a board, helping to execute a development plan for long-term sustainability, responding directly to the needs of schools, developing and shepherding new projects and initiatives for the schools and the field, and learning a lot more about the schools and the field. I could and should spend all my time on all of those…
This is a great time to be Schechter! I am extremely proud of our team, our schools and our stakeholders…what we have managed to do in only four months of operating at full strength is extraordinary and hopefully a harbinger of what is to come.
Helping to plan a conference with “systems intelligence” at the heart comes at the right time for us! It creates lots of good energy when the different oars of your work manage to steer you in the same direction. That is definitely the case for Schechter.

Why share this publicly?

Transparency. Accountability. Reflective Practice.

You have a right to know how I spend my time. I want you to know. And I want to learn from you…

…so feel free to comment or contact me directly. Upcoming “Transparency Files” will examine our budget (and budgeting process), what it means when we visit a community and seasonal self-evaluations.

In the meanwhile, my schedule is calling me to next activity!

A Wordle to the Wise

Readers of this blog know a few things…

…I will make bad puns.

…I will take 200 words to say something better said in 20.

…I will use any opportunity to include a gratuitous picture of my children.

…I will worry aloud that only my mother and the people she shares with on Facebook read my blog.

…and

…I love Wordle.

If you are unfamiliar with it, in a nutshell, Wordle (through an algorithm only it knows) takes any piece of written text and represents it graphically in a way which highlights frequently-used words. It is a fantastic device for visually summarizing the essence of a written text. Another great feature is that, not only can you cut-and-paste in any written document, you can type in blogs, websites, etc., and it will go back and search them for content, add it all up, and spit out a Wordle representing the sum of all its written content.

For the last three years, I have used Wordle to visually summarize the content of this blog and compare it to years past in order to reflect on whether I am living up to its goals.

Since I have to wait another year to see if this repurposed blog becomes the adjacent possible I hope that it will, I thought it might be a useful exercise in comparison to take a Wordle of our largely not-yet-reimagined website:

And the text from our new case statement:

The thinking being that the website pretty much reflects Schechter as it was and the case statement pretty much reflects Schechter as it is becoming.

Is it a perfect reflection of either?

Probably not (I don’t think there has been any de-emphasis in “Hebrew” for example), but it hits many of the high notes. It may help us realize what we’ve been emphasizing (or over-emphasizing) or what is missing that perhaps we thought was there. Either way it really gets you thinking…

If you see something interesting in Schechter’s Wordles…let us know in the comments!

Quick Pedagogy Epilogue:

Who is using Wordle in their schools, classrooms or organizations? You can check classroom blogs, school websites, the Torah, your mission statement, a behavioral code of conduct and so on.

How fun!

So…let’s Wordle Up! Find a text that is meaningful to you, create a Wordle, and find a way to share it. The wordle is waiting!

[More bad puns! I am who I am…but I did manage to write a post under 450 words.]