From the VP of Education

Welcome back to school everyone.  As of this week, all of our JJC Schools are back in session.  Also all of our Education communities have met.

I think there are more than a few of you out there who do not know what an education community at the Jacksonville Jewish Center is.  Let me explain.  At the JJC, there are four schools;  the Jacksonville Jewish Center Pre-School, the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School, the Bernard and Alice Selevan Religious School, and the Makom/Siyyum Highschool program.

Each of these schools has an education community whose responsibility is governance.  What I mean by that is, these education communities are responsible for insuring that all of our schools have a future.  The education communities work in partnership with the principals of the schools.  The principals are responsible for operating the schools.  The education communities are responsible for making sure there are ways to measure that our schools are providing an education guided by the mission of the synagogue and the individual schools.

If you are still confused, here are some examples of the work our education communities will be doing this year and in the years to come:

• Creating strategic plans for their schools so there are goals to reach for and direction for the administrators to follow.
• Financial planning so each school administrator can have direction and support in building his/her budget and managing the schools’ finances.
• Development work to build relationships with school parents, alumni, and other stakeholders which should ultimately excite people in a way that they will be proud to support our great schools.
• Fundraising to raise the needed funds to supplement all of the schools budgets, because tuition dollars alone are not enough to produce the type of education experiences that we want our children to have.
• Creating policies for the schools which also are guided by the mission of the schools and synagogue.  An example:  Last year the Customized Learning Plan Policy was created for the Religious school to give Lois Tompkins the authority to create customized learning plans for her students who met certain criteria.  This policy was based on a vision/mission of inclusion and an understanding that all students do not learn the same way.  Lois identified a need in her school.  The RS/HS Education community then created a policy with Lois’ guidance to meet this need and ultimately improve the RS’s ability to serve all of its students and families.

In the header of this blog you can find lists of the members of these education communities.  They have changed a little bit from last year.  The Chair of the Preschool Education Community is Gabrielle Bubis.  The chair of the MJGDS Education Community is Mauri Mizrahi.  The co-chairs of the Religious/High School Education Community are Faye Mizrahi and Stacy Leach.

If you have concerns or comments about anything going on in your child’s schools, the first person to consult with, if it is not a classroom matter, is the principal of the school.  The chairpeople of these education communities have nothing to do with the “everyday” of the schools.  If you have ideas or comments or concerns about fundraising/development or strategic planning then you  can certainly contact the education community chairpeople or the principals.  They all play on the same team.

You may notice when you look at the lists of the members of the education communities that there are many people who do not have children in any of the schools.  The reason is we will have better governance if the members have a broader perspective.  All of the education community members bring some positive attribute to the group.

I hope this information has helped clarify what our education communities do.  I welcome your questions and comments.  I believe in complete transparency.  The community is entitled to know about the work we are doing in our schools.

On that note, one of the big things going on this year that some of you may be wondering about is investigating the idea of creating an academy model for our JJC schools.  There is not much to report yet.  However, I would like to explain what is going on so far.

Jon Mitzmacher and Mauri Mizrahi are leading a task force which is charged with researching and proposing an academy model for our schools.  When I say academy model, I mean creating an education system at the JJC where all of the schools are working together, under an umbrella of the “academy”, toward a common goal.  In otherwards, a school system of Jewish education where our high school seniors will graduate from our synagogue schools with a Jewish education that will be a foundation for the rest of their life. It should not matter which schools they attended within the academy, the goal/result should be the same.

Right now, the task force is in the process of creating a mission statement.  As soon as I am able, I will share that with you.  Once we have a vision/mission, the task force will then propose a plan of how all of the schools can work more closely together and think of our students not as students of the Religious School or Pre-school, but of the JJC Academy which includes all of the synagogue students in all of the schools.

These are exciting times in Education at the Jacksonville Jewish Center.  I hope you all are as excited as I am about the journey.

See you in a few weeks!!

Mauri Mizrahi

Jacksonville Jewish Center

Vice President of Education

The 2010-2011 school year has been incredible.

We have rebuilt our school governance and we will continue to build on what has been created this year.

We are in the final month of our second annual LDVDS giving campaign.  We have raised over $115,000.  Every dollar raised will be matched which means the JJC schools will receive at least $230,000 to supplement their operating budgets this year.  Thank you to all of the LDVDS donors and supporters.

Sunday, June 5, 2011 the LDVDS honored Robin Morris and she received the David Gaffney Leadership and Education Award.  The brunch was chaired by Jen Plotkin, Michelle Margol, and Helen DuBow.  Approximately 300 people were in attendance.  Students from Morah Rachael’s past and present shared memories and well wishes.  Students from the JJC preschool, MJGDS and Bernard and Alice Religious School participated throughout the morning.  We are so lucky to have teachers as passionate about teaching as Robin (Morah Rachael) Morris.

The JJC Education Community will be researching and developing a plan for an academy model for our youth/education departments over the next year.  The idea is to centralize and coordinate our youth and education programs so that they build on each other both horizontally and vertically.  The academy model that the JJC Education community will develop over the next year will be implemented in school year 2012-2013.

The 8th graders will be joining Makom on Wednesday nights from 7-9 and continue their Shabbat curriculum on Saturdays.  They will continue the 8th grade Etgar curriculum on Wednesdays, just at the new 7-9 time.

The MJGDS will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year.  A new logo has been designed and is already in use.  The planning is starting for the celebration weekend which has been scheduled for May 4-6, 2012.  Committees are being formed for all of the events.

All of the Education Communities will be taking June and July off.  Everyone will resume their work in August.

I hope this blog was informative this year.  Have a wonderful summer!!!

L’Dor V Dor Society

• All Education Communities are currently working to educate and encourage maximal participation in the LDVDS annual giving campaign.

• All have agreed that more opportunities should be provided to educate potential and current LDVDS donors on what the LDVDS provides to our schools.

• Conversation has begun about kicking off the LDVDS campaign with our parent population in November and December rather than January.  January is a difficult time to approach the subject because we are beginning to ask our parents to enroll for the next year at that time.

• LDVDS brunch, honoring Robin Morris as the recipient of the David Gaffney Leadership and Education award, is being held June 5, 2011 at the Center.

• Jen Plotkin, Michelle Margol, and Helen DuBow are chairing the brunch.

• Invitations to the LDVDS brunch will be sent out to the community after Passover.  Minimum gift of $18 to the LDVDS is recommended to attend the brunch.

• The PTA has donated $10,000 from the proceeds of the MOCA Art in Education event to the LDVDS annual giving campaign.

• Need to raise $25,000 dollars to meet our fundraising goal for this school year.  These dollars will be matched.

HOS/Principal Evaluations

• All of the Principals/HOS have created parent and teacher surveys which are scheduled to be sent out digitally at the end of March or beginning of April.

• Select information from these surveys will be used as part of the HOS/Principal evaluation.

JJC Education/Youth Vision

• The JJC Education Community held its first meeting on Thursday, March 31, 2011.  The focus of the meeting was to brainstorm on how the schools and youth department can work together toward a common goal of educating the JJC youth.  Here are some of the topics discussed:

1. Staff sharing professional development opportunities
2. All Staff being educated on the technology and other teaching equipment in the building and allowing the staff to use these resources.
3. Ordering materials as an education department instead of 4 separate schools.
4. Exploring the idea of marketing the youth and education programs as one.
5. Encouraging a cross over of staff from our schools to our camp.
6. Building on programs that put younger and older students together promoting the natural inclination for the younger students to look up to the older students and for the older students to act as role models.
7. Try to create an education department where moving from one school to another at the JJC feels like an internal move within the same educational system.
8. All Youth and Education professionals, under the leadership of executive director Don Kriss, will be meeting regularly to ensure continuity in our in our education and youth programs.
9. Looking to coordinate all of the education and youth community meetings on the same day of the week each month.
10. Started looking at all of the different education events and began thinking about how we can have fewer events with greater impact.

Martin J. Gottlieb Day School

• MJGDS will be hosting a regional Solomon Schechter Day School Association conference in the fall.

• Enrollment is going well.  Tuition assistance meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 11, 2011.  Will have a better picture of enrollment after that meeting.

• MJGDS will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year.  Beginning the planning and looking for volunteers to help plan this awesome celebration.

• MJGDS is running a “Not too late” ad campaign.  The main idea is to communicate that a student can enter the DS in any grade.  The student  will be pulled out during Hebrew Language time, learn with a group of students of similar age and ability with the ultimate goal of rejoining his class when he is ready.

• MJGDS will be offering an enhanced kindergarten program next year.  It is an optional extra 2 hours from 1:45 to 3:45.  The cost is exactly the same as it would cost for a kindergartner to stay for 2 hours of Kid’s Club.  The difference is they would be able to complete their homework with the assistance of the kindergartner teacher and have an opportunity to do enrichment work.

• MJGDS Education Community will be scheduling a retreat toward the end of the summer.  The goal is to learn best practices for school governance and start working on a 3 year strategic plan.

Religious School/High School

• Makom Hebrew High program will have a new mission statement.  Currently it is being reviewed by the Rabbi.

• Beginning to explore the idea of bringing the 8th graders from MJGDS and RS to Makom on a regular basis.  This would give the 8th graders another opportunity to get to know each other and a preview of Makom.

Preschool

• Biting policy being created.  There will be one policy for Doobonim/Kofim, as biting in babies and toddlers is a developmental behavior.  A different biting policy will be put in place for Parparim/Tzipporim because biting in children over the age of 3 is no longer developmental but considered an aggressive behavior.

• As an incentive for early enrollment, there will be a drawing for 5 families to receive $100 off of their first month’s preschool tuition at the April PPA meeting.

There will not be a post for the month of April secondary to Passover.  Have a happy holiday!!!

 

 

 

 

 

L’Dor V Dor Society

All Education Communities are currently working to educate and encourage

maximal participation in the LDVDS annual giving campaign.

 

All have agreed that more opportunities should be provided to educate potential and current LDVDS donors on what the LDVDS provides to our schools.

 

Conversation has begun about kicking off the LDVDS campaign with our parent population in November and December rather than January.  January is a difficult time to approach the subject because we are beginning to ask our parents to enroll for the next year at that time.

 

LDVDS brunch, honoring Robin Morris as the recipient of the David Gaffney Leadership and Education award, is being held June 5, 2011 at the Center.

 

Jen Plotkin, Michelle Margol, and Helen DuBow are chairing the brunch.

 

Invitations to the LDVDS brunch will be sent out to the community after Passover.  Minimum gift of $18 to the LDVDS is recommended to attend the brunch.

 

Need to raise $35,000 dollars to meet our fundraising goal for this school year.  These dollars will be matched.

 

HOS/Principal Evaluations

All of the Principals/HOS have created parent and teacher surveys which are scheduled to be sent out digitally at the end of March or beginning of April.

 

Select information from these surveys will be used as part of the HOS/Principal evaluation.

 

JJC Education/Youth Vision

 

The JJC Education Community held its first meeting on Thursday, March 31, 2011.  The focus of the meeting was to brainstorm on how the schools and youth department can work together toward a common goal of educating the JJC youth.  Here are some of the topics discussed:

 

Staff sharing professional development opportunities

 

All Staff being educated on the technology and other teaching

equipment in the building and allowing the staff to use these

resources.

 

Ordering materials as an education department instead of 4

separate schools.

 

Exploring the idea of marketing the youth and education programs

as one.

 

Encouraging a cross over of staff from our schools to our camp.

 

Building on programs that put younger and older students together

promoting the natural inclination for the younger students to look up

to the older students and for the older students to act as role models.

 

Try to create an education department where moving from one school

to another at the JJC feels like an internal move within the same

educational system.

 

All Youth and Education professionals, under the leadership of

executive director Don Kriss, will be meeting regularly to ensure

continuity in our in our education and youth programs.

 

Looking to coordinate all of the education and youth community

meetings on the same day of the week each month.

 

Started looking at all of the different education events and began

thinking about how we can have fewer events with greater impact.

 

Martin J. Gottlieb Day School

MJGDS will be hosting a regional Solomon Schechter Day School Association conference in the fall.

 

Enrollment is going well.  Tuition assistance meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 11, 2011.  Will have a better picture of enrollment after that meeting.

 

MJGDS will be celebrating its 50th anniversary next year.  Starting to begin the planning and looking for volunteers to help plan this awesome celebration.

 

MJGDS is running a “Not too late” ad campaign.  The main idea is to communicate that a student can enter the DS in any grade.  The student  will be pulled out during Hebrew Language time, learn with a group of students of similar age and ability with the ultimate goal of rejoining his class when he is ready.

 

MJGDS will be offering an enhanced kindergarten program next year.  It is an optional extra 2 hours from 1:45 to 3:45.  The cost is exactly the same as it would cost for a kindergartner to stay for 2 hours of Kid’s Club.  The difference is they would be able to complete their homework with the assistance of the kindergartner teacher and have an opportunity to do enrichment work.

 

MJGDS Education Community will be scheduling a retreat toward the end of the summer.  The goal is to learn best practices for school governance and start working on a 3 year strategic plan.

 

Religious School/High School

Makom Hebrew High program will have a new mission statement.  Currently it is being reviewed by the Rabbi.

 

Beginning to explore the idea of bringing the 8th graders from MJGDS and RS to Makom on a regular basis.  This would give the 8th graders another opportunity to get to know each other and a preview of Makom.

 

Preschool

Biting policy being created.  There will be one policy for Doobonim/Kofim, as biting in babies and toddlers is a developmental behavior.  A different biting policy will be put in place for Parparim/Tzipporim because biting in children over the age of 3 is no longer developmental but considered an aggressive behavior.

 

As an incentive for early enrollment, there will be a drawing for 5 families to receive $100 off of their first month’s preschool tuition at the April PPA meeting.

 

There will not be a post for the month of April secondary to Passover.  Have a happy holiday!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Preschool Education Community met on February 9, 2011.  Here are the highlights;

• All Preschool Education Community members should be participating in the LDVDS annual fundraising campaign benefiting the JJC schools.  One hundred percent participation will show the community’s commitment to sustaining the JJC schools and sets a great example for the parents and greater community.

• Early Registration Incentive Decision:

1. The PEC brainstormed ideas to incentivize parents to register early for the 2011-2012 school year.
2. Ideas suggested included raffling a basket or gift certificate, with the preferred suggestion being to create a drawing using the names of early registering parents. Three to five names (number of winners to be determined by the finance committee chaired by Jen Plotkin) will be drawn, with each winner receiving $100 off the first month’s school tuition. The drawing will occur at the April Meeting of the PPA (Preschool Parent Association).

Happy New Year!!!

I apologize for being gone so long.

I would like to share our evolved governance structure for all of the Jacksonville Jewish Center Schools.

Let me start from the top:

The ultimate decision making body of our synagogue (of which all of our schools are a part) is the board of directors of the Jacksonville Jewish Center.  The Vice President of Education sits on the executive community of the JJC board of directors.

The Education Vice President’s roles and responsibilities are listed under the “about” section in the header of this blog.

The VP of Education runs the JJC Education communiy’s quarterly meetings and ensures that the synagogue’s education vision for all of it’s youth is being carried out in all of the JJC Schools.

Each of the JJC Schools, (the MJGDS, the Preschool, the Religious School/high school) have their own education communities.  These individual school education communities govern each of the schools in collaboration with the JJC Education Community. Members of all of the education communities are listed in the JJC Education Communities section in the header of this blog.

The Day School Education community, the Preschool Education Community, and the Religious school/high school education community meet at least 6 times per year.  Roles and responsibilties of all Education Community members are listed in the JJC Education Communities section in the header of this blog.

On Thursday, January 6, 2011, the State of the Schools forum was held.  Approximately 75 people attended.  Each school Principal made presentations and showed video footage of their students.  Jennifer Plotkin, the JJC VP of Finance reported on the schools’ financials.  Kim Glasgal-Levy and Gabrielle Bubis deserve many thanks for all of their hard work chairing the forum.

The L’dor V’Dor Society Annual Campaign is kicking off.  Now is the time to show your support for Jewish Education and our future Jewish leaders by making a donation.  All donations will be matched.  For more information, please visit jjcpreschool.org or MJGDS.org and click on LDVDS.

The JJC Education Community is in the process of creating an evaluation/review process for its school principals.  As soon as it is complete and approved, I will share it with you.

Upcoming events:

Sunday February 6, 2011– Federation Super Sunday Phone-a-thon–please come and volunteer on the MJGDS team.  This is a great opportunity to show the Federation how much our schools appreciate their support.  For more information on the phone-a-thon, please contact Andrea Mail.

Saturday March 5, 2011– PTA MOCA Art of Education Takes Flight event.  A great evening of Art created by students from all of our Center Schools.  This will be a night to remember.  For more information contact event chairs Debbie Goldstein and Jeanine Hoff.

 

 

 

Both the Congregational Education Community ( November 10, 2010) and the Day School Education Community(November 17, 2010) met this month.  The Day School Education Community also held an additional open meeting on November 22, 2010.  Below is a summary of what is happening in each of the JJC Schools.

All Schools:

- Gabrielle Bubis and Kim Glasgal are co-chairing the State of the School Forum on Thursday, January 6, 2011 at 7:15pm.  This forum will showcase all of the JJC Schools.  The financial health of the schools will be shared as well.

- Koleinu Jax, a Jewish parent support group for families of children with special needs, has created a survey.  The purpose of the survey is to gather as much data as possible about the Jewish Special Needs population in Jacksonville.  If you would like to fill out a survey, you can find it at this address: https://mail.google.com/mail/#search/Adam+adamb%40jewishjacksonville.org/12c3619914b799ba

-Consecration is going to be separated for the Day School and the Religious School.  The administration of both schools and the Rabbi decided that the schools are unique and should be showcased differently. The Day School will have its Consecration Ceremony on Saturday, February 5, 2011.  The Religious School will be having their Consecration Ceremony on Friday, May 13, 2011.

-The PTA had a very busy month of October.  The Chai run was a huge success.  The money had not been counted at the time of the meeting, but it was looking like more was raised this year than last year.  March 5, 2011, the PTA is sponsoring an event at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Downtown Jacksonville.  Artwork from the students of all of the JJC Schools will be displayed and a few pieces will be auctioned off.  A play written by one of our MJGDS alumna will be featured. More information will be coming out soon.  Committees are forming.  Please contact Debbie Goldstein if you are interested in getting involved.

-Finance Policy approved by the JJC Board of Directors for past due balances:  Failure to pay an overdue balance after 60 days will result in a letter being sent.  Prior to the letter, attempts should have been made to contact a family by phone at 30days past due to make a payment arrangement.

Martin J. Gottlieb Day School:

• The Florida Council of Independent Schools (FCIS) had its conference in Jacksonville, Florida.  The MJGDS had the most teacher presenters of any of the schools.  Our teachers presented on how to use 21st century learning techniques in the classroom.
• Parent/teacher conferences occured Friday, November 5, 2010.  The administration is hearing positive feedback about the new format of meeting with General Studies and Judaic Studies together.
• Lower School Information Night was Thursday, November 18, 2010.  Many potential famililies attended.
• Middle School Information Night is scheduled for Thursday, December 16, 2010. Attendees will hear from our Head of School, Jon Mitzmacher, our Vice Principal of Middle School, Edith Horovitz, and graduates of our program who are now in high school.  Excitingly, we will also be hosting Mark Frampton, the admissions director of the Upper School at Bolles, the AICE coordinator from Wolfson and the IB coordinators from Stanton and Paxon.  These guests will be sharing the success stories of how our graduates do in their high schools once they leave our program.  Students who have had no Day School background can be very successful at the MJGDS.
• Representatives from the Jacksonville Jewish Federation came and spoke to the Day School Community about their annual Super Sunday Phone-a-thon on February 6, 2011.  The Federation has allocated over $100,000 a year for the last few years to the MJGDS to be used for tuition assistance.  For the second year, the Federation is challenging all of their Jacksonville recipient agencies to bring the most volunteers to make phone calls on Super Sunday.  The organization with the most volunteers, wins $1000.  Last year, the MJGDS tied for first place.  Please make an effort to volunteer and represent our school.  Andrea Mail will be heading up our core of volunteers.
• The Day School Education Community discussed and created a proposal for 2011-2012 tuition.  Jon Mitzmacher will present the proposal to the JJC Finance Community at their next meeting Tuesday, December 7, 2010.
• At the Open Meeting on Monday, November 22, 2010, Jon Mitzmacher emphasized that the financial aid request deadlines will be strictly enforced this year.  He also stressed that the administration  is more than willing to  help with the entire process.  He said, he will share what PSAS has recommended for tuition assistance before the tuition assistance committee meets, so there are no surprises.  If you need tuition assistance, please apply.  If you need help with any part of the process, please ask.  We want all of our families to remain part of our school family.

JJC Preschool

• Shereen Canady shared that she is beginning to put her 2010-2011 budget together.  She will also be presenting it to the Finance Community on Tuesday, December 7, 2010.
• Shereen attended a NACY conference in Los Angeles in in early November.  She connected with many other Jewish Preschool Administrators.  She said that one of the greatest strengths that she truly appreciated after being at the conference is the great relationship between our preschool and dayschool and religious school.
• UNF music students are coming into the preschool and sharing music with the children.
• Preschool conference day was Friday, November 12, 2010 and was a great success.

Bernard and Alice Selevan Religious School

-Lois Tompkins reported that the teachers are getting better at understanding and using IEPs.

-The Religious school students spent some time earlier this year at the Salzbacher Center teaching the kids there about Hannukkah.  As a result of this experience, the kids at the Salzbacher Center designed a Hannukkah card for the first time ever.  The money raised by the sale of these cards will provide food for families staying at the Salzbacher Center.  You can buy the cards in the Judaica Shop a the JJC.  There is also more information on the JJC website.

There are no Education Community Meetings Scheduled for December and the January meeting is the State of the Schools Forum which is open to anyone.  Please come out and see for yourself all of the great learning going on in our JJC Schools.