I’m not a news junkie, but it would be hard to miss what happened right in our backyard in South Hadley. Bullying is by no means a new phenomenon; unfortunately, many of us can recall it from our childhoods. While I am proud to say that at LGA we have no extreme bullying cases, our students are not immune to the temptations of name-calling or taunting. All schools struggle with bullying. It is easy to be Monday-morning quarterbacks and say what we would do differently from South Hadley. While that case was extreme, we as a school community must behave proactively when it comes to how our students treat one and another. More important than the bullying is how we as educators and as a Jewish day school handle it. Continue reading »

Stan J. Beiner

The definition of a head of a Jewish day school has changed dramatically over time. To be successful these days, one must be able to oversee marketing and branding, fundraise, manage the budget, respond to pandemics, maintain personal relations with donors, parents, grandparents, and community leaders, blog, tweet, facebook, google, provide supervision, be visionary, make good hires and timely fires, foster leadership, communicate effectively, lower carbon footprints, lead davening, oversee curriculum development- both Judaic and General studies, stay on top of emerging educational trends, promote alumni relations, communicate well with students, promote positive faculty culture, solicit major gifts, and evaluate technological needs. Specialization is for insects. Continue reading »

Rabbi Shira Leibowitz, Ph.D.

A fourth grade science fair, fifth graders conversing in Hebrew during an Israeli lunch; a visit with fifth graders from a Yonkers public school largely comprised of students from Hispanic, dual-language backgrounds; preparations for our school Passover sedarim.

This only hints at the exciting happenings at Schechter Westchester, and at Schechter schools throughout the country … all in just one day.  Add the bustle of our hard-working maintenance crew keeping our generator up and running after a storm left public schools in our district closed, and you’ll see images of the meaningful life lessons that a Schechter education provides. Continue reading »

Elaine R. S. Cohen, EdD.

Last week’s New York Times Education Life supplement (4-18-10) featured am article by Abby Goodnough entitled “The Examined Life, Age 8.” The story cited the work of a professor of philosophy, Thomas E. Wartenberg of Mount Holyoke College. Together with his students, he structures classroom discussions with young children in ways that lead them to ponder big questions. As I read through the examples of inquiry based conversations about ethical issues that occur in the second grade classroom of a charter school where Prof. Wartenberg conducted his study, I kept saying aloud to myself “This is everyday practice in Schechter day schools at their best!” Continue reading »

Arnie Zar-Kessler

One of the challenges confronting Jewish Day Schools that can fall just under the radar screen – becoming almost a ‘stealth’ challenge – is adhering to one of the tenets of effective management by using data to drive decision making, and then sharing those data to help others understand the school better, as a means of ‘transparency’ with significant constituencies, including parents.

Business schools, business books and business models are awash with language that attempt to inspire organizations and their leaders to become scrupulous about defining goals, seeking evidence for progress towards goals, and using that evidence – frequently (but not always) quantitative data – to drive decision making. Continue reading »

Nancy Leaderman

Our tradition is one that celebrates the life of the mind and academic achievement–we are, after all, the ‘People of the Book.’ But we are also told that we have the obligation to make sure our children are able to undertake a livelihood and even that we are responsible for teaching them such practicalities as how to swim.

Though our Rabbis wouldn’t have used the word ‘experiential,’ they too valued this type of education–the learning by doing that is so much a part of being a truly educated person. Continue reading »

Rabbi Scott Bolton

At Pesach we sit around a table, at our homes, and read a book together. So why aren’t we doing it all the time?!

A student told me that his Mom was so excited about reading his book with him that “he couldn’t believe it!” In between basketball, hanging-out with friends, texting and syncing new purchases on iTunes, he is now making time to read with his parents.

We have to connect with our kids through books, magazines, newspapers and Jewish texts, even as our children grow and mature during their upper elementary, middle school and high school years. Continue reading »

Rabbi Laurence Scheindlin

Play dates are over-rated. By the end of June make sure your mom has signed you up for next year’s after-school activities. That way you can fill every afternoon with the ones you want.

Sleep gets in the way of getting ahead. You MUST understand this to succeed in high school, and the sooner you get started the better.

Speaking of getting ahead: tutoring is a good thing. Especially if you don’t need it. With tutoring you’ll get into the top classes in middle school, you’ll crunch a bunch of APs in high-school, maybe even finish college before your bar mitzvah. Cool! Continue reading »

Rabbi Mitchel Malkus

Parents often tell me that they expect that giving their children a strong Jewish education at Pressman Academy will insure their child’s future Jewish identity and involvement, to which I usually answer that “there are no guarantees in life.” I do believe, and the research supports, that strong Jewish educational experiences have a great impact on Jewish identity development and future engagement. However, I also believe that parents play an essential role in identity development and internalization. As many of you have heard me say numerous times, “at Pressman Academy we want to be your partners in the education of your children.” Continue reading »

(Help! My Child Just Asked Me a Theological Question!)

Dr. Steven C. Lorch

It’s serious business, asking questions, and at Schechter Manhattan, we view thoughtful questions as both a mark of success and a teachable moment. Perhaps our experience with challenging questions in the classroom can provide a framework for handling particularly tough questions at home.

Questions are central to Jewish living and learning. From an early age, we encourage our children to begin asking and probing for more clarity, deeper understanding, greater nuance, a stronger rationale. Continue reading »