Welcome from Head of School

As I share openly and frequently with my teams, the work we do is עבודת קודש/avodat kodesh/holy work. We are blessed with the opportunity to inspire, mentor, teach, and guide young people of all ages during an immensely important time period in their development. As partners with our parents, we are thankful for your trust in us to engage in this holy work.

THREE ESSENTIAL PILLARS OF JEWISH DAY SCHOOL

An outstanding Jewish day school is built on three essential pillars:

Academic excellence
Social-emotional well-being
Jewish learning, identity-building, and spiritual development

Each of these areas is important on its own, but with a focus on them as a unit, we have the power to shape and mold individuals into well-rounded, balanced, knowledgeable, capable, open-minded individuals who are confident in who they are and ready to journey on to life’s next adventure when they graduate. Coupled with these pillars is an important focus on the time spent out of the classroom in co-curricular activities including clubs, athletics, drama, and other areas, where students can explore their passions, develop friendships, and find meaningful ways to contribute to the community.

At the foundation of these three essential pillars, and what sets the tone for everything that we wish to do and wish to achieve, is a core commitment to creating an environment in which young people are happy. While contentment is not easily measured through a test or a paper, I believe that it is in a joyful environment where students learn best, and thrive academically, socially and spiritually. This environment of smiles, an environment full of positive interactions with students and faculty, is one in which there is the understanding that at the start and end of every day we must ask ourselves, “Is this what is best for our students?”

FOUR PRINCIPLES OF EDUCATION

Complementing the pillars I mentioned above are four concepts that also impact my thinking on education and on school in particular:

Success for Every Child

Every child should have the opportunity to be successful. Educators and their institutions must recognize, however, that success may look differently for every child.

Influenced by the ideas of multiple intelligences and differentiated instruction, and the belief that each of us is a unique human being (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5), the underlying principle here is that every child has the capacity to be successful. Schools and teachers should develop high goals and benchmarks for students and work diligently to give students the tools and the opportunities to reach those levels. At the same time, educators need to recognize that within any ideal there must be room for creativity, change, multiple approaches to assessment and demonstration of learning, and the constant awareness that at any moment a student can amaze you with their abilities.

Developing Mentsches

A Jewish day school is in the business of developing mentsches.

One of the great strengths of the day school environment is the opportunity to create a special world, both within its walls and on its campus, which has the capacity to influence the outside world. This world and its inhabitants should stress kindness, open-mindedness, and caring as hallmarks of its environment and community. The school’s values should be discussed among students, parents, and staff in a public manner and on an ongoing basis in order that students internalize these qualities as characteristics which they should seek to embody. Walls should be decorated, athletes should train, and faculty should teach, modeling these values. Parents, as partners, should journey with us so that the school and the home model these values together.

Most importantly, the school should be marked by a commitment to creating a culture in which mentsches are praised and mentschlikheit behavior is modeled.

Fusion of Formal Instruction & Experiential Education

Educational approaches with the highest potential to make a lifelong impact on students will successfully fuse together formal instruction and experiential methods of learning.

The classroom can and should function as both a place for traditional learning as well as a laboratory for making learning come alive.

Students should learn texts and ideas which are ideally connected to activities that seek to make the subject studied directly applicable to one’s life. Reading and writing assignments should be supported by exercises focused on connecting the ideas gleaned from any book to the current reality of the child. Science and math exercises should balance content knowledge and skill development with hands-on learning and relevance-based activities. Intellectual growth and development should be aligned with skills such as collaboration, debate, and problem-solving in an environment that values group work.

With respect to Jewish learning in particular, a Jewish day school must strive to create an environment in which students can experience Judaism as a living, vibrant tradition that is more than simply a text on a page or a dvar Torah from a rabbi. The school must be a place in which מחשבה/machshava (thought) is supported by מעשה/maaseh (action). Thus, studying about acts of kindness should be followed by doing acts of kindness. Conversations about Shabbat observance should be supported with opportunities to experience Shabbat in a community setting. Learning about Jewish perspectives on the environment, helping the poor, kashrut, friendship, and the myriad topics about which our tradition has much to say or share, should be followed by actions which allow students to experience, in a rich, joyous, and meaningful way, what they have learned.

Through this approach, the school can engage students to become interested and lifelong participants in learning, from both Jewish and secular perspectives, with the recognition that the deepest forms of learning make an impact on the heart and the mind.

One Community

The school is a home for multiple stakeholders. Whether a student, parent, teacher, board member, donor, or graduate, it is imperative that the school and its leadership work hard to understand the needs of all of its community members and the groups to which they belong. It is important that the school value the diversity of these different constituencies and the richness that each individual can bring to the community. With a focus on the current student population, the school must also think about and create opportunities for all members of its community to get involved.

A school that is able to live these ideals will be able to inspire others around its mission, create a chance for long-term success and model for its children what a vibrant Jewish community can look like.

Our school has been a leader in creating a unique and dynamic learning environment for more than 75 years, and I am eager to continue making the learning and the Jewish experience that much more powerful as we plan for the future.

Warmly,

Rabbi Marshall Lesack '97
Head of School

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