It is with great excitement that PEJE has announced the winners of the 2011 Challenge Award. The Challenge Award was designed to drive increased day school revenue through innovation. Schools were encouraged to share the results of bold and creative initiatives to grow one of the key day school revenue streams: tuition, annual campaign, and endowment. PEJE’s intention in launching this award was to generate new ideas that could be shared broadly with the field, while also rewarding individual schools for novel approaches to their specific challenges.

Winning initiatives represent a rich diversity of focus area, denomination, geography, and school/community size. Seven of winners are members of the Schechter Day School Network.  They are:

The Schechter Day School Network extends a hearty “Mazal tov!” to all the 27 winners, and especially to the schools in our network that have demonstrated innovation and excellence in their proposals to drive increased revenue.

Click here to view flyer

Over the past decade, the Schechter Day School Network has made a significant contribution to the field of day school educational leadership through its fellowship program, the Schechter Residency in Educational Leadership (SREL).

Thanks to a generous endowment given to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in support of a “fast track” professional development initiative, the Network has given an annual allocation to supplement the salary of a talented, recently ordained rabbi who is engaged by a Schechter-affiliated school through a competitive process. The school offers the rabbi a diversified experience so that at the conclusion of three years, he or she is ready to assume greater leadership responsibilities and functions as a member of the school’s administrative team.

The rabbis’ role includes teaching, pastoral work, curriculum development, communication with parents, religious policy implementation, supervision and other functions. The past SREL Fellows have continued in their professional leadership roles in day schools after their fellowship has run its course. They are all having a significant impact on the quality and vibrancy of the Jewish life of the day school that they serve.

Read more about the SREL Program »
See a list of all past SREL Fellows »

The Valley Beth Shalom Day School received a $238,000 grant from the Windsong Trust for a playground renovation and the advancement of our robotics program.

Schechter Milestone Anniversaries

  Mazal tov to the following member schools that celebrated or will celebrate special milestones in the life of their schools during this school year.

50 years

The Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston is celebrating its 50th year on November 26^th.

Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago is in the middle of celebrating its 50th year

The Martin J.Gottlieb Day School, a K-8, in Jacksonville, FL turns 50 this year with celebrations culminating with events the weekend of May 4-6.

30 years

Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos,CA will celebrate our 30th anniversary on March 18, 2012.

Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan Valley

25 years

Pressman Academy –  25 years

10 years

Chicagoland Jewish High School is celebrating 10 years. Our celebratory event is on November 19th.

The Schechter Day School Network has launched its new website. It is beautifully designed and user friendly. We welcome your comments and feedback as we continue to build the site.

It aligns with the stunning new brochure of the Schechter Day School Network Engage the World, which can be customized to suit the marketing needs of member schools (see Private Intranet, below).

New Site Features

• Search for a school by state, zip code, or other criteria with the new Find A School feature.
• Make sure to always take a look at our News & Announcements and Upcoming Events so you can stay current with what’s going on around the Network.
• You can also read the latest from our Educators on HeadLights: The Educators’ Blog.

The Private Intranet for Schools

The website has both a public and private portal. The public site is intended for prospective parents and visitors from far and wide, within and beyond Schechter communities.

The private site is for administrators and lay leaders in Schechter schools. The Intranet site requires a login. In addition to accessing materials and photos, users will also be able to contribute to the growing bank of resources that will be available to colleagues at member schools. Go to http://schechternetwork.org/private/login-register/ to register yourself for access.

Keep coming back!

So keep this URL in your bookmarks http://schechternetwork.org/ and stay current with the Schechter Network.

Solomon Schechter Day School of Metropolitan Chicago is proud to announce that Deborah Stern Harris, Sager Middle School Technology Coordinator, has been selected as this year’s Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award winner from the metropolitan Chicago area. The award is given to a local educator who continues to make a lasting impact on the lives of Jewish children, and who demonstrates excellence in Jewish education. Mrs. Harris was nominated for the Award for her outstanding efforts in the field of technology, which not only teach technology skills to students and teachers, but also empowers them to use technology to be lifelong learners. Continue reading »