Another Day Off? Whatever For?

Jewish holidays in October, parent-teacher conferences in November, and a professional learning day for teachers in December; what’s a parent to do with so many days off from school? Not only do we want our children in school and learning, but many of us also struggle with child care. It isn’t easy to juggle all these days off. We understand.

So, first answers to the question – why these days off from school? Second, some thoughts on what we can do as a kehilah (community) to craft the best school calendar we can, remembering that our calendar reflects our core values. We must observe the Jewish holidays. Parents and teachers must talk about our children’s learning as well as their social, emotional, and religious growth. Teachers must continue to learn so they are able to support our children.

Jewish Holidays
Yes, parents understand that as a Jewish school we will be closed on those Jewish holidays on which Jewish law prohibits work: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the first two days of Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah (as well as Pesach and Shavuot later in the year). Some who do not observe the holidays (particularly a lesser known holiday like Shemini Atzeret) might wish there was school. Still, parents understand.

But Erev Chag (the day before the holiday)? Why must we be closed? Because holidays require preparation – sometimes cooking, sometimes building a sukkah, and other times traveling. We embrace the wide range of observance of our families and faculty and are committed to making it possible for those who need to prepare as a family to be able to do so. Parents should know that in past years we were also closed Hoshanah Rabah (the seventh day of Sukkot or Erev Shemini Atzeret) but now have a regular 2:00 p.m. Friday dismissal. We have celebrations in school for Hoshanah Rabah, an interesting day on which there are special customs. Yet, besides the customs connected to Hoshanah Rabah, there are not more preparations for Shemini Atzeret than for Shabbat. Consequently, we were able to fit in an extra day of school. We hope parents are pleased!

Parent-Teacher Conferences
Yes, parents understand and appreciate the opportunity to meet with our children’s teachers.  But, why are there two days of conferences instead of one? And, why aren’t there evening hours?  We must have parent-teacher conferences on two days so Judaic studies teachers can be at conferences for both of their classes. We know, in Kindergarten conferences could be on one day, but having a day of school only for Kindergarten and not the rest of the school raises numerous complications.

As for evening hours, we are working on it. We know that many parents are finding it ever more challenging to take time off from work. During the March conferences we have two half-days of school and then have conferences from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m.. We are considering a similar structure in the fall, with conferences from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. on two consecutive Thursdays. Why Thursday? Teachers are exhausted from conferences and need the weekend to recoup. We would then have school on Veterans Day and hold Professional Learning Day on Election Day. We do not like having students in the building on Election Day as we are a polling place. Although the White Plains Police Department provides us with security, we still prefer not to have students in the building on a day when there are so many unfamiliar adults present. There are some other options being discussed for parent-teacher conferences and we will do our very best to accommodate parents’ needs.

What about technology? Can’t we Skype for conferences? Well, maybe. We don’t yet have webcams in most classrooms, however moving forward we would love to know parents’ thoughts on video conferencing.

Professional Learning Day
Quite simply, in order for students to learn, their teachers must continue to learn. On this upcoming professional learning day our general studies teachers will be learning about Singapore Math (coming soon to our school) and our Judaic studies teachers will be continuing training in our Hebrew literacy curriculum. There will be other vital activities such as exploring “learning walks” in which faculty will visit each other’s classrooms in order to improve their own skills. There will also be a range of faculty driven professional conversations on topics that directly impact student learning. The benefits of this time as an investment in the skills of our faculty are profound, enabling us to continue to improve the quality of our school. Not only schools, but successful organizations broadly, need to invest in professional learning in order to continually improve, maintain excellence in areas it exists, and address areas in which we must be doing better. To serve our students, we must address in serious, substantive ways, the learning of our faculty.

What About Those Snow Days?
If we face a difficult winter, there will likely be questions about the snow days. While officially it is Dr. Spiegel, with input from the school’s senior administration, who decides whether to call a snow day, in practicality, it is the bus companies who decide. If the bus companies believe it is not safe to drive, we really cannot run school. If we have more than five snow days, we will begin to add days on to the school year. Hopefully, we won’t face this challenge, but we want to be prepared.

Finally, we want to assure you that there is a rhythm to the year. We know what we must accomplish by the end and pace ourselves so that we get there.

I’ll Tweet You: How Social Media Is Connecting Us With the World and Each Other

I was a guest speaker yesterday about Judaism in Mr. Clark’s seventh grade world religion class in a public school in Indiana. Joining me was my colleague Rabbi Akevy Greenblatt, principal of an Orthodox Jewish Day School in Memphis, Tennessee. Nope, Rabbi Greenblatt, and I didn’t fly out to Indiana. We merely took ½ hour out of our day and communicated with some middle school students who had questions about Judaism via Adobe Connect, a free web conferencing tool.

How did it happen that we were invited to Mr. Clark’s seventh grade? Brett Clark, Rabbi Greenblatt and I, along with many other principals and teachers from throughout the country and throughout the world have been study partners on Twitter. No, it’s not traditional Jewish learning in which we sit together face-to-face with a text, engaged in animated argument over the text’s meaning. Yet, we do stretch each other’s thinking. We share articles and blogs worth reading, ask each other questions, brainstorm, and engage in conversations about improving the quality of education in our schools.

Later in the day I tweeted Mrs. Roman’s second grade in Phoenix, Arizona from Mrs. Perten’s second grade right here in Westchester, New York. Mrs. Perten’s class was learning about the desert and creating canyons out of sand. Thinking Mrs. Roman’s class in Arizona just might have some first-hand knowledge of deserts and canyons, we asked what they could share with us. They replied with informative answers to our question.

At the end of the day, I set up our Lower School Twitter account. You can follow us now @SWestchesterLS to find out about interesting learning experiences in which our students are involved. You can also follow our K-12 Twitter account @SWestchester for updates and information about our school. We will be very pleased to set up some workshops for parents to get you started on Twitter. Let us know if that will be helpful.

But, there’s even more. I started the day early speaking with Israel Connect, an organization connecting Israeli schools with Jewish schools throughout the world, about partnering our fifth grade with a fifth grade in a school in Israel. More projects are in the works including one that will connect our Kindergarten with another kindergarten, and one that will form a connection between our Student Council and the student government of a lower school in Atlanta, Georgia. Stay tuned!

It’s a small world. We can now utilize more technological tools to connect to so many from whom we have so much to learn! We can also connect more easily to one another. Stay close by reading this blog, friending us on facebook, following us on twitter and reading our teacher web pages.

And, not to worry – face-to-face communication will be enhanced, not diminished. Social media adds; it does not take the place of our in-person connection. So, paradoxically, I end a blog on social media encouraging you to sign up with Brianne Gioio in our office for a face-to-face parent-principal conference with me on our parent-teacher conference days. It will be an opportunity to share anything on your mind; or simply to spend some time getting to know each other better. Attend our first coffee on Wednesday, November 2 where we will share information on our new literacy programs in both English and Hebrew. Make time to volunteer or just to visit.

We want to see you on blogs, web pages, Facebook, and Twitter. We also want to see you right here, face to face.

See you soon and see you often!

No Office Day – I’m Closing My Office And Going Back to the Classroom

Scheduled into my calendar for two hours every day – color coded in red, thanks to my assistant, Brianne Gioio’s ingenuity – is classroom time. During these two hours I commit to visiting classrooms. It’s not the only time I get out of my office (I’m with students and teachers at lunch and recess, at school-wide events, and for other programming), but despite my best intentions, classroom time often gets gobbled up.

What fills in its place?

You likely guessed it: meetings. Yes, the meetings are (mostly) important – curricular and programming meetings with faculty, meetings with parents who deserve to share their insights and concerns, and strategic meetings with professional and parent leadership.

Yet it is in the classrooms as well as “extended classroom spaces” such as our library, computer lab, science lab, and outdoor trails and gardens that true education happens. Teachers and students deserve to see me, their principal, in their places of learning, offering support, providing feedback, and rolling up my sleeves to get directly involved in teaching and learning.

I know I’m not the only educational leader who feels the gravitational pull of the office. Many principals and other school administrators, when speaking honestly with one another, share similar frustrations. It is from this place of deep commitment that I have embraced and have become involved in coordinating International No Office Day.

It is a day – actually several days during the week of September 12 – to accommodate different schedules. Educational leaders will close their offices and be with teachers and students in classes. Assistant Principal Ilanit Curi-Hoory and I will hold our first No Office Day next week, on Tuesday, September 13. It’s not the only day we’ll be in classrooms.

Indeed, the conversations among colleagues far and wide about how to spend the day are energizing us to consider ways of having many no office days and daily no office hours. The dialogue with colleagues is also stretching our thinking on ways to make our time in classrooms more meaningful.

The Power of “We”

Community! Collaboration! Connection! Energy! Ideas! Action!

The school year begins with the power of “we” – our community working together to enrich the intellectual and spiritual lives of our children.

What’s in store for our school this year?  A dynamic PTO with new and returning leadership to strengthen the bond between our families and school.  New community action groups with parents and teachers dedicated to enhancing Jewish life, gemilut chesed (social action), Israeli culture and health & wellness.  Family curriculum nights where students and parents playfully learn together.  Refined and strengthened Student Services to better meet the needs of all learners, whether in enrichment or support.  Expanded science program with more fully integrated classroom and lab studies, using our indoor and outdoor labs, trails, and gardens.  An exciting balanced literacy program to enhance reading and writing skills in English and Hebrew.  Technology plan to build skills and encourage creativity, while teaching our students to become responsible, safe digital citizens.  A facelift for our walls with bright banners and colorful pictures expressing our mission and core values to reinforce who we are as a school and community.

And looking ahead to 2012-2013, we are designing our new library-media center and planning and training for the introduction of Singapore Math.

Join us! Become more engaged with our Schechter Westchester community.  By bringing together our ideas, talents, passion and time, the power of “We” will make a wonderful difference in the lives of our children and our families!

Literacy Pronoun Watch: The only pronoun used in the writing of this blog entry is “we”; there is no “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” or “them.” With tremendous room for the individual, together we are greater than alone; united we will offer so much to our children and our community. That is the power of “we.”