Showing our Schechter pride...

Recently, an article was published in the Jewish Daily Forward (http://www.forward.com/articles/149983/?p=all) about the decline of Solomon Schechter schools in North America. LGA was singled out as a school of growth. Our own, Morah Devorah Bromberg Seltzer quoted accolades about what we are doing right and for a little while I basked in the glow of our position in an otherwise gloom and doom piece about Jewish day schools and dwindling enrollment.

I know that many parents in the LGA community read this article with much excitement. When word spread that LGA made the national press, everyone was elated but as I and others further examined the article we definitely saw it as a double edged sword. A few of you commented to me that the article really didn't paint an accurate picture of Jewish day school life and were a bit astonished by the tenor of the negative article questioning why was it so negative. Is LGA such a unique Schechter school?

While, yes, LGA has a unique place on the Schechter landscape. Our video that we submitted to the Avichai Foundation captures our essence and spirit. (You still have time to vote and encourage your friends and family as well.) http://www.dayschoolvideoacademy.org/VideoView.aspx?MovieId=172. We are not unique because LGA as all other Schechter schools are guided by a set of expectations that help all of us frame for our students ways to live a Jewishly rich life all the while teaching about being concerned global citizens. All Schechter schools hold very tightly to the ideal of academic excellence at the core of their mission. I don't think there is a school in the network that doesn't believe that this is central to our success. Our constituencies wouldn't have it any other way.

I have had the privilege of walking into many different Schechter schools and working closely with other heads of schools at Solomon Schechter day schools throughout North America. We each "do" Schechter differently. 43 different ways. This is what I have learned to love about our movement of schools. Whether it is Solomon Schechter of Greater Boston, Gross Schechter in Cleveland, or Community Day School in Pittsburgh, or any of the other schools in the movement, many of our schools are the pride of our greater communities because of our focus on the whole-child, the diversity of our community is astounding and who our graduates become.

Schechter schools get a bad rap. Being a movement affiliated school, we are guided by principles yet are given enough leeway to understand and support local cultural mores and standards making us true community schools. LGA is a fine example of that and something that the entire Pioneer Valley is very proud of. With pride, we hold our head up proudly as a Schechter school.

Collegial relationships that make LGA stronger...

I am in Atlanta at the North American Jewish Day School Conference and enjoying my time here immensely. I have family in Atlanta so the fact that I get to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law is an extra bonus. Morah Devorah is here with me plus a few other educators from our area. We hardly get to see each other because there are closer to 700 people here. The beauty of this conference is that it is completely cross-denominational. Jewish schools from across the spectrum are here. We all share one thing in common - educating the future leaders of the Jewish community.

The landscape in Jewish day school education is becoming so diverse. Some schools look very similar to LGA while others have a distinctly different feel because of cultural differences. Yet, we all strive for excellence, which of course is subjective.

I spent a good part of yesterday in a PEJE workshop dedicated to Development professionals. We had a session called "Speed Dating." There were close to fifty of us in this session. With a partner, we sat across from one another and had three minutes to get to know each other and our schools. We had to talk about a success and a challenge at our school. We also had to hand our partner our business card. We did this for an hour or so and I networked like a champion. Making connections and taking away some ideas that were really thought provoking to see how we could fit them into our valley community. I walked away intrigued by the creativity of the Jewish day school community. Again, some of these ideas may not be so desirable to implement in our school or community.

Throughout the conference, one major aspect is networking not only yourself but your school. Leveraging air time with important people and there were a lot there. Here's the good and exciting news...LGA is on the national scene as a school that embraces academic excellence, rigorous learning, creativity at every corner and is doing things right. We won a national award for creativity. School administrators are asking me how we are doing it. Really exciting stuff.

We are growing! I wish I could say this about every Jewish day school but it isn't happening. Demographics aren't in our favor but you know what is - our faculty and our innovative approach to learning. I appreciate these two factors even more than I did before I left.

Let's keep growing and thinking. See you soon.

You make me blush when you say that, but GO ON!

With much anticipation and almost 100 percent certainty, students at LGA look forward to recess. It's a lot of fun at LGA! There are a myriad of activities for students to take part in. We are fortunate because there is a lot of green space for students to explore, and the playground built a few years ago still gets a lot of attention from both small and big kids. As I blogged before, Four Square is a major part of the landscape of recess. At our weekly all-school meeting, 5th and 6th graders announce "all-school" recess games, while younger students look forward to hearing the choices with much excitement. Some games are popular, garnering close to thirty students of all different ages playing, while others draw a smaller crowd. What makes them all similar is that everyone, no matter the age or skill level, is not only invited but encouraged to play. My office window looks out at this game, and I often peer through my window with pride, because it is times like this when our small school really works well. Some might say it is out of necessity, but I don't agree. 

At almost three years of age, my own son, Raviv, can hold his own with the big kids of kindergarten, and yet also enjoys parallel play with his younger sister, Danya, as she toddles about in our family room. I see how much Raviv appreciates learning from the older kids he interacts with. I wouldn't change a thing about how he is learning negotiation, seeing and imitating behaviors in other children (that Rebecca and I might not always want to have emulated) and picking up new vocabulary words every day.  Many of these experiences aren't with his age cohort. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what he learns from his peers, but these multiage interactions have developed his skills even greater than I thought possible. He goes to preschool and is with ten other 2-3 year olds all day. In the afternoon, he joins with his friends from the middle classroom. He is in love with every single child in that classroom. We have to tear him out of there when we pick him up at the end of the day. It is this appreciation that makes my reaction to recess standards at LGA even stronger. 

Navigating an elementary school playground can sometimes be a daunting task. Luckily, recess at LGA is, for the most part, a joyous experience. It's pleasant. When the whistle blows signaling everyone to line up, it goes to a whole other level. The 6th graders help corral everyone else into lines. A hush falls over the assembled. The leaders ask four or five different students for something we call "compliments," which are exactly what it sounds like. "I want to thank Mara for playing soccer with me. She showed me how to kick the ball the proper way." "I want to thank Yoav for including me in the game of Four Square." "I want to thank the 5th graders for letting me join in on the game of tag." Et cetera. 

It's the kind of moment that makes you do a double take and blush. The younger students are seeing and hearing the older students being nice to each other. Before students walk into class, they are taking a collective deep breath and appreciating others. Not a bad habit to teach our kids.