parents – A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

The Siddur is a Time Machine

Here are the words I shared with Kitah Alef this morning in celebration of their Kabbalat Ha’Siddur:

A morning like this inspires a few thoughts about time…

Jewish time is a dance between the straight line of temporal life and a circle of sacred moments. On the one hand we move from one rite of passage to the next; our children are born, they take their first steps, they speak their first words, they make their first friends, they attend their first day of school, and one day they receive their first siddur. On the other hand, we return and revisit waystations of meaning – Shabbat comes each week, Rosh Chodesh comes each month, holidays and festivals come each year – and each year Kitah Alef receives their first siddurim. For those of you for whom this is not your first Kabbalat Ha’Siddur you are sitting in both spaces – for your child it is the next stage of their trek through life; as a parent you are returning to a sacred family moment. I believe that part of the magic of living a Jewish life is to recognize and to celebrate when and where this line and this circle intersect.

One of our school’s North Stars is that “we are all on inspiring Jewish journeys” and the Kabbalat Ha’Siddur is a significant stop on a journey that began together under the chuppah on the first days of Junior and Senior Kindergarten. But by linking this moment to Tefillah – to prayer – we are teaching our children and, perhaps, reminding ourselves of an important idea. For all the reasons we can and do pray – to express gratitude, to connect to community, to be part of a chain in history, to offer petition, to engage in mindfulness, to talk to God, to take an opportunity to measure ourselves against our best selves, etc. – perhaps the idea that links them together is that it forces us to zoom out and appreciate the twin journeys a Jewish life represents. You are about to sing Adon Olam with your child on the day of his or her Kabbalat Ha’Siddur, using the Siddur our school gifts you, covered with the love you put into its decoration. You have likely sung Adon Olam before and will likely sing Adon Olam again. Those words will be the same. But you and your children will not. Adon Olam will forever be linked with this moment and who you were at this time.

We give our students – your children – the gift of a Siddur not to be a trophy, but to be a tool. And this tool will hopefully serve many purposes on the journey forward. But I also believe this Siddur is more than a tool for prayer literacy, it is also a compass, if not a time machine, for the Jewish journey of your children and your family. Each time you open it, you are everyone you were up until that point, with all the memories and experiences that came with you. You read the same words with different eyes and, thus, they elicit different meanings. When my daughters led services at their Bat Mitzvahs they used the siddurim they received in Kitah Alef. And when my older one goes off to university next year, she’ll add that siddur to her bookshelf.

My prayer for this class, and for you, is that the siddur we gift you today serves as a reminder of -and a guide for – the extraordinary and unpredictable Jewish journey ahead. A journey that our school is honoured to share whilst entrusted with the sacred task of educating this wonderful group of children. As we share our gift with you, thank you for the gift you have given us with your trust. Mazal tov to us and mazal tov to you.

Re-Cycle: Let’s Talk About…Revisiting Critical Conversations

As I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to lean back into conversations about teaching and learning, community, relationship-(re)building, programs and all the normal stuff one does at the beginning of a new school year – as opposed to focusing inordinate time and energy on COVID protocols – it occurs to me that in many ways this is not just the beginning of a new school year, but the beginning of a new school chapter.

Five years is both a short and a long time depending on your perspective.

When I talk with parents, especially those who have only been at OJCS for two or three years, it is clear that we have a bit of a “generational” (that’s not the exact best word, but I can’t think of a better alternative) divide and I think the fault line describes the many “town halls” and “critical conversations” that took place during my first two years at OJCS. If you were here for all that foundational work (or chose to go back and peruse blog posts from those years) you both know what was true and what (now) is true AND you had a voice in helping chart the distance between the two. That is a very different perspective from those who only know the status quo.

Just that by itself would warrant action.

But schools are not static – they are learning organizations that continue to grow and evolve over time. It is not sufficient for new parents to come to know “The OJCS Way” as some kind of permanent state of affairs. Our “North Stars” may be fixed in the firmament above, but everything about how we get there is entirely up to us. So between wanting all our parents to better understand fundamental truths about our school as it presently is, and needing all our parents to participate in critical conversations to help decide what will be true about our school as it continues to evolve, we land in the same place.

Connected to our larger theme this year of “Getting Our Mojo Back”, we are going to schedule three critical conversations this year that will both hearken back to give everyone equal footing and dream forward to give everyone an equal stake. The titles will be the same as they were…

“Let’s Talk About the ‘J’ in OJCS” – what really is our Jewish mission/vision? Coming to a weeknight soon in October.
“L’assemblée de Français” – what is currently true about our French outcomes and what can parents expect moving forward? Coming to a weeknight soon in November.
“Let’s Talk About the Future” – what are the big ideas, programs and initiatives that will help us reach that much closer to our North Stars? Coming to a weeknight soon in February.

And for each, I will do as I have done – use my blog to transparently set the stage, to share the results and to share the impact.

In the meanwhile, my email and door – both metaphorically and in reality – are open. Feel free to engage with me on any issue, concern or question that is on your mind.

Next week at this time, I will be returning from what I already know will a triumphant return to our Annual Middle School Retreat, so you’ll forgive me if my weekly blog post is delayed by a few days. Feel free to check social to follow our adventures in zip-lining, caving, hiking, praying, learning, campfire-ing, and having an overall fantastic adventure as a middle school community!

The Transparency Files: Reasonable Assumptions & Known Unknowns

With report cards largely written, we are squarely in that time of year where we are leaning into joy and celebrating community. This year more than ever, where people’s bandwidth for online learning is less and less by the day, please know that we don’t just understand (or have plenty of empathy!), but that we are doing whatever we can to provide your children with however many doses of positivity as we can however often we see them. Today is a great example. Despite its virtual nature, our Harry Potter-themed “Maccabiah 2021” was a wonderful day of ruach that hopefully makes another day of at-home learning a little more bearable with summer achingly within reach.

As we prepare for the final seven-and-a-half days of school, in addition to online joy we hope to spark, please be on the lookout for your child(ren)’s cohort(s)’s announcement about “Popsicles, Pals & Pickups”! This is our response to the province’s allowance for a final in-person gathering for all grades. We have received our guidelines and we will be creating a schedule for each cohort – most likely during the final week – to come back to school, to spend time together in person to properly wrap up the year, to return library books and other school materials, and to pick up yearbooks and personal belongings. More details will come from your teacher(s), stay tuned!

Here, in my little slice of the blogosphere, I, too, am winding down for summer. Today, I would like to share with you some preliminary thoughts about how we are preparing for next year. That leaves with me two additional posts before I go on a bit of a hiatus for summer. I will share out my words to this year’s graduating class and I have one final “Transparency Files” post in which we will announce the 2021-2022 OJCS Faculty & Staff.

We have received very little questioning about next year, which could be for all kinds of reasons. No need to speculate here. But I thought it would be helpful for parents to be aware of what reasonable assumptions we are using to plan for next year and what are our “known unknowns”. If either leave with you with questions or concerns, as always, please do be in touch.

Reasonable Assumptions

With the reasonable expectation that every adult who works in the building will be fully vaccinated by the start of the school year, we are not planning for either a hybrid or hyflex learning program next year. We expect to fully return to in-person learning.
It may be true in some grades for some subjects, however, that a child who is home sick next year could participate virtually or work asynchronously on planned lessons. However, our teachers will not be expected to produce fully hyflexed schedules and assignments at all times.
We are planning for the return of regular PE and Tefillah as they would no longer constitute “high risk” activities.
We assume enhanced cleaning protocols will carry over in some fashion.

Known Unknowns

We have no current guidance as to whether or not the province and/or public health will have any masking guidelines (in any grades) or social distancing requirements.
We cannot yet say whether or not multigrade experiences, whether they be as simple as recess or as complicated as the “Sukkah Hop” – with everything in between (like assemblies) – are returning next year. Ditto for the Middle School Retreat, the Grade 8 Trip, and field trips. We are planning for them all to return, but we don’t know yet for sure.
We don’t know if we will need to continue to utilize three different entrances and maintain separate access to washrooms and water fountains.

These are just initial thoughts as we wait for the province to provide us with the official guidelines for safe reopening. As was true last year, we will – of course – send a detailed email to all our parents when we have a clearer picture. But for now, as we do our best to put at-home learning to bed for the 2020-2021 school year, we can also look forward to a return to in-person learning for the 2021-2022 school year…and that feels great!

While we wait to announce the full faculty for next year, we do – here – want to share out that our own Linda Signer will be retiring after many years of quality teaching at OJCS when this school year closes. It has become a recent tradition to publicly celebrate retiring teachers with a “Retirement Tea” where we bring back former teachers and students, as well as inviting current staff, families and students to share in the moment. We don’t believe this lends itself properly to a virtual context, so we will be celebrating Ms. Signer’s retirement at the end of next school year when we can do it properly. However, those of you who know her and want to wish her well as she prepares to enjoy the next phase of her life are more than welcome to do so over these next weeks.

Meaningful Parent Partnership Ought Not Be Taken For Granted

This is the first week of my parenting life where I fully understand what it means to be a regular parent. And I love it. And I hate it.

As we all went back to school on Tuesday, my oldest daughter, Eliana, went off to high school. As significant a transition as it is for her, it is actually quite the transition for me. This is the first time in my parenting life that I have a child attending a school that I do not run (or recently ran). I don’t know the teachers. I don’t know the administration. I don’t fully know (or understand) the curriculum or the pedagogy or the rules or the routine. All I know about what my child is doing, or will be doing, either comes from her or what the school chooses to share with me. Sound familiar?

There is a wonderful freedom that comes without all this knowledge! As both a parent and an educator, I do have some genuine faith that teachers and schools know what they are doing. I also know that as my child is now in high school (and I guess not really a “child” anymore), that there is a necessary and natural transition of ownership of her learning more fully to her. I, too, want her to advocate for herself and I am okay with her school putting up some guardrails to help shift that onus from us, her parents, to her. I could definitely enjoy not having to know so much about the details of her education and having faith that everything is happening as it should.

Like anyone, I only have the experiences that I have, but I imagine it is fair to suggest that it is not only the differences between K-8 and high school that are in play here, nor is it only the differences between private and public or Jewish and secular. What I am learning now, in a way I never could before, is how meaningful it is for a school to open itself up to parents.

“Transparency” at OJCS is a core educational value, not a core business strategy. We don’t seek to be proactive and candid with parents about how and what we do in service of their children because it is good for business. We don’t seek and use parent feedback because it is good customer service. We are proactive and candid with parents about how and what we do in service of their children; and we seek and use parent feedback because we eagerly seek parent partnership. Parent partnership is not a business transaction; parent partnership is an educational relationship. The “we” in “we own our own learning” includes parents.

The opportunity to actively and meaningfully partner in your child(ren)’s education is not a given in every school. It is an opportunity, not a requirement, but one we want to inspire, encourage and empower. We work hard to provide parents with information and access to what is happening in school – about big picture issues and workaday activities. It can be overwhelming. My blog posts are too long. We have too many “Town Halls”. The OJCS Blogosphere is too complicated to navigate. We send too many emails and we post too much on social media.

Maybe.

It may be true that you may not want all the details of our new homework philosophy. You may not want to know how we are going to translate the “7 Habits” into a school-wide behavior leadership program. You may not want to know the details of the comprehensive PD our French teachers are participating in. You may not be interested in the details, pictures and videos being generated by teachers and students in class blogs and student blogfolios. The details of the Makerspace may be more than you care to have at your fingertips.

Etc.

And that’s okay. Each parent and family can choose for themselves how much they want to know about all the ways we think and work to educate the children in our school. Just know that we believe you are entitled to that information and, more than that, that your being in the know about the school, and your keeping the school in the know about your child(ren), enhances, amplifies and helps ensure our mutual success.

Speaking of which…

We hope to see many of you on Wednesday, September 25th at 7:00 PM for our AGM followed by our Hands-On Workshop at 7:30 PM. There we will be doing some hands-on learning, exploring and subscribing that will better help you know exactly how to find the information about your child(ren)’s class(es), including homework/quizzes/tests/projects, you want and need to be wonderful partners and advocates.

We will likely put out some additional information about the workshop (including either an opportunity for folks to participate virtually and/or where to find a recording of it) because we are still actively shaping it in response to feedback from the opening of school. I realize that that might seem a bit messy, but it is only because we want to make sure that our assumptions about how we prepared for this year are actually borne out in reality. We want to actively respond to the facts on the ground, not what we assumed to be. If you have specific questions, concerns or suggestions on the content of the workshop, please don’t hesitate to share them. We want this to be in service of parents’ felt needs.

Finally, if you need an extra incentive to be with us, please note that we will be making a major announcement that evening on how we plan to secure the long-term future of our school. It is very exciting and will be a big moment for us and our community.

[And I wrote a blog post under 1,000 words! #LifeGoals]

The Courage to Finish: My Charge to the Class of 2019

We had an amazing graduation last night at the Ottawa Jewish Community School – and I am not just saying that because I had a child in the class! I was so proud of our students, our families, our school and our community. It was really something special. And, yes, I did say last week that I was kinda done with the weekly blogging for the summer. And, yes, it does feel like I have delivered a speech a day these last few weeks. And, yes, it runs the risk of being overly self-serving to say that a number of people asked if I could post my speech.

But they did.

And so I will (paraphrased because not everything translates into writing).

“There are many heroes in the story of a Jewish day school journey…

There are the teachers who put in untold hours of love and talent not only to nourish your brains, but your souls as well. Our teachers are not just here to inspire a love of learning. Our teachers recognize that our students are, in fact, our most important subject matter. There is very little we can ever do to show our proper appreciation for our teachers, but we can directly prove the adage it takes a village and show our proper respect. I’d like to ask every teacher who taught any of our graduates in any capacity over their years to rise…

There are the students who come to school each and every day (or at least many days) ready to learn and eager to lead. And we have and will rightfully spend most of our time tonight celebrating you each…

But for me, tonight, I want to spend a little time celebrating who I think may be the most important heroes of the story, and that…is our parents. And I think the adjective that best describes these heroes is “courage”.

Courage to Choose

In today’s world, we are all, in a sense, Jews by choice. Choosing to be Jewish is counter-cultural by definition; choosing to attend Jewish day school is almost revolutionary. We all chose Jewish day school for different reasons: some of us are alumni of Jewish day schools (including this one!), others were seeking the comfort of the family environment, some had a desire for personalized attention, others had a deep commitment to Jewish Studies, there were some who simply went where everyone else was going. But each parent with their own unique constellation of reasons had the courage to choose Jewish day school.

Courage to Sacrifice

You have each sacrificed in many ways to be here this evening. For many, it has been a financial sacrifice. Jewish day school is not yet as affordable as we may wish it to be, and there are those in this room who have forgone both luxuries and necessities to be here.

You have all sacrificed your most precious gift – time. Between the normal schlepping and carpools, you have volunteered at events and at PTA and in innumerable ways big and small.

Courage to Finish

In talking with the kids in New York [on our Grad Trip], I realized that for many of them – and you – I am the fourth head of school you have had on this journey; five if you count Mr. Friedman twice. Each person, I am sure, had their own ideas of what makes a Jewish day school excellent and, I am sure, those ideas may not have always aligned.

With each new administration you had to choose and choose again, and for whatever complicated set of reasons you chose to come, you chose to stay and that, too, is a profile in courage.

The largest class I have ever graduated was 23 and the smallest was, but 4, but what I can tell you with 100% certainty is that not one parent on graduation night ever regretted the decision to finish. And looking around this room tonight – and as one myself – I am confident that this remains true.

You have already given us the greatest gift we can have – the sacred and holy task of educating your child – let me give you the only gift tonight that I can, a brief gift of time. To take just a brief minute or two not to document this experience, but to be in this liminal moment in our children’s lives. I’d like to invite the graduates to rise and face your parents…

Returning to our graduates, my prayer for you as you graduate and head out into the world is that you come to experience and embody our school’s North Stars. I pray that you continue to point in their direction as you continue to grow and develop into high school and beyond…

“Have a floor, but not a ceiling” – be your best self. Have high expectations at a minimum and unlimited aspirations at a maximum. We hope you learned at OJCS to be comfortable in your own skin and to carry that confidence with you when you head out into the wider world.

“Ruach” – be joyful. School – and life – is supposed to be fun, even when it may seem hard or have difficult moments. We know you had many moments of joy at OJCS and know that you have many more moments of joy ahead of you in the years to come.

“We own our own learning” – learning isn’t something that happens to you, it is something you choose. We hope you take the sense of ownership for your learning that we strive towards at OJCS into your next schools of choice and that you not merely be satisfied with gathering information, but that you take a growing sense of responsibility for what you learn and how you learn.

“We are each responsible one to the other” – make the world a better place. Take what you’ve learned (Torah) and do great deeds (Mitzvot); do great deeds and be inspired to learn more.

“We learn better together” – we are stronger and more successful together than we can be alone. Judaism has always been communitarian in this way and what is old is new again as we live in a world where collaboration is not simply advantageous, but required.

“We are on our own inspiring Jewish journey” – keep choosing Jewish. One can argue that the next years of your Jewish lives are more important than the ones you are celebrating tonight. In your own ways – continue. Whether that is in formal Jewish learning, youth group, summer camps, Israel, synagogue attendance, social action – you are no more fully formed Jewishly at your Grade 8 Graduation than you were at Bar or Bat Mitzvah. We pray that you build on this foundation and that you embrace the Jewish journey that continues after tonight…

You each are blessed more than you realize. My blessing for you is that you never be content to merely count your blessings, but that you always be someone who makes their blessings count.”

What a Difference a Year Makes

Sitting here in my office on the Friday before teachers report on Monday, I cannot but marvel at how different things are from just a year ago. This will not be one of my overly-verbose and lengthy blog posts with oodles of details. I do that often enough and if we are being honest, I will probably be doing it again sooner than later. Here I just want to name the feeling…and that feeling is best described by one of our new “North Stars” – ruach.

We have had so many teachers in and out of the building this summer – which represents a major cultural shift – working and planning and preparing and organizing and beautifying. Why? Because they are full of enthusiasm and excitement about the year to come…

We have had so many vendors, parent volunteers and campus employees working tirelessly this summer – which continues a major cultural shift – painting and repairing and cleaning and beautifying. Why? Because they understand that how the building looks and feels matters and they are invested in the year to come…

Prototyping a new behavior management system at OJCS!

We have had opportunities for the administrative team and the teachers to gather for social bonding this summer – which begins a major cultural shift – axe-throwing and karaoke singing and eating and playing together. Why? Because we know that our relationships contribute to the joy we feel when we come to work and we know that our joy is contagious to our students and parents and we have such high hopes for the year to come…

Last year was amazing, but it barely scratched the surface. This year will be a huge leap forward, but it too will only be a step in the direction we are heading toward. When we say that we intend to be the finest school in Ottawa, we do not mean it as hyperbole or as a marketing slogan. We mean it literally and it is already beginning to happen. We see it in our two kindergarten classes which are still growing even this close to the beginning of the school year. We see it in our overall growth of nearly 10 percent. We see it in the caliber of our new faculty – many of whom sought us out.

We know it from the additional new gifts from donors that we haven’t even had a chance to announce yet (stay tuned!), which will only bring the future closer. We know it from the programmatic changes launching this year – many of which were described in prior posts – but hereto, includes some new ones that we have not yet had a chance to announce (stay tuned!).

I am as excited about this year of school as I have ever been about any year in any school I have had the honor of heading. With our “North Stars” to guide us, a team of talented administrators to lead us, a group of gifted and loving teachers to make the magic happen, a community of caring parents to partner with, and – of course – our students whose voice will be amplified and whose educational journeys represent sacred work – this year will undoubtedly be our best yet.

If you were on the fence – get off. If you were skeptical – believe. The future of education is being written at the Ottawa Jewish Community School.

That’s #TheOJCSDifference.

The Transparency Files: The OJCS 2018-2019 Faculty

It is amazing to note that we have reached June and the final three weeks of school are in front of us! It is hard to believe how much we have accomplished and how much we have planned for next year. I can certainly understand that no one wants to wish their summer away – including me – but we are so excited about what next year has in store at OJCS that we really almost cannot wait to begin again! Speaking of next year…

As you hopefully have already heard, we are saying goodbye to Marlène Colbourne and Rachel Kugler who will be retiring at the end of this school year after long and distinguished careers at OJCS. [Hopefully you are planning on attending their “Retirement Tea” on Sunday, June 24th at 2:00 PM here at the school. Email the office to RSVP.] We are also saying goodbye to two additional longstanding teachers – Stacy Sargeant and Rabbi David Rotenberg – and we wish them all the best in their new endeavors. These four faculty members have contributed much to our school and each will be missed. The search process to fill existing and new positions has already begun and we will update you periodically as we make hires.

You will see below that we are looking to hire a significant number of positions – more than the four alluded to above. Let’s talk about why that is true…

…the first reason is pretty simple: we are a growing school! With attrition down and recruitment up, we will need more teachers. With 26 students enrolled for Kindergarten (and more prospects expressing interest), we will have two Kindergartens next year, and they each require not only a lead teacher, but an assistant teacher in order for us to deliver on our promise of personalization.

…speaking of delivering on promises, the second reason is due to the increase in contact time for French next year. We will need two additional French teachers to join our French Department to ensure that the commitment to increased rigor comes along with the increased time.

…the third reason is a direct response to both our own lived experience and the feedback we heard loud and clear from the Annual Parent Survey. With all the transition that took place from last year to this, our ability to meet the needs of our current special needs population requires more support. We are actively looking for a Director of Special Education who will work under our Vice Principal and with our Resource Teachers to ensure that our communication will be as clear and proactive as our accommodations. We are also looking for a part-time Music Teacher to help clarify and streamline music education at OJCS.

One more point to make before we make the big reveal…

You will note a few structural changes as well. The first is the aforementioned creation of a Department of Special Education. The second is the formation of an Education Leadership Team (ELT) that will bring together members of the faculty who have been given “Coordinator” portfolios, signifying additional quasi-administrative responsibilities, and members of the administration to help move the innovation agenda forward, preparing us to take that next great leap forward. The third is that we will be sharing out soon a revamped Middle School Jewish Studies Curriculum that may better explain the way we have described the positions below.

OK, I think I have given a lengthy enough preamble. Let’s get excited about this gifted and loving group of teachers and administrators who will partner with our parents in the sacred work of educating our children. I know I am!

The 2018-2019 OJCS Faculty & Staff

Lower School General Studies Faculty

Kindergarten: Janet Darwish, a French Teacher & 2 Educational Assistants
Grade One: Ann-Lynn Rapoport, Lianna Krantzberg & a French Teacher
Grade Two: Ann-Lynn Rapoport & a French Teacher
Grade Three: Julie Bennett & Aaron Polowin (French)
Grade Four: Julie Bennett, a French Teacher (Core) & Aaron Polowin (Extended)
Grade Five: Melissa Thompson, Aaron Polowin (Core) & a French Teacher (Extended)

Lower School Jewish Studies Faculty

Kitah Gan: Shira Waldman
Kitah Alef: Ada Aizenberg & Lianna Krantzberg
Kitah Bet: Bethany Goldstein
Kitah Gimmel: A Jewish Studies Teacher
Kitah Dalet: Ada Aizenberg
Kitah Hay: Bethany Goldstein (Core) & Ruthie Lebovich (Extended)

[Please recall that this will be the last year of “Core” and “Extended” in Jewish Studies.]

Middle School Faculty

Science: Josh Ray
Mathematics: Chelsea Cleveland
Language Arts: A Teacher
Social Studies: Deanna Bertrend
Extended French: Stéphane Cinanni
Core French: Aaron Polowin (Grade 6) & a French Teacher (Grades 7 & 8)
Hebrew: Noga Reiss (Level I) & Ruthie Lebovich (Level II)
Bible: A Bible Teacher
Rabbinics: Rabbi Howard Finkelstein

Specialists

Art: Shira Waldman
Music: A Music Teacher
PE: Josh Ray & Shira Waldman (Girls 7 & 8)
Library: Brigitte Ruel

Department of Special Education

Keren Gordon, Vice Principal
Director of Special Needs
Linda Signer, Resource Teacher
Brian Kom, Resource Teacher
Chelsea Cleveland, Math Resource

Education Leadership Team

Melissa Thompson, Teaching & Learning Coordinator
Deanna Bertrend, Student Life Coordinator

Administration

Josh Max – IT & Technology Support
Ellie Kamil – Executive Assistant to the Head of School
Rabbi Howard Finkelstein – Dean of Judaic Studies
Jennifer Greenberg – Director of Recruitment
Keren Gordon – Vice-Principal
Dr. Jon Mitzmacher – Head of School

We are moving full steam ahead with candidates for all the above positions and between our extraordinary returning teachers and the quality of the candidates we have met thus far for new teachers, we know that the future is bright at OJCS.

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, please know that I do have results from the former version of the survey and will do my best to highlight any trends I see, as well as indicate anything of import in this year’s survey.

It is hard to get an exact read on turn out because we changed from one survey per family to one survey per child. We do know that 81 students are represented in this survey, which is just a bit over half. We will use that baseline moving forward and hope to get closer to 70-80%. Why do some families choose not to provide feedback (in this forum)? Families could be thrilled with what’s going on! (I’d love to vote for that one!) Families could be resigned that the results are not taken seriously enough to invest the time in. Hopefully, when people begin to see more links between the feedback they provide and meaningful improvement in the school it will inspire a greater rate of return. In the meanwhile, even if validity is somewhat challenged, we operate here with a spirit of curiosity and believe we can learn from whatever there is to learn…so…let’s move on to the results.

From my experience, it looks mostly how you would expect. There does tend to be diminishing enthusiasm for surveys as the students move on, but great job Grade 6 parents!

I wasn’t sure whether to include this data point as I didn’t want to be biased by it – all the feedback is meaningful. That is why we conduct exit interviews with each family who chooses to leave OJCS prior to graduation – we are genuinely interested in their feedback. I could have conducted an analysis where I separated the feedback between these three categories, but I have chosen to look at the results as a whole so as not to dismiss any piece of feedback because a family may or may not be continuing.

Let’s look at the BIG PICTURE:

Is that good? I don’t have the exact same question from prior surveys to give you comparison data. I can tell you from having used this survey in other locations, that scores between 7-9 tend to be healthy, and you look at scores below 7 as something you need to pay close attention to (and are thrilled if you ever get a 9 or higher). So landing at 7.13 is technically within a healthy range, but is lower than I would like it. I will definitely be looking to see this creep up in future years. Let’s dig deeper…

These next sections will require a little artful cutting-and-pasting from SurveyMonkey, so I apologize if it doesn’t “look” as professional as I would prefer…the data is still the data.

[Please note that the data is being sliced and diced according to my technical skill, not because there is any particular meaning to the groupings.]

The most important data point here is that our mark for offering a high-quality education is within the healthy range, 7.17. Like above, please know that all our just-barely-above-7 scores are lower than I would prefer and clearly have room to grow.

What jumps out are the ones that fall below 7:

There is link between “learning styles” and “individualized attention” that really get to the heart of the school we are hoping to become. Our premise of being a school that promises a “floor, but not a ceiling” lives here. I will be surprised if those numbers don’t start to climb as soon as next survey.
There is also a link between “homework” and “study habits” that we need to pay attention to as well. As we get more clear about what we believe teaching and learning should look like in school, we will also need to have an important conversation about what we think it should look like at home.

It is really important to name that not having comparison data makes it hard to identify trends. So I see these numbers as pretty upsetting – and they are – but I don’t know if they reflect progress.

Preparing children for high school is our number one responsibility; less than a 7 is not going to cut it.
I’m not pleased with the score for “21st century technology” as it seems to be a step down from last year’s results (at least when compared to a question about “technology”), but as this is my area of expertise, I do feel confident that these numbers will climb next year.
Considering how hard we try to accept and accommodate children with exceptionalities, it is genuinely disheartening to see these numbers so low. I think if we are being honest, the shakeup of the administrative team from last year to this has hurt our school. We went from having a full-time, qualified special needs professional to divvying up responsibilities across multiple people and it left us a bit shorthanded. This will be addressed next year. We also need to provide more training to our faculty on how to make accommodations. We have a strategic goal to be even more inclusive in the years ahead…but we need to make sure we are meeting the needs of the students we presently have.

No huge bombshells here and pretty healthy in the core academic areas.

We are hopeful that the changes we proposed for French (which will be finalized and shared out in our final “Town Hall” – see below) will help the French numbers climb.
We believe that centralizing the teaching of Art, Music and PE to instructors who are both qualified and focused on their speciality will enhance the quality of all three in the year ahead. These have been perennial concerns.

With regard to Jewish Studies, we know that there is work to do both in terms of academics and experiences. I fully expect that the changes we proposed for Jewish Studies – emphasis on Hebrew fluency, reinstitution of structured tefillah, etc. – will lead to higher scores in the year to come. As a point of reference, this year’s scores are slightly higher than the prior one, which is encouraging.
More field trips, more consistency with hot lunch, and providing feedback to the JCC about their after school programming are absolutely necessary.

You’ve heard me talk about myself enough by now…

I will pass the kudos on to our hardworking security team.
I think we are pleased, but nowhere near satisfied, with the score about student behavior. We believe we have made meaningful progress this year, but are not quite where we would like to be.

Last data point:

Remember this question is only scaled 1-5! So I am actually pretty pleased to see a 4.14, but like everything else in this survey, we will be looking to see growth in the years ahead.

So there you have it for 2017-2018!

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. By the by, we are pleased with how well satisfied our parents are with how the school is going…but be assured, just like with everything else, we expect to see growth and progress in a school where there is “a floor, but no ceiling”.

Want a sneak-peek on how we are going to get there?

Where Does Healthy Parent-School Communication Live? (Hint. Not in the parking lot or on WhatsApp.)

I recently described in a post an activity we did as a faculty which introduced Roland Barth’s concept of the “non-discussible” and the “discussible”. A “non-discussible” is something that is discussed in all the wrong places and all the wrong times preventing the issue from being resolved in a healthy and constructive manner. In the context of faculty, it is about all the things teachers talk about in the lunchroom instead of with the administration (although the administration almost always knows the conversations are happening about them/without them). In the context of parents, it is about all the things folks talk about in the parking lot or on social media instead of with the school (although the school almost always knows the conversations are happening about them/without them). In both cases you gauge the health of the culture by the degree to which you move your “non-discussibles” into “discussibles”. The more willing we are to discuss what matters most in a constructive, healthy, transparent manner with the people who have the ability to address those issues honestly and responsibly, the healthier our culture. The healthier the culture – whether we are talking about teacher-administration or parent-school – the more successful the school.

I was inspired by one of my rabbi’s sermons over the holidays to revisit a powerful idea from Martin Buber which I think informs this conversation. [Buber “was an Austrian-born Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of religious existentialism centered on the distinction between the I-Thou relationship and the I-It relationship.”]

The basic idea (and I realize that I am butchering it for the sake of brevity) is that when we treat others as objects, we are in an “I-It” relationship; when we treat others with recognition of the divine within them – when we acknowledge that we are all created in God’s image and treat each other as such, we are in an “I-Thou” relationship. Taking a deeper step (according to this idea) would be to say that when we treat each other with love, we invite God’s presence into our relationships. Not merely as metaphor, but as an existential fact.

Now that takes a lot of energy. So much so that it is perfectly natural to have “I-It” relationships or moments – sometimes I just want to pick up my allergy medication and go home; I am not seeking to have an “I-Thou” relationship with my pharmacist. I do, however, want to have “I-Thou” relationships with my wife and children and it serves as a useful and sometimes painful reminder of how hard that can be when Jaimee and I (like many busy couples) are forced to use email or text to communicate because we are two ships passing in the night. It is hard to invite God’s presence into an electronic communication…

Our success in building a culture which facilitates the transition from “non-discussible” to “discussible”, I would suggest, will be determined by whether or not we see each other as “Thou’s” and not “It’s”. Have we done the work necessary from the start of school to develop “Thou” relationships with our teachers? With our students and their parents? We’ll know if we are able to identify the good that comes with each student and share it with his or her parents. We’ll know if we are able to share the difficult truths which are our responsibility to share and have them received in the spirit in which we will surely wish it to be received. We’ll know if we are able to hear difficult truths about ourselves in the spirit in which they will surely be given, the spirit of genuine partnership where only the wellbeing of the child is important. The spirit of seeing the best in each other, even when it takes a little more energy. The spirit that exists when we see each other as a “Thou” and not an “It”.

Ken yehi ratzon (May it be God’s will.)

Finally, during these days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we engage in the act of teshuvah – the complicated act of acknowledging past wrongs, correcting past mistakes, promises of changed behavior, etc. Here, in the most public of forums, please allow me apologize to all those I have wronged or hurt, intentionally or unknown over the past year.

Easy fasts for all who do so…meaningful reflections for all who feel the need.