A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

Studying With Auggie

Like a lot of people – particularly educators – I read and was touched by Wonder. The 2012 bestseller by R. J. Palico has inspired schools and parents to take a hard look at themselves and take the moral litmus test that lies at the heart of the book:

How would we respond if Auggie showed up tomorrow?

As a school leader, the question was, “Is my school a place where Auggie would feel safe and loved? Would he succeed here?”

Gross Schechter Skypes with real-life "Auggie" Gabriel Hafter. — Gross Schechter Skypes with WonderKid Gabriel Hafter.

This past week, I was re-introduced to Auggie through a real-life “Wonder” by the name of Gabriel. Through the power of social media and six degrees of separation, I was made aware of Gabriel – a real-life, Jewish “Auggie” who has begun sharing his transformative story with Jewish day schools, including Gross Schechter a few weeks ago and the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston last spring.

It made me ask myself, as a leader of schools, “Are we providing our schools with the resources and support they need to tackle issues of difference in ways that accord with our highest Jewish values?”

I am not sure that we are.

As I continue what I feel is still my self-introduction to the field in this new role, I wanted to do some thinking together about another issue that I have a great deal of passion for – inclusion – and my enthusiasm for Schechter’s growing ability to become the inclusive Jewish day schools our community and families deserve.

We recognize that Schechter schools, Jewish day schools, private schools, etc., are not always capable of handling each and every situation appropriately. It does not mean that we are, in fact, the “best educational setting” for each Jewish child of difference or with special needs. It is hard to imagine any (private) school that can possibly claim to be that – there is way too much variation in resources, mission and children for any one school to be the “best educational setting” for every child. It does mean, however, that we are interested in helping our schools learn to better work with families to determine if they are the best setting, to prepare a structure for children to be successful when they enroll, to establish processes to evaluate successes and failures, and to maintain healthy communication to take next steps as they occur.

[Disclaimer: My wife is a special needs educator whose academic and professional experience is with “special education inclusion”.]

In preparing to write the blog, I reviewed my research in this area I think this link from the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) provides good definitions, a concise history of inclusion, decent explanations of federal law, a fair framing of the debate between “full inclusion” and “resource room”, and examples of academic research. I encourage you to read the whole thing. But for my purposes, let me quote a few highlights:

Inclusion
Inclusion is a term which expresses commitment to educate each child, to the maximum extent appropriate, in the school and classroom he or she would otherwise attend. It involves bringing the support services to the child (rather than moving the child to the services) and requires only that the child will benefit from being in the class (rather than having to keep up with the other students). Proponents of inclusion generally favor newer forms of education service delivery.

This would be an accurate expression of our attitude and aspirations for the children in our schools with special needs. (Please understand that GIFTEDNESS is a SPECIAL NEED. “Inclusion” includes our philosophy of how we strive to meet the needs of gifted students as well.)

I am being this descriptive because I want to address a common concern of parents – how will having special needs students in my child’s class impact the experience of my child? Or, won’t the teacher have to spend so much time focusing on the special needs students that s/he won’t be able to provide my child with the individualized attention we expect in private school?

First the research…

There is no evidence that the inclusion of special needs students has any negative impact on the academic experience of the other students if the classroom is structured and staffed appropriately. This is why the conversation about whether or not a school is the “best educational setting” is so important. We have to be honest with parents about our resources and abilities. We should never bring in a child with needs we are not confident we can meet – that risks harm to the child and to the class. Each child and each situation is different and is handled case by case. But with the right attitude, support, and training – we are moving to be more capable with more students.

So if there is no impact on the academic experience of the other students…might there be other extremely important and positive outcomes of having special needs students in the classroom? YES!

While researchers are cautious in their conclusions, there are some positive signs. In particular, students in special education and regular education showed several positive changes, including:

A reduced fear of human differences accompanied by increased comfort and awareness (Peck et al., 1992);
Growth in social cognition (Murray-Seegert,1989);
Improvement in self-concept of non-disabled students (Peck et. al., 1992);
Development of personal principles and ability to assume an advocacy role toward their peers and friends with disabilities;
Warm and caring friendships (Bogdan and Taylor, 1989).

Do these not seem like the kinds of values a Jewish day school ought to live by? Would this not represent our highest aspirations for the moral development of our children? Does this not seem like a good way of making menchen?

Schechter has a passion for meeting the needs of Jewish children – special or otherwise. One doesn’t have to choose between meeting the needs of special needs children or the highly gifted (or the overwhelming majority of children who are neither). Our schools’ work with children of difference and their families does not detract from their work with all of their other children and families – it enhances it.

To repeat, how we deal with difference in our schools is a moral litmus test…

When my daughter graduates (please God many years from now) from her Schechter school and I watch her walk across the bimah to receive her diploma, my wife and I will surely be proud of her academic achievements (whatever they may be). But we will be even more proud of who she will have become having learned to love and respect all her classmates no matter who they are, what they know or can do, or however quirky their personality traits might be. And we will be blessed for having had the ability to have her educated in a place that didn’t require families to have to choose between.

Gabriel Hafter is a 12 year old from Las Vegas, Nevada. He has Treacher Collins Syndrome. Gabriel has been appointed a WonderKid, by the national Children’s Craniofacial Association. Gabriel speaks to schools around the country, via Skype or in person, about being different, the book, Wonder, by R.J.Palacio, and his anti-bullying campaign to Choose Kind, inspired by the book.

If you would like Gabriel to present his 7 Wonder’s of Choosing Kind campaign to your school, please contact Jackie Hafter via phone at 702-845-3731 or email at [email protected].

Aren’t All Jewish Day Schools “Community” Schools?

Aren’t all Jewish Day Schools “Community” Schools?

Extended preamble…

Some blog posts evolve into academic mini-treatises with ample hyperlinking both for proper crediting and to stimulate further learning.

Some blog posts are born from a passionate feeling and sometimes read like opinion pieces.

Other blog posts are confessional and lead to catharsis (for me) or humanizing (of me).

The blog posts that are the hardest to write – as we are about to discover – are the ones that are born from a genuine question and a desire to solicit a crowdsourced response. Not to drive traffic to my blog or raise my social media profile. But because I am sincerely interested in learning from my colleagues, stakeholders, readers and friends. I am grappling with a difficult question and I am interested in serious, thoughtful, diverse and challenging answers to help me develop an authentic answer (for me).

The reason these posts are the hardest to write is that within the world of education, and the Jewish educational world even more so, the blogosphere is still largely populated by lurkers. You are out there and you are reading blogs (which is great), but you do not (yet) feel comfortable contributing to the talmudic chain of commentary that makes blogging so wonderfully Jewish and potentially valuable. I learn some through the process of writing, to be sure, but I learn a ton through the process of collaborating with you through the commentary.

Let’s make a game of it and let’s aim big. The 20th comment received will receive a prize from me. That means you have to encourage others to comment as well so you can position yourself as number 20. Let’s go for it!

End of extended preamble…

What is a “Community Day School”?

[NOTE: I am PURPOSELY NOT looking up and sharing definitions nor visiting RAVSAK (the Community Day School Network) for answers. Not because I don’t think their answers are the correct ones. They probably are. But because how people – not just people, Heads of School, Board Chairs, Foundations, Donors, – understand what those words mean is at the crux of what I have been thinking about.]

Stuff I Think I Believe:

“Community” and “Pluralism” are not necessarily the same thing but they are sometimes used interchangeably.
Every Jewish day school thinks of itself in terms of creating community, being a community for its students and parents, being a healthy part of the larger Jewish community it lives in, and has an increasingly religiously diverse student population for whom it tries to craft an inclusive nonjudgmental religious community.
To say that a PARDES, Schechter, YU or Orthodox day school is “ideological” and a RAVSAK or Community Day School is “non-ideological” feels like a false dichotomy.

That’s probably controversial enough for now.

I know more about Schechter than anything else and I have firsthand experience heading a Schechter in a Jewish community where it served and serves as the non-Orthodox Jewish day school. It has a diverse student population with levels of Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, unaffiliated, secular Israeli, etc., that are commensurate to many other Schechter schools and, to my understanding, many Community Day Schools.

In terms of Jewish ritual and practice, it looks and feels very much in the “center”. This, too, is similar to many “community day schools” where the “center” is the natural compromise between the various religious communities who make up its population.

Yes, in some cases the driver for Schechter’s center approach is a commitment to Conservative Jewish practice. Yes, in some cases the driver for a Community Day School’s center approach is a commitment to compromise or accommodation. But there are also cases where the reverse is true in both settings and lines remain ever-blurry.

More Stuff I Think I Believe:

There are Orthodox, Conservative and Reform day schools who are explicitly NOT Community Day Schools. They typically thrive in communities with large enough Jewish populations to sustain multiple schools with more targeted religious purposefulness.
There are Orthodox day schools who are Community Day Schools (either by self-defnition or RAVSAK affiliation or both).
There are Reform day schools who are Community Day Schools (ditto).
If Orthodox and Reform day schools can be ideologically-identified and still labeled “Community”…why not Schechter? [Fact: There are Schechter schools who define themselves as both. There are already Schechter day schools who are Community Day Schools.]
There are also Community Day Schools who live and breathe a mission-driven pluralism that is clearly nondenominational or post-denominational or trans-denominational. Whether you want to call “pluralism” an ideology in its own right is a fair question, but the point here is to acknowledge that there are absolutely Community Day Schools whose approach to Jewish living and learning is mission-driven and clearly not Reform, Conservative or Orthodox. It wouldn’t be fair to leave that out.

Here’s why it matters to me.

It is no secret that in recent years there have been a number of Schechter schools who have explored changing their official affiliation status from “Schechter” to “Community”. In a few cases this has genuinely been about a purposeful, mission-driven decision to change the way Judaism lives and breathes and/or to change dramatically the rigor and commitment to Jewish Studies for whatever reason. In many cases, however, the exploration is born from a feeling or hope that by changing their external status it will somehow cause a spike in enrollment or fundraising because it is signaling that the school is now of and for the community in a way that it wasn’t or couldn’t be as a “Schechter”.

This perception remains despite the data proving that the former is not true and the fact that Schechter schools can be and often are as “of and for the community” as any other kind of school.

Changing one’s affiliation status without any corresponding change to mission does a disservice to affiliation by rendering it a business equation. It reduces “Schechter” to a caricature and “Community” to a strategy. It denies both the full meaning of their philosophies and confuses the marketplace.

It is also the case (see Jewish Montessori) that schools that don’t see themselves as “Schechter” by its narrowest definition are beginning to explore how they may fit in with “Schechter” by a more expansive understanding of what it means and has to say about Jewish education. And so the lines between schools and networks blur even more…

What does it all mean? For our schools and for the field? Aren’t all Jewish day schools “community” schools? And why does it matter anyway?

Don’t just talk amongst yourselves! Talk to me and to each other.

COMMENT. (Remember…20th comment gets a prize. Spam doesn’t count!)

Labor Pains

The timing of the Labor Day, the holiday created to celebrate the American labor movement, with the return to school of one of the most picked-upon occupations in our society, teachers, does not escape me.

As reported over the summer in the Jewish Journal in Los Angeles,

As true believers in education, Jews have served as teachers and professors, as well as active parents watching fretfully over the public schools — even those that are not widely attended by Jewish students. Jews have voted overwhelmingly in favor of school expenditures. As beliefs in science and education have been challenged on the right, Jews have strongly retained loyalty to their heritage of intellectual inquiry from the European Enlightenment.

Politically, the Jewish community historically worked hard to support teachers and, in doing so, public teacher unions (and unions in general). However, in recent years as educational reform movements have begun to take hold, a genuine debate has broken out within the Jewish community (as in the larger American community) about the balance between protecting the rights of teachers and serving the needs of students. [I realize that those do not have to be opposites.] Fractures and fissures of support have burst open.

As a practical issue – for better or for worse – this will likely cease to be an actual issue in the Jewish day school world as there are less than a handful of unionized schools left. That does not mean that those of us charged with running schools or networks of schools do not have responsibility for supporting, elevating and professionalizing the field. Union or no union, our schools are only going to be as good as our teachers.

Because as much as this particular debate in our society has to do with the costs of public education, the brush being painted of the teaching profession tars all – public, private, charter, and alternative.

And I think it does real damage.

The truth is that if we ever want to get serious about new forms of education (not reform, but new forms) we will need to hold the teaching profession in high regard. I don’t know how tearing it down can lead to anything productive. No one goes into education for the money. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t well-compensated educators (and by the by, why would there be something wrong with that?), but those whose sole purpose in choosing a profession is making money surely do not choose to be teachers.

Teaching is noble, but not all teachers may be noble. I am not naive. There should be accountability in teaching and I don’t pretend to know how to address that in a unionized school. It is hard enough to do in a private school without unionized teachers. But I do know that whatever legitimate frustration there is about a lack of accountability ought not delegitimate the entire profession.

I wrote in one my earliest blog posts of my belief that teaching is a sacred profession.

I mean that literally; I believe that teaching is a religious act.

I believe this to be true of all teaching – not the teaching of religious subjects or by religious people – but, that an inner-city math lesson is as much a religious act as is a Rabbinics class in a Jewish day school. Because so much of teaching is relational (with your students, your parents, your colleagues, etc.) and because in order to relate you must acknowledge the divine in others, I really believe that teaching is in and of itself “religious”. [You can substitute “spiritual” if it makes you more comfortable.] I do not think it is an accident that many teachers consider their work a “calling” and not a “career”.

And so on this Labor Day weekend, to the teachers who have been called and the parents who partner with them, I offer words from one of my most favorite books on teaching by Maria Harris:

One of the great sorrows in human life is the discovery, too late, of our own beauty and of the beauty of much that we do. Such is often the case with teachers, as we contemplate ourselves and our vocation. At the deepest level, every teacher wants to become a better teacher, even a great teacher; in moments of insight, every teacher is aware of hidden gifts of creativity and imagination.

But often the pressures, deadlines, and exigencies of dailiness keep teachers from standing back and viewing their work with the care both they and their work deserve. Often when there might be times at faculty meetings or on in-service days, demands for the newest, the latest, and the updated can get in the way and preclude the possibility of standing back, of being still and recalling the excitement and lure which drew us to teaching in the first place.

We need an arena, a context, and an occasion to contemplate our teaching and to recover, if we have lost them, the dreams and the hopes, the vision and the grandeur that lie at the core of teaching. We need an opportunity to rediscover the creative, artistic teachers we are and were meant to be.

I hope teaching in our schools provide just that opportunity.

How We Spent Your Summer Vacation

Greetings from (my) home office!

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

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

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

Here is how we spent your summer vacation:

Summer 2014 Update

Programming: Connecting the Schools

Coaching

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

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

Eduplanet21

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

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

Programming: Developing Leadership & Professional Practice

edJEWcon

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

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

iJED

A three-day conference held in March 2014

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

Machon Hadar Summer Institute

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

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

Capacity Building

Development

First Development Director started April 1.

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

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

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

Governance

Established 501c3 status

Board of Trustees

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

Advisory Board

Held first meeting in May.

Leadership and Staffing

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

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

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

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

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

Schechter: Becoming the Adjacent Possible for Jewish Education

So…how was your summer vacation?

Passing the torch to my friend, mentor and new Head of MJGDS, Rabbi Jim Rogozen.

In June, I wrote my last blog post as head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School (MJGDS) and on July 1, I officially assumed my new role as Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network. It has been an extremely busy couple of months and as I have been finding my way in my new work, I put my blogging on hold so as to give me time to decide how to repurpose and reimagine who I am blogging for and what I ought to be blogging about.

If you are regular reader of this blog (and “thank you” if you are!), you know that it was born out of a desire to lead by example. I had inherited a school that embraced a culture of blogging and it did not seem fair to expect students and teachers to blog regularly if I wasn’t willing to do the same. And so in July 2010, I wrote my first blog post and pushed it out into the world.

I chose to title the blog, “A Floor, But No Ceiling,” which reflects my belief about teaching and learning – namely that there should be a floor, but no ceiling on expectations, achievements or possibilities for learning. I imagined my primary audience – if there was going to be an audience at all – would be the stakeholders of the school and I tried to find topics I imagined would be of interest for parents, board members, donors, supporters, etc., of this one Jewish day school in Jacksonville, Florida.

Perhaps it was the forced discipline of weekly blogging. Perhaps it was my wandering attention span. Perhaps it was the generous patronage of folk with a much greater online presence than my own. Perhaps it was the timing.

Who knows?

Over time, it became clear that the blog had developed multiple audiences and I tried to shift both my writing style and my topics accordingly. I could never predict when a post would resonate or with whom. And since even today most blog readers prefer to remain lurkers rather than active commentators, it remains difficult to be really sure you aren’t just whispering into the wind.

So…

…having come to believe in the power of blogging, I have every intention of resuming weekly blog posts, beginning with this one.

But…

…who am I writing this blog post for and what will I be writing about?

History teaches that the accurate answer will more likely evolve in time than be what I am suggesting here, but I do have some thoughts to get me started.

As was the case before, this is a professional blog. I am blogging as the Executive Director of a network of diverse Schechter schools throughout the world doing the critical and holy work of educating the next generation of Jewish children. I would hope that those who are already stakeholders of their local Schechter schools and for the larger mission of “Schechter” will find this blog a valuable resource. And I would hope that those who care passionately about Jewish day school, Jewish education and education will find this blog a useful read as I attempt to tackle important issues of the day, share perspective, answer questions, field feedback, and – in my own way – try to create a commonplace of exploration, discussion and celebration for the sacred task of educating Jewish children.

As was the case before, this is a professional blog written by a particularly personality…mine. I am blogging as Jon Mitzmacher. I don’t have dual identities and although I respect those who have both professional and personal identities, I neither have the time nor the interest in maintaining them. My understanding of authenticity leads me to be me. You will get my love for words you need to look up. You will get my many ellipses, asides, and occasional snark. You will get glimpses into my family when appropriate. You will get the extra 400 words that a more parsimonious (see!) writer doesn’t need to get to the point.

My colleague, Andrea Hernandez, who I am thrilled will be one of my daughter’s teachers next year at MJGDS and continues to lead edJEWcon into a bright future, introduced me to a phrase that I loved so much that I both wish I had thought of it and toyed with the idea of changing my blog’s title to it…and that is “The Adjacent Possible”.

It is not a new concept. A Google search will reveal lots of articles going back to 2010. Here is the definition that struck me from Steven Johnson’s fantastic essay for the Wall Street Journal called “The Genius of the Tinkerer.”

The adjacent possible is a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself. The adjacent possible captures both the limits and the creative potential of change and innovation. The strange and beautiful truth about the adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them. Each new combination opens up the possibility of other new combinations.

And so goes my “a-ha” moment from the Summer of 2014.

That’s how I see what is happening in Schechter schools – an adjacent possible for the future of education. That’s what role I see for Schechter in the field – learning from and contributing to a larger adjacent possible for the future of the Jewish people. Let our ability to serve as incubators of innovation catalyze the field. Let our thirst for the new and the better stimulate and foster healthy collaborations with our sister networks of schools, foundations, federations, stakeholders, supports and friends, both in the Jewish world and beyond.

What do I hope to accomplish with this blog?

I hope – with your help – to make the adjacent possible.

We’ll start next week with a summer update of all things Schechter. Your comments and questions on this or anything else are genuinely welcome and if offered, will be addressed.

It is good to be back.

Saying L’hitraot, Not Shalom

This is the opening assembly of my first day of school at MJGDS.

So, I guess this is it.

Four years and 177 blog posts later, it is time for me to officially say good-bye. Or, more appropriately for a whole host of reasons – see you later.

It is “see you later” for my Jacksonville community because we will continue to be part of it – as parents, congregants, and active community members.

It is “see you later” for the blog because after a couple of weeks of transition, packing, and setting up the literal “home office”, I will be reintroducing “A Floor, But No Ceiling” and repurposing it in alignment with new my job as Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network.

I cannot think of better words of farewell to offer other than those that I shared with our community during our annual L’Dor V’dor event celebration to those whose generosity allow our schools to thrive and succeed. And so without further adieu, I bid “l’hitraot” for now…

I got the call during Maytal’s third birthday party that I was coming to Jacksonville and it was just a few weeks later that I first had the chance to address this community at a L’Dor V’Dor brunch honoring Judy Reppert for her years of service, while wearing Jack Mizrahi’s borrowed clothes as my luggage had not made it with us on the journey. So it is only fitting that my last chance to address this special community comes again with L’Dor V’Dor.

It seems like only yesterday that Jaimee, Eliana, Maytal and I were on an airplane from Las Vegas to Jacksonville to begin this amazing experience of being part of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, the Galinsky Academy and the Jacksonville Jewish Center. And now, four extraordinary years later, my chapter in the story of our schools is drawing to a close.

There is much to be proud of what we have accomplished together during my time here. Our day school’s almumni’s achievements astound; our volunteer’s passion is unmatched; and our faculty’s love unrivaled. The Martin J. Gottlieb Day School’s reinvention as a leading 21^st century learning institution with an international reputation for excellence is an achievement that required the vision and courage of a synagogue to found and maintain a Jewish day school in Jacksonville, Florida and the generosity of a Jewish community that continues to believe in the power of Jewish education. And assuredly, none of it happens without the remarkable Mel and Debbie Gottlieb who help give us the tools to build and rebuild a school deserving of their beloved son Marty’s name, of blessed memory.

Two years ago we launched Galinsky Academy – in honor or the enduring spirit of selfless L’dor V’dor shown in the lives of Samuel and Esther Galinsky – and announced the naming of the DuBow Preschool, whose gift endowed to the Academy demonstrated not only the DuBow Family’s commitment to the Preschool’s future, but to all our children as it helps allow all our schools and programs to deliver on their promises and inspire our children to do and be their best.

Galinsky Academy declared our intent to provide Jewish children of all ages the highest quality education possible. Galinsky Academy consists now of all the schools of the Jacksonville Jewish Center – the DuBow Preschool, the Bernard & Alice Selevan Religious School, the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, and our youth and high school programs. It represents our commitment that all of our children – regardless of the path their parents choose – will benefit from the finest teachers, an engaged clergy, the highest-quality curriculum, innovative informal educational experiences and the most cutting-edge technology. Galinsky Academy simply is a Jewish learning organization like no other.

There is another reason I feel it appropriate that I am being honored as part of a L’dor V’dor event as it is only because of L’dor V’dor that we have been able to raise the bar at our schools and it is only because of the opportunity and support of this community that the Schechter Network took an interest in our school and in me. The career path I am about to embark on simply does become available to me if I had not been blessed to wind up in this nurturing and special place.

There is so much yet to accomplish in the Martin J. Gottlieb’s and Galinsky Academy’s bright futures, but I leave with the confidence that the chapter of history that we have written together will carry our amazing schools and programs forward to the next chapters to be written in the many years to come. As it says in the Mishnah: “Lo alecha ha’mlacha legmor…” – “It is not incumbent on you to finish the work, neither are you free to exempt yourself from it.” (Mishnah: Avot, 2.16) I am already working closely with Rabbi Jim Rogozen during this period of transition, but knowing him and our schools as I do, I know that in his capable hands we will only go from strength to strength.

I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to personally thank many of the people who have worked so hard to advise and support me. Thank you Don Kriss, Hazzan Holzer, Rabbi Olitzky, Shereen Canady, Lois Tompkins, Gayle Bailys, Scott Zimmerman and Lori Schoettler for your collegiality, your collaboration, your guidance, your talent and for making this such an easy place to work. Thank you Rabbi Lubliner for your mentoring and your trust. Thank you to Mauri Mizrahi, Gaby Bubis and Alyse Nathans who have chaired our day school and academy and have guided them with strength and care. Thank you to Michael DuBow and Fred Pozin for your engagement, wise counsel and commitment to our schools. Thank you to all the committee chairs and committee volunteers – too many to mention – whose gifts of wisdom and wealth behind the scenes make it all possible.

Thank you to Talie Zaifert for four years of admissions excellence and friendship. Thank you to Carol Wagnon for pioneering our professionalization of development. Thank you to Jessie Roman for being the consummate team player. Special thank you to my executive assistant, Robyn Waring. She is the glue that holds the place together. She puts on band-aids and puts out fires. She’s the best. Extra special thank you to Edith Horovitz whose energizer-bunny-spirit and remarkable rapport astound and who has been as much a teacher and a friend as she has been a remarkable Middle Vice Principal. Thank you to my teachers and to all our teachers. A curriculum is a piece of paper. All the credit for our schools’ accomplishments goes to you. I am proud to have been your head of school and academy.

Thank you to all the parents and the students. Thank you for entrusting me with your children. The responsibility for your children’s education has been the most sacred and holy responsibility I have ever had. I will miss terribly the daily interactions with students, parents and teachers that have defined my professional life for nearly 15 years. But I paid my tuition and my synagogue dues on Monday…so I am ready for the carpool line and congregational life!

Please know that my commitment to the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School does not expire when my contract does! In July, when I become the head of the Schechter Network, proud to call MJGDS one our flagship schools, I will remain inspired to do my part – with you – to carry this dream forward into the years ahead. I am grateful to Schechter for working with me to re-imagine what leadership can look like in order to allow me to continue to live in this amazing community and to send my children to this amazing school. I am also ready to continue my commitment to L’dor V’dor. We continue to live in difficult economic times and we hope you will continue to be inspired – as my family is – to support this fund each and every year as a key component to sustaining the future of our schools, our children, and our community.

It is humbling to officially take my place in the chain of educators who have ensured the past and now hand off to another to secure the future. So, thank you for giving me a second chance to interview when I blew the first one! (True story.) Thank you for the extraordinary lengths you have gone to make us feel welcome. Thank you for taking care of me and of my family. Thank you for inspiring me to be my best and for supporting me when I wasn’t. Thank you for opening doors I never imagined possible and working with me so I could walk through them. And above all, thank you for your unwavering commitment to Jewish education.

A night like tonight celebrates what we already know to be true – that Galinsky Academy has succeeded in becoming so much more than a place where children learn, but a place where families find community. A chapter in our family’s story like this one confirms what Jaimee, Eliana, Maytal and I already know to be true – that the Jacksonville Jewish Center has become so much more than a place where our children go to school and I go to work, but our community…our home.

Todah rabah rabah.

The Transparency Files: MJGDS 2014-2015 Faculty

It is hard to believe that the school year (for students!) ended today at noon! It is hard to believe that my time as a head of school (with students!) ended along with it…

Next week, I will likely write my last blog post as Head of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and Galinksy Academy before taking a week or two off to reimagine and relaunch this blog as the Executive Director of the Schechter Day School Network. But for today there is, indeed, one last critical piece of business to attend to – to announce who will be leading this remarkable school into the 2014-2015 school year!

I went back to read last year’s posts on this same topic and realized that there were a LOT of big changes heading into this year (BYOiPad, Community of Kindness, a reshuffling of the 21st Century Learning Team, as well as other faculty moves); so many that I needed two blog posts just to explain them all!

The good news is that we have already spent plenty of time discussing the major change at the top, but outside that we will go into next year with remarkable stability and strength. However, before officially announcing the staff, I do want to highlight what few changes there will be.

Mrs. Shelly Zavon, our 4th-5th Grade Mathematics and Social Studies Teacher and longtime 5th Grade General Studies Teacher, will be leaving us to join her husband in their family business. Mrs. Zavon is a consummate professional who was a big part of our successful move to Singapore Math, departmentalization of Grades 4 & 5, and the launch of BYOiPad. She had the confidence of her parents, the respect of her colleagues and the love of her students. She will be missed.

We are very fortunate, however, to be able to promote from within our very own Ms. Michelle Lewis who spent this year as our 5th Grade General Studies Assistant Teacher. A recent graduate from Northern Illinois University, Ms. Lewis impressed all the faculty she worked with this year with her work ethic and her talent. She is familiar with our curriculum and our program. We are excited to see her grow into a lead role!

We are saying good-bye as well to Talie Zaifert, our outstanding Admissions & Marketing Director. Her warm smile was the first step in many a MJGDS family’s journey through Jewish day school. After many years of excellence, including developing a national reputation for use of social media, Mrs. Zaifert is ready for new challenges and we wish her all the best in her new ventures.

We are lucky to be welcoming Mrs. Claudia Margolis into the position! Mrs. Margolis has a professional marketing background and with three children in our schools next year, she will be in a terrific position to pick up the baton and keep running. We look forward to her joining the team this July.

In addition, we will be bidding farewell to our beloved “Mrs. B.”, Carla Bernard, who after a long and distinguished teaching career – mostly as a lead teacher for Grade Two – will be moving on to new experiences. Generations of students have counted Mrs. B. amongst their favorites on their journey through our school. Hers is a career worthy of celebration. Her daily smiling presence will be missed…hopefully she will join the sub list and grace us with that smile for many more years to come!

We are also saying farewell to Ms. Emma Boette who after a successful year as an Assistant Teacher in Grade 3 will be moving into a lead position of her own at a local charter school. We wish her all the luck in the world as she assumes her new, well-deserved, responsibilities.

Finally, we are very pleased to announce the hiring of Mrs. Marci Rogozen as our new Middle School Jewish Studies Tanakh Teacher! Mrs. Rogozen has her Master’s from the American Jewish University and her Bachelor’s from the University of Washington and has had a distinguished career in the teaching of Jewish Studies – most recently at Golda Och Academy (a large Schechter K-12 in New Jersey) and at Gross Schechter Day School (a K-8 in Cleveland). Although our clergy will still have meaningful teaching roles in our school, this addition ensures continuity and consistency on our Middle School Jewish Studies Faculty.

With all the announcements and explanations out of the way, it is my pleasure to introduce the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School 2014-2015 Faculty & Staff:

Lower School General Studies Faculty

Kindergarten: Mrs. Arlene Yegelwel & (A Second Teacher to be hired soon!)
First Grade: Ms. Pamela Lewis & Mrs. Shannon McVearry
Second Grade: Ms. Amy Stein & (A Second Teacher to be hired soon!)
Third Grade: Mr. Seth Carpenter & (A Second Teacher to be hired soon!)
Fourth Grade/Fifth Grade Language Arts: Mrs. Andrea Hernandez & Mrs. Dee Ann Wulbern
Fourth Grade/Fifth Grade Mathematics & Social Studies: Ms. Michelle Lewis & Mrs. Joni Shmunes

Lower School Jewish Studies Faculty

Kitah Gan: Morah Edith (Ita) Horovitz
Kitah Alef: Morah Robin (Rachel) Morris & Morah Hannah Bendit
Kitah Bet: Morah Rivka Cohen
Kitah Gimmel: Morah Liat Walker
Kitah Dalet: Morah Rivka Cohen
Kitah Hay: Morah Liat Walker
Kitah Bet-Gimmel Resource Teacher: Morah Rivkah Ohayon
Kitah Dalet-Hay Resource Teacher: Morah Mazal Spalter
JS Assistant Teacher: Morah Shosh Orgad
JS Assistant Teacher: Morah Ilana Manasse

Middle School Faculty

Science: Mrs. Karianne Jaffa
Social Studies: Mrs. Judy Reppert
Language Arts: Mrs. Stephanie Teitelbaum
Middle School Mathematics: Mrs. Lauren Resnick & Mrs. Amy McClure
Hebrew: Morah Rivka Ohayon
Rabbinics: Morah Edith (Ita) Horovitz
Bible: Morah Marci Rogozen
Clergy: Rabbi Jonathan Lubliner, Rabbi Howard Tilman, & Hazzan Holzer

Resource Teachers

K-5 Science: Mrs. Karianne Jaffa
Music: Mr. Evan Susman
Art: Mrs. Shana Gutterman
PE: Coach Jared Goldman
Jewish Music & Tefillah: Hazzan Jesse Holzer

21st Century Learning Team

Library & Media Specialist: Mrs. Karin Hallett
Visual Literacy Specialist: Mrs. Shana Gutterman
Community of Kindness Coordinator: Mrs. Stephanie Teitelbaum
Technology Coordinator: Mrs. Kim Glasgal

MJGDS Administrative Team

Administrative Assistant: Mrs. Jessie Roman
Executive Assistant: Mrs. Robyn Waring
Admissions & Marketing Director: Mrs. Claudia Margolis
Middle School Vice-Principal: Mrs. Edith Horovitz
Head of School: Rabbi Jim Rogozen

I will be doing my best to clean up the remaining assistant positions over the next couple of weeks. We have already interviewed some great candidates and, once confirmed, I hope to have it complete before I officially turn the reigns over on July 1.

I am looking forward to my final days with teachers next week and sharing some closing thoughts after four of the most important, special, and extraordinary years of my life.

Preparing to say good-bye…

[Programming Note: I regret that I need to delay my final “Transparency File” introducing the 2014-2015 MJGDS Faculty for one additional week. We have been working hard on our budget and will need until next week to make it final. I cannot issue contracts until that time…and so even though I do not expect much drama in the announcement, I do need to wait until teachers have signed contracts before I announce them!]

I posted this last night about an hour before Graduation.

And then I hit them up with one of these before diplomas…

I actually do not often speak with notes, but because I like to offer them some personal words, some inside jokes, some Jon-isms, I do occasionally jot them down. Those that were there will understand the full context…those that weren’t…you might get a taste for how we do things here. Or, I should say, how I used to do things here…

Last night really marks the beginning the of the end of my time as Head of School of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School and Head of the Galinksy Academy. Although I will be here through June, with the last day of school with students next week and with teachers, the week after, my time is being spent winding down, trying to take it all in, and reflecting on what I have learned during my four years at this remarkable institution.

This is my 175th blog post.

I never blogged before coming here.

My blog is entitled, “A Floor, But No Ceiling” because that is what I feel our primary responsibility is to all the students entrusted to our care. That if you place your child in our school, that we will know them better than anyone can and, thus, will have the ability to push them (with love) reach their maximum potential. That although there has to be a floor (grade level) for each student, there should never be a ceiling on growth. They should fly as high as their talent and drive can take them.

I hope during my four years we have lived up to that high bar…I know we have tried our very hardest.

My blog is also described as, “How one Jewish Day School Head marries 21st century learning with a 5000 year-old tradition”. This is a reflection on my educational philosophy about Jewish day school education and probably makes up the content of the majority of my blog posts. As we shall see in a moment, it is probably the case that I have written more towards the “21st century learning” pole than the “5,000 year-old tradition”, but it is the dialectic between them that is at the heart of my interest as an educator.

To test that theory, let’s look at a Wordle representing the 174 blog posts I have written to date:

Not bad! Outside of some miscellaneous words (we obviously spent a lot of time blogging about “Whack-A-Haman”!) that the algorthym picks up, this is not too far off from what I would believe is the appropriate content for a blog that has attempted to have the parents of the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School as its primary audience and the larger fields of Jewish day school and education as secondary and tertiary audiences.

I am honestly not sure yet how the blog will transition when I transition. I will have a different audience to be sure, but have not yet figured out what that means in terms of what I will be writing about. I have a few weeks to think about it before the blog moves from this site to the Schechter Network site at which time I will reintroduce it (and me) and attempt to lay out what new shapes and directions this blog will take.

In the meanwhile, I will spend my final blog posts here continuing to reflect on my experiences and fulfilling my responsibility to communicate essential information and truths to our parents.

Thanks to all who came out to graduation last night. It was a special evening for all. I am looking forward to our VPK “Moving Up” Ceremony at the DuBow Preschool next Tuesday and to teaching during Shavuot here at the Jacksonville Jewish Center. I am also looking forward to honoring and saying our official good-bye to my colleague and friend Rabbi Jesse Olitzky on June 4th as part of our closing L’Dor V’Dor Donor Appreciation Event.

[Yes, I’m there too…but come to say good-bye to Rabbi O.! We’re not going anywhere!]

The Transparency Files: Standardized Testing

This is our fourth year of publishing the “Grade Equivalent Scores” for the Iowa Test of Basic Skills or ITBS – the standardized test we take annually at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School. (We did not have comparison data the first year we published results.) I also blogged that first year about our overall philosophy regarding the proper context for standardized testing.

There remains some confusion about the proper understanding of what a “grade equivalent score” is and, more importantly, is not. I am happy to refer you to a thorough explanation, but if you want the quick summary:

Grade-equivalent scores attempt to show at what grade level and month your child is functioning. However, grade-equivalent scores are not able to show this. Let me use an example to illustrate this. In reading comprehension, your son scored a 7.3 grade equivalent. The seven represents the grade level while the 3 represents the month. 7.3 would represent the seventh grade, third month, which is December. The reason it is the third month is because September is zero, October is one, etc. It is not true though that your son is functioning at the seventh grade level since he was never tested on seventh grade material. He was only tested on fifth grade material. That’s why the grade-equivalent scores should not be used to decide at what grade level a students is functioning.

We do not believe that standardized test scores represent the only, nor surely the best, evidence for academic success. Our goal continues to be providing each student with a “floor, but no ceiling” representing each student’s maximum success. Our best outcome is still producing students who become lifelong learners.

But I also don’t want to undersell the objective evidence that shows that the work we are doing here does in fact lead to tangible success!

Our graduates the last four years have successfully placed into the high school programs of their choice. Each one had a different ceiling – they are all different – but working with them, their families and their teachers, we successfully transitioned them all to the schools and programs they qualified for.

And now for four years running, despite all the qualifications and caveats, our ITBS scores continue to demonstrate excellence. Excellence within the grades and between them. And let’s be clear, this academic excellence comes with an inclusive admissions process.

That’s the headline…let’s look more closely at the story.

First up is “Language”.

Remember…in order to track a class you have to compare 2012 to 2013 to 2014. For example, in 2012, the Language Grade Equivalent of Average for Grade Two was 3.4. In 2013, those kids in Grade Three scored 4.9. In 2014 those same kids in Grade Four scored 6.8. That class “grew” 1.5 from 2012 to 2013 and “grew” another 1.9 to this. (Also, the scale stops at 13…it is the highest score available.)

The positive, of course, is that each grade is functioning at an extremely high level! There are dips up and down, but when both the averages and the diversity level is high, it is hard to find much to point to. One data point to explore is that almost every class grew over a full grade level, but there is some “flatness” between Kindergarten and Grade One. They still have high averages, but this is worth looking at further. It could be that Kindergarden’s high starting point is a mismatch with Grade One curriculum, for example. This is one of the benefits of not teaching to the test…it can sometimes uncover gaps in curriculum.

Let’s move onto “Reading”.

Here again the news is largely positive! Most grades have growth of at least one grade level, despite high starting points. Grades One and Three were slightly less. Next year when we fully embrace the Daily Five, we will have to pay attention to these scores to see how it impacts Grades One-Three. There was also a dip from Grade 7 to Grade 8 – these scores are awfully high to begin with, but we will have to track to see if this is an anomaly or becomes a trend.

Let’s look at “Math”. $MJGDS ITBS 2014 - Math$

Again, the overwhelming news is positive. This marks the third year we are using Singapore Math in Grades K-5, the second year of departmentalization in Grades Four & Five, and we added a new Middle School Math Teacher. The only trends worth noting is the relatively flat growth in the youngest grades. The grade averages, even in those grades, are appropriately high and the class averages still show growth. It is the rate of growth we will need to explore. [NOTE: It takes a lot of courage for teachers to work under this level of transparency.] We have noted in the past that the curriculum tends to start out slow and build, and now after a couple of years of similar results it is time to revisit how we supplement the curriculum in the lower grades to ensure maximal growth. It is also worth noting the extreme jumps in the Middle School this year. This could be due to the impact of students coming out the Lower School with better skills from having been more fully in Singapore Math or it could be the impact of professional growth on our Middle School Faculty…or both!

To sum up, despite our focus on individual growth, our average growth continues to significantly outpace national percentiles and grade equivalency scores. Does “reflection lead to achievement” at MJGDS? Does being a 21st century learning pioneer translate into high academic success?

Four years in a row may not be conclusive, but it may be heading towards it!

Please know that all receiving teachers will have prior years’ data and be charged with making the next year even better. They have been up to the task these last four years and we look forward to more learning, more growth and more excellence in the year to come.

The Transparency Files: Annual Parent Survey

After making transparent the results of my own evaluation by both myself and my faculty, it is time to turn to our other annual survey: the Annual Parent Survey. [For comparison sake, you are welcome to explore last year’s reflection.]

I will try to highlight any trends I see over the years as well as indicate anything of import in this year’s survey.

The first trend is that this year more parents (32 vs 22 vs. 39 vs. 64) filled out surveys! This is the first time the number has gone up, although it is still a low number considering this represents the number of students whose parents filled them out. (Remember, it isn’t that 32 separate parents took the survey. It is the parents of 32 students (many of whom are siblings) who took the survey.

Possible explanations for ongoing low turnout?

Families could be thrilled with what’s going on. Families could be resigned that the results are not taken seriously enough to invest the time in. There could be a certain amount of apathy. Or perhaps we are not marketing the surveys enough.

Possible explanations for slightly higher turnout this year?

Families could be more satisfied or unsatisfied than last year. Families may believe that the results are taken seriously enough to invest the time in.

Regardless, we have the data we have, so in the spirit of hoping to learn from whatever there is to learn…let’s move on to the results.

This actually maps pretty well to last year’s distribution once you take into account class size. Let’s look at the BIG PICTURE:

The score is still promising, although a bit lower. On a scale of 1-10, our average score wound up being a 7.8. Last year we scored an 8.0. It is a fairly stable score – especially considering the sample – but definitely leaves us some room to grow. Let’s dig deeper.

[If you would like to see the full text of the questions, I need to refer you back to last year’s blog post. Our survey software changed and I cannot create a clean graph that has the full labels written out. For consistency sake, I like using the same survey each year, but we may revisit this in the future.]

When it comes to communication, we dipped down almost a full point in just about every category (except electronic communication). The biggest drop came in providing opportunities for parents to be involved in student learning (which was the highest improvement last year after having been the lowest one the prior year). Another decrease – and one that takes me by surprises – was in parent-teacher conferences, which this year saw us expand our Student-Led Conferences from Grades 4-5 to Grades 4-8. Feedback we received specific to those conferences was positive, so I would have imagined scoring better here. We will have to go back and be sure we are being clear in what our expectations are in the new format and whether we are meeting them. I am additionally disappointed considering our renewed emphasis on “Community of Kindness” that our sense of being welcoming dropped. I do wonder if this is a result of increased expectations, which should only stimulate us to reach higher. And one place to keep working appears to be ongoing communication about children’s academic status.

All in all, it is a disappointment to see us drop in this area and we will need to do our due diligence in reflecting and planning to do better. [I will have a thought at the end about what this all means in light of being in transition to a new head of school.]

I know it is a little crowded, so let me break down some of the highlights.

Let me unpack the non-subject specific areas first:

Very similar to above, everything is down about a point.
One category worth watching is homework. We have completely revised the homework guidelines and philosophy this year and I will be very curious to see how this changes in next year’s survey.

General Studies:

The big picture remains stable (as does our overall school satisfaction number).
Continue to be pleased with the impact of Singapore Math and look to see next year what the impact of expanded use of the Daily 5 will be.
The greatest jump up was in Science! I will attribute this having a first-time, full-time K-8 Science Instructor.
But there is still room to grow. Writing took a drop. Don’t know if this is connected to our iPad initiative and what the perception of that is on “writing”, but I do know that writing is a critical skill and we either need to do a better job hitting our writing benchmarks and/or we need to do a better job (as it says above) communicating to parents about what we are doing in this curricular area.

Jewish Studies, Resources and Extracurricular Activities:

Our marks in all these areas are up from last year! Perhaps the renewed commitment to Hebrew immersion has finally kicked in, but our Jewish Studies marks are way up and that is something to be proud of!
All our resources are up and even our extracurricular activities went up! We have had new offerings this year and hopefully they are something we can continue to build on.

So there you have it for 2013-2014!

Thanks to all the parents who took the time and care to fill out surveys. In addition to the multiple choice questions, there were opportunities for open-ended responses. They added an additional layer of depth; one which is difficult to summarize for a post like this. But please know that all comments will be shared with those they concern as we use this data to make enhancements and improvements headed into next year. This is especially true in a year of transition.

As I begin to work with Rabbi Rogozen to prepare for his assumption of this headship, my hope and my prayer is simple…

Everything that we already do well, I hope under Rabbi Rogozen’s leadership we continue to do and do even better. And in each area that we have room to grow, I hope with Rabbi Rogozen’s experience and expertise we grow and grow demonstrably. I will surely share my thoughts as my time here draws to a close about what we accomplished and experienced together while I was here. But as a returning parent and as someone who cares deeply about this school, my thoughts about the future could not be more clear – let it only be better and brighter than today…and I am confident that it will!