Emily Lazar began sending her son, Nate, to Schechter this fall as a second grade student

Every year, Schechter enrolls a large kindergarten cohort. For school year 2012-2013, Schechter welcomed 23 new students in grades 1-8: a large increase in the number of students entering after kindergarten. To learn more about the experience of one of its newest families, Schechter interviewed Emily Lazar whose son, Nate, entered second grade as a new student this fall.

Schechter: What were your considerations in looking for a new school?

Lazar: We are blessed to live in a region with so many great choices in Jewish day school education, each one with its own strengths. Nate and I were moving, and so we focused on schools closer to our new home. We were able to look at a number of really good options. Of course, my major concern was whether the school would be a good match for Nate, one which met his learning style and personality.

Schechter: Why did you look at Schechter?

Lazar: We had friends who had children at Schechter, and they were all really happy. We had also heard that the school provided structure, academics and a sense of pride in being Jewish. These are important elements for Nate. What we got was so much more.

Schechter: What was the admission process like?

Lazar: The initial phone call with Carol (Carol Rumpler is Schechter’s director of admission) quickly put me at ease. Her warmth and openness made us feel so welcome. Carol was and continued to be so accessible. She was able to provide me perspective as a representative of the school, but also as a parent. There was no pretense; Carol made it a point to get to know Nate and what we were looking for so that she could be most helpful.

Carol immediately connected us with a parent who had boys at Schechter who I could ask questions and get more information about the class Nate would be entering. Because Carol knows the parents and the children so well, I feel as though she chose a parent she knew that I would relate to.

Schechter: Once Nate was enrolled, what were your impressions of the school?

Lazar: One of the first things that I noticed about Schechter was not only the communication between the school and parents, but also between the teachers and parents.

Schechter: Are you finding the school to be a good match?

Lazar: So far, absolutely. We feel that he is truly understood. The teachers are available, for me and for him. We feel very fortunate to have a teaching team that has worked so well for Nate. Put simply, they get him. They understand his style. They listen to what he says he needs and are flexible so that he can get the most out of his learning.

Schechter: How was the transition into Hebrew language?

Lazar: I was worried Nate would be behind in Hebrew, but whether he was or not, it just was not an issue. From day one, the teachers worked with him to get him to where he needs to be. The teachers work incredibly hard to both plan and implement their lessons.

Schechter: Do you have any other observations?

I am impressed with the level of professionalism in the school. The teachers look and act like professional educators. They take pride in what they teach and how they teach. The make their academic and behavioral expectations clear to Nate. With these clear standards, he is thriving and is able to exhibit his independence and work to his strengths.

Schechter: What does all of this mean for Nate?

Lazar: There is structure to his learning, and he knows the he is in the right place. He feels secure and welcomed. These past few months have been so rich — academically, socially and emotionally.

Schechter: Anything else you would like to share?

Lazar: I feel that Schechter is investing in Nate as a student and as a member of a community just as much as I am investing in him as his parent.

This experience has been positive and affirming. I recognize that there will be bumps in the road as in life, but this has been the smoothest transition we could have asked for. From chaos and disorganization to a solid foundation where the learning and growing has begun.

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Beginning in the 2013-2014 school year, Schechter is proud to introduce its new Madregot Program for new students in grades 1-8. The word madregot is Hebrew for “steps” and also refers to levels of spiritual attainment in Jewish tradition. The program is designed to support students and ensure a smooth and successful transition to Schechter, regardless of their Hebrew language and Judaic Studies backgrounds. The Madregot Program was developed as a new initiative following the completion of the strategic plan, Reaching Higher!, adopted by Schechter’s board of trustees last spring.

“It is our hope that through the Madregot Program we will be able to help even more parents provide a Schechter education for their children,” said Carol Rumpler, Director of Admission. “The level of support varies in each grade level. Most notably, in grades 6-8 Madregot students will follow a customized Hebrew language and Judaic Studies track alongside the traditional General Studies program.”

There is a one-time $1,800 Hebrew language and Judaic Studies support and tutoring fee for students entering grades 2-8 with a family cap of $3,600. Parents who would like more information about applying to kindergarten or the Madregot Program should contact Carol Rumpler at 617-630-4608 or carol.rumpler@ssdsboston.org.

This article was printed in The Jewish Advocate January 18, 2013

by Rabbi Scott Slarskey, Grade 6 Torah She’b'al Peh, Upper School Religious Leader

Every time a guest presents at our Friday morning Grades 6-8 minyan – delivering a three- to four-minute Ani Ma’amin statement of personal belief – I remind myself to be patient. I very much enjoy hearing parents, faculty, community leaders, alumni and eighth-grade students speak about the values core to their life choices. But our students have reminded me again and again that the most important transformative moments happen shortly after the conclusion of the speaker’s formal remarks. During the five to seven minutes immediately following the presentation, students – and occasionally faculty – ask the presenter questions about his or her core personal belief.

“Why is it important to do the right thing, even when you know nobody sees you and nobody will find out?”

“What would happen to the State of Israel if every Jew in the world moved there all of a sudden?”

“Why should a person pray if they don’t feel inspired?”

These exemplary questions are paraphrased from actual questions students have asked visitors at our Friday morning Grade 6-8 minyan. This forum for deep questioning fosters students’ critical engagement and identification with, as well as deep understanding of, the formative beliefs of another person.

Excellent questions beget excellent questions. Both peers and faculty unfailingly, and often unconsciously, model the art of asking sensitive, probing, essential questions. Contemporary educational research and theory advocate essential questions as the foundation of excellent educational practice. Internationally known educator and author Grant Wiggins characterizes an essential question as “a question that any thoughtful and intellectually-alive person ponders and should keep pondering.”

In the world around us, we can see how questions weave a web of relationships between people and The Holy Blessed One, hone our understanding of challenging concepts and have the power to significantly alter the public discourse. Please join us for a Friday morning Ani Ma’amin to discover how you will be transformed by the questions of our next generation of Jewish leaders.

by Rabbi Amy Bardack, Lower School Judaic Director

“Students will develop a love of Torah study for its own sake and embrace it as an inspiring resource, informing their values, moral commitments, and ways of experiencing the world.” That is one of the two standards we have committed to as a school, as part of our curricular initiative in Tanakh Standards and Benchmarks. Our goals are for students to derive morals and values from the text and develop skills to understand the Biblical text in Hebrew. Now in our second year of this initiative, all teachers in grades 2-8 are designing standards-based curricular units.

Here is a taste of the kinds of morals and values students discuss in second and third grade, in connection with the texts they study from Sefer Bereshit:

Lying:

Having studied about the brothers lying to their father about having sold Yosef, third graders reflect on the effects that lying can have on others. They also consider circumstances in which lying could be seen as an acceptable choice.

Forgiveness:

Studying about Yosef forgiving his brothers, third graders reflect on the difficulty of forgiving those who have hurt us. They consider what is involved in being able to forgive.

Seeking Peace:

Learning about Avraham’s concern about a peaceful separation from Lot, second graders discuss the importance of maintaining peace between people. Students think of times in their lives when they can be peace-makers, such as on the playground when conflicts arise.

Standing Up for What is Right:

Second graders study about Avraham arguing with God on behalf of the people of Sodom, including the key quote: “Will the Judge of All the World not act with justice?” They reflect on the importance of standing up for what they believe is right and the risks involved in doing so. They identify which injustices they would consider standing up for.

Discussing these kinds of morals and values helps students to develop skills in higher order thinking, which they can apply to all learning. The values are derived from the texts in the Torah, yet they are also applicable to other texts students might read and to their daily lives. Students see that the Torah can be a source of enduring truths about life, and that in turn motivates their learning. In designing curricular units with this standard in mind, we are enriching and deepening our students’ thinking and helping them develop a love of Torah study, which we hope will last a lifetime.

[This post was originally written and published in Schechter's Shavuon on November 30, 2009.]

Today is the yahrzeit of Solomon Schechter z”l. In our tradition, we celebrate the lives of those who made a lasting impact by remembering the date of their passing rather than their birth. By so doing, we honor the accomplishments of lives well lived as opposed to births, when lives were yet to be shaped.

Solomon Schechter, for whom more than 70 schools, seminaries and institutions worldwide dedicated to Jewish learning are named, was a Romanian and English rabbi, academic scholar and educator. He is most famous for his roles as founder and president of the United Synagogue of America, president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and architect of the American Conservative Jewish movement.

Schechter was born in Romania in 1847 to a Chassidic family. His Chassidic upbringing did not satisfy him, and in 1879, he went to study at the Berlin Hochschule fur die Wissenschaft des Judentums and at the University of Berlin. In 1882, Schechter was invited to be a tutor in rabbinics in London. He quickly rose to prominence as a rabbinic scholar and spokesman for Jewish traditionalism. In 1890, he was appointed lecturer in Talmudics and in 1892, reader in rabbinics at Cambridge University. In 1899, he also became professor of Hebrew at University College, London.

He gained international fame as a scholar when he discovered and brought back to London more than 100,000 pages of rare manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza. Beyond sorting and filing the documents, Schechter wrote about the newly found Ben Sirach materials.

In the early 1880s, a number of American Jewish leaders tried to establish a seminary and movement, but they found very little support. The Reformers weren’t interested, nor were the new Russian immigrants. In 1902, Rabbi Schechter was invited to become president of a newly revamped school, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). Schechter accepted the invitation and succeeded in attracting an outstanding group of scholars to teach. The JTS became a recognized center of Jewish learning.

In 1913, Schechter was instrumental in founding the United Synagogue of America, the umbrella organization of all Conservative congregations. Though a staunch traditionalist, Schechter admitted there could be change in modern Judaism. However, he felt changes should not be introduced arbitrarily or deliberately. Rather, “the norm as well as the sanction of Judaism is the practice actually in vogue. Its consecration is the consecration of general use—or, in other words, of Catholic Israel.”

In the hallways of both of our schools, candles are lit today beneath a picture of Schechter. Adjoining the picture, Dr. David Starr, parent, teacher and Schechter scholar, wrote, “Schechter’s thought overwhelmingly reveals a man wrestling with the categories implicit in ‘tradition and modernity.’ The history of Schechter’s Seminary, as it came to be known, reveals his willingness to act in such a way as to seize the vital center of Jewish life. The impact on American Jewry was palpable. Through his presence, his writings and through the Seminary and its affiliates, American Jewry now had a center and the beginnings of a high culture at once rooted in traditional texts, as well as versed in modern methods of scholarship.”

It is the commitment to developing, cultivating and strengthening that vital center that this school and the network of Schechter schools across the nation and around the world share. It is because of his vision and leadership that we maintain our mission to build the core of the next generation of the Jewish community and, we believe, its leaders.

As in prior years, today I wore a beard, in the fashion of Schechter, and spoke with classes about the school’s namesake. I hope to help our students see that the school they attend honors a man and his vision – for seriousness of purpose, a commitment to honor tradition, a readiness to engage the world in which we live, and participation as a link in a community that stretches both into the past and forward as far as the mind’s eye can see. May our work, and the work of our students, continue to help Schechter’s memory be a blessing.

by Varda Ben-Meir, Grades 7 & 8 Head Advisor, Grades 4-8 Head of Judaic Studies

At the beginning of the year, the theme of the year was announced: Respect. What is respect?

The dictionary gives the following definitions: admiration given by others; moral sentiments. It is synonymous with honor, appreciation, esteem, recognition.

Respect means recognizing that all people are entitled to basic human dignity. All human beings deserve respect as a basic part of their existence. Confucius said: “Respect yourself and others will respect you.”

Our sense of self-respect begins at birth and continues throughout our lives. It is a learned condition. As babies, we learn to respect our parents, who provide us with our needs. If we are treated with love and esteem, then there is a good chance our self respect will be great and we will succeed in life.

The best way to teach respect is to show respect. When a child experiences respect, he/she knows how it feels and begins to understand its importance. A respectful child takes care of belongings and responsibilities and gets along with peers.

Schools teach children about respect, but parents have the most influence on how respectful children become. Until children show respect at home, it’s unlikely they will show it anywhere else.

What and how do we, at Schechter, teach our students respect? In language arts classes, the students deal with the concept when it is relevant to the story. In fourth grade, they have a box named “Respect.” Slowly, the students uncover the meaning/inner message of the box. In fifth grade, the set of class rules, which include respect one another and respect one another’s property, is in front of the class and glued to the students’ homework folder. The students are daily reminded about and talked to about respect.

In Judaic studies, it is part of the curriculum. During Tanakh classes, one can find many opportunities to teach respect for others and for property. Our seventh graders learn about respecting teachers and students in Toshba. In Hebrew classes, students learn and practice respectful behavior: working with a classmate you are not so friendly with; listening to another student’s presentation; welcoming new students to the grade. In Havurah, seventh graders watch a DVD and discuss bullying. Respect for the school property is a theme that repeats itself throughout the years, and the concept of Derekh Eretz has become part of all of us.

The yearly theme gives us a common language and opportunity to emphasize a behavior we would like to foster in our students.

In a recent Talmud class, our teacher, Rabbi Benjamin Samuels, made a reference to a field of study new to me – the art of memory or Ars Memorativa (Latin). This general term designates a loosely associated group of mnemonic principles and techniques used to organize memory impressions, improve recall and assist in the combination and invention of ideas. It is sometimes referred to as mnemotechnics. It is an art in the Aristotelian sense – a method or set of prescriptions that adds order and discipline to the pragmatic, natural activities of human beings. It has existed as a recognized group of principles and techniques since as early as the middle of the first millennium B.C.E. and was usually associated with training in rhetoric or logic. But variants of the art were employed in other contexts, particularly religious and magical.

The Art of Memory is also the title of a 1966 non-fiction book by British historian Frances A. Yates. The book follows the history of mnemonic systems from the classical period of Simonides of Ceos in ancient Greece to the Renaissance era of Giordano Bruno, ending with Gottfried Leibniz and the early emergence of the scientific method in the 17th century.

In our Talmud class, Rabbi Samuels explained that in the period before the advent of publishing, even in its crudest forms, there were very few books. People committed to memory what needed to be remembered, saved or passed down. Thus, gaining skill in memory was valued, and the art of memory developed and was honed over centuries. As books became more available, the compelling reason to strengthen memory faded. Much of what was needed could be found by going to a library or checking an encyclopedia or the volumes at home or in the office.

Thus, development of the art of memory began to fade by the 18th century. A fictional account, Alfred Hitchcock’s famous 1935 movie, The 39 Steps, opens with a demonstration of the superlative powers of recall of Mr. Memory, a man with a photographic memory, at a London music hall theatre when shots are fired. This demonstration of memory probably hearkens back to a time when memory mattered, and feats of memory inspired.

But does memory matter today, and will it matter going forward? If the decline of the art of memory can be traced to the growth and flourishing of the printed word and thus the capacity to store knowledge outside of one’s self or a human brain, then it seems inevitable that this decline can only be accelerated with the growth of electronic memory systems that can store vast amounts of knowledge, easily available with only the most modest of techniques for locating that data.

For example, parts of this blog were taken directly from Wikipedia; the author really didn’t have to know or remember very much to compose it. This may all be well and good for short essays like this, but is the recession of memory really an attractive prospect? If adults (and by extension, the next generation of adults) really needn’t remember anything (except their passwords, or where their passwords are stored), then isn’t something – beyond simply the art of memory – lost?

Are we just showing our age and lack of a contemporary approach when we get gratification from remembering the words to a poem long ago taught and committed to memory? Or the rules for the proper use of a flag, required to graduate from elementary school? Or the complete lineup of the 1959 Chicago White Sox in the World Series? What should children be asked to remember? Only approaches to accessing information? Or vague first principles?

I suggest that our lives are enriched by what we remember, and – more to the point – that we do remember. With that understanding, memory is an aspect, a function, perhaps even a craft, if not an art form, that can be nurtured and cultivated. If our vision of an educated person stands as our guide, then schools should not abandon the goal of developing memory – both deep and specific – in their work with children.

When the art of memory is lost, it may well be that the beauty and power of remembering might be lost, as well. The task of educators is to understand what endures and thus to envision what might endure for children in our care. To that point, we should labor so that memory itself is not a lost art.

Sometimes school leaders have the strangest experiences, as if they’ve awoken to a dream.

Take this year, with the first days of school still so very fresh in our minds. This is my 18th year in a leadership role at SSDS, 11th as Head of School. There’s all the usual, wonderful energy and excitement that accompanies the start of the school year. Children scrubbed, tanned and anticipatory; teachers all organized, ready, expectant; and parents with all of these characteristics and an occasional whiff of melancholy as they see their now bigger children off to their next adventure, leaving the children in the care of others.

This year, especially in our first full week of classes, I observed the school anew and found a new school. The school is new, in a large sense, because of plans laid in place years ago.

For instance, 11 years ago when we opened our Upper School campus, I can clearly remember thinking that it was great, but if someday we had a real library and a real music space, how wonderful that would be. Today our school is new – new library, new music space, art, learning center, conference room and more, and new wide lockers that help kids keep their things off the floor.

I remember when we discussed a few years back how wonderful it would be if we ever got the kids – particularly the boys – engaged in tefillot (daily prayer) and how wonderful it would be to have some pied pipers who might employ music to build ruach (spirit) with our adolescent/middle school kids. When I took around Barry Shrage, our local Federation executive, this week, we went from one room to another in which kids were singing in their tefillot hugim. Guitars were out as they learned and practiced melodies – some new, some traditional and some from summer camp. When we completed the tour, Barry said, “You guys got it – these kids are really into it.”

I can remember the conversations among administrators and Board members about new curricula in social studies, new textbooks in math and the use of technology in some non-technical subjects. Then this week, I attended the eighth-grade back-to-school night and all of this was now real.

I remember thinking what it would be like to have campus leaders to whom I could confidently turn over day-to-day program responsibilities; leaders who would have strong educational, administrative and even counseling credentials; leaders who could work with teachers and could be clear, consistent and visionary. Now we have them, and I sometimes feel as if I have to rub my eyes when I see them in front of groups of parents or teachers; they are so successful in their work and far more effective than I ever remember myself in that role.

All these and more remind me of an important truth about educational leadership. Good things take time, but if you’re blessed with a good team to work with you and a mission you can believe in, dreams really do come true.

The first real weekend is upon us, and it’s proper to savor these outcomes. Starting Monday morning, we open the next chapter(s): how to perfect what we’ve now put in place and plant the seeds that will start the next set of dreams, dreams that may be realized for children who aren’t old enough to attend Schechter yet. This work is for them.

What do you hope for your child’s development of math understanding and skills? What role will mathematics play in your child’s education and throughout his or her life? I expect there are a wide variety of responses, including: I don’t want my child to struggle with math like I did. We want our child to know her math facts. I want my child to be able to take Advanced Placement math classes in high school and score well on the SATs. I want my child to continue to enjoy math. I want my child to be able to use math to make good choices in life.

Our math curriculum at Schechter is designed to develop a student’s long-term relationship with mathematics. We have selected new math programs throughout the school. ThinkMath!, the program we’re using in kindergarten through fifth grade, addresses our goals for your children’s math education:

• develop strong mathematical thinkers and problem solvers who are empowered by their understanding of math
• foster understanding of math concepts and computational fluency
• encourage a love of mathematics
• develop the ability to recognize patterns and reason logically and spatially

When many of us think about math in elementary school and beyond, we recall addition and subtraction algorithms, multiplication tables and long division. We remember the rules for multiplying and dividing fractions. However, math is much more than numbers and the basic operations. Mathematics is a discipline, and like most disciplines, it includes a knowledge base with content such as numbers – including whole numbers, fractions and decimals – operations, geometry, probability and algebra. It also includes methods and processes that are unique to the discipline, such as logical proofs, justifying answers and problem solving. Additionally, the discipline of math includes symbols and systems for communicating mathematical ideas, which include equations, graphs, diagrams and, of course, written language. Mathematics is a complex discipline that offers both a knowledge base and a way of looking at the world, as well as a tool for navigating in the world.

Our society approaches reading and writing differently than mathematics. Most of us read books to our children daily. In our families and schools, we instill in our children a love of reading through compelling stories. So, what do we do in our families and schools to encourage a love of mathematics? Typically, with preschoolers and kindergarteners, we encourage the use of jigsaw puzzles, counting games and play with balances. The satisfaction on the face of a preschooler who has tackled and completed a challenging jigsaw puzzle is evident. Yet, it seems that beyond preschool age, puzzle playing and number play in our families fade.

How else can we encourage our children to love mathematics? Having basic fact fluency, but never tackling puzzles or challenging problems, is akin to having a large vocabulary but never actually having access to stories.

Some things we are doing at school:

• Tackling challenging problems and puzzles
• Playing games that require reasoning and skills in the classroom
• Posing problems that are open-ended and encourage different approaches
• Searching for patterns and making predictions based on the patterns we find
• Developing computational fluency

Things to do at home to encourage a love of mathematics:

ring puzzles and games into your family’s daily life. (The NY Times and Boston Globe are great sources for KenKen and Sudoku puzzles.)

• Involve your children in mathematical tasks at home, including cooking and shopping.
• Play games like checkers, chess, Othello, Clue, Mastermind and Mancala.
• Set up piggy banks and savings accounts for your child to experience the most basic way numbers touch our lives.

I invite you to share with me, your teachers and each other how you are encouraging a love of puzzles and mathematical thinking in your home. We will share with you how we are doing so at school. Just as the pleasure of story helps to motivate a child to learn to read (and continue to develop deeper reading skills), the pleasures of puzzle solving can serve to motivate and engage students to learn the skills needed to tackle more challenging problems and puzzles.

We are very excited about our new math program, Think Math!, which is being introduced in grades K-5 and is constructed to accomplish two main goals:

1.     Develop conceptual understanding of mathematics, both the content and processes of the discipline

2.     Develop computational fluency as a foundation of that understanding

Central to the approach in ThinkMath! is a focus on puzzles and challenging problems to both engage and instruct students. The puzzles are not cutesy “color in all the even numbers” puzzles, but demanding logical reasoning puzzles. You have probably seen some of these puzzles in your children’s early homework assignments. The developers of ThinkMath! also designed the curriculum and pedagogy to capitalize on children’s abilities to build knowledge. Finally, ThinkMath! provides ample opportunity for students to practice their growing skills in a variety of contexts and levels, keeping students engaged and building robust understanding.

At Schechter, we are interested in developing your children’s mastery of mathematical concepts and skills to serve your child over the marathon of education and, indeed, life. We want Schechter graduates to have the understanding, skills and confidence to tackle challenging problems, whether in a new math course in high school or college, when interpreting data from an article or lab experiment, or when making a decision about a mortgage application.

by Amy Sullivan, Math Specialist

It was my pleasure and privilege to welcome Dr. Mindy Pincus to a group of Lower School parents this morning. I introduced Mindy to them – just as I had to teachers before the start of school and as I will to our Board of Trustees at their first meeting later this week – as a gifted educator who brings a record of achievement as a school leader to Schechter. I also shared my sense, from her first few weeks at our school, that Mindy will make an extraordinary contribution to our families and teachers. Simply put, Mindy has an excellent sense of good teaching, of what works in classrooms and schools, and of how to – with tact and caring – move a school such as ours toward even greater excellence.

Prior to coming to Schechter, Dr. Pincus was head of school for the past seven years of Temple Beth Am Day School in Miami, FL, an early childhood through Grade 5 Jewish day school with 400 students. She holds a Ph.D. degree with honors in counseling psychology from the University of Miami School of Education, an Ed.M. degree in school counseling from Boston University’s School of Education and a B.A. degree in English literature from Swarthmore College. During her 25-year career in education, she has served as director of counseling at Ransom Everglades School, Coconut Grove, FL; assistant head of school and director of student services and academic affairs at Roland Park Country School, Baltimore, MD; and teacher and JV girls’ tennis coach at the Hackley School, Tarrytown, NY.

As I wrote to parents over the summer, Mindy is an outstanding leader who understands the opportunities and challenges of a Lower School. She has the experience, know-how and passion to help us continue our record of educational excellence and proceed to the next level of teacher growth and student learning. She has led improvements in curriculum and staff supervision, developed strategic plans and worked closely with parent associations. At Schechter, Mindy will be working most closely with Barbara Shea, associate head of school for program and instruction.

I’ve seen how Mindy has greeted children the first few days of school this year. Her smile, warmth and caring are evident. But it was her comment to parents this morning that struck me. Here was this eminently qualified and capable woman – a Ph.D., former school head, with about a billion things on her plate – and she made sure to talk to parents about the challenges of the first days of school for their youngsters. Mindy noted that this morning, after a very long holiday weekend, there were a few tears as children left their parents. She reminded parents that at Schechter, we’re sensitive to the children’s ups and downs, and that by taking the longer view, we know they’ll be okay. Mindy added to the group, “Please feel free to come to me with questions or concerns. I’m here to help, and my door is open.”

I feel we’ve been blessed with a wonderful leader for our Lower School. I look forward to working with her as a partner in moving us further to meet our sacred mission of educating these beautiful young souls.

We start this year with the promise of a bright new beginning, school being the place where we all get to begin anew each September. After weeks of preparation, teachers welcomed students who arrived with fresh notebooks, warm laughter and high hopes. Our faculty and staff returned refreshed and invigorated after a summer of reflection, reading and study. With a strong commitment to professional development, teachers participated in summer courses in the teaching of writing, science, math and Tanakh. They worked collaboratively to develop curriculum in social studies, language arts, tefillot and Hebrew. With much enthusiasm, we welcomed Dr. Mindy Pincus as the new leader of the Lower School, many new students, and an infusion of talented new teachers.

Our buildings sparkle as beacons of optimism, high expectations and strong community. The Upper School has been renovated to reflect our mission of academic excellence, and the excitement of our students and parents was palpable as they entered the building. Our new and enlarged library now includes a fully equipped computer lab and the best technology available. Every room has been repainted and re-carpeted, and new student lockers have been installed. At the Lower School, we are in the process of equipping the math technology lab, and on both campuses, monitors have been installed in the entry halls to showcase student activities and scheduled events.

What do we do with such promise, such hope, so many dreams of success? How do we articulate our vision to our students in ways they can understand and act upon? First, we talk with children explicitly about our expectations for their academic work and for their positive contribution to community. We will be meeting with all students in the opening days of school, talking with them directly about both our expectations and the ways they can count on us to support them.

This year, our focus will be on treating all members of our community with respect, underscoring the idea of B’tzelem elokim, we are all created in God’s image. In keeping with treating everyone with respect, our expectations around bullying and teasing have been made much more explicit, in terms of both defining and addressing bullying behavior.

Our goal for the new school year reflects the message of Rosh Hashanah: bringing our best selves to the New Year. We offer forgiveness, shed animosity and hurts, and resolve to treat one another in a respectful way. For adults, this means not rushing to judgment when things go wrong, but rather having patience and being open to looking at different points of view. For children, this means learning to live and work with all members of the Schechter community. Our community will grow stronger as we support one another: stronger in learning, stronger in friendship and stronger in spiritual growth.

L’Shanah Tovah u’Metukah

By Barbara Shea, Associate Head for Program and Instruction