Tonight we had our second Congregational Education Community Meeting. Below is a summary of the topics discussed.
The Preschool and Religious School adjusted budgets for the 2010-2011 school year were presented. Both budgets were positively impacted by more students being enrolled than were projected for the school year. Kudos to the preschool/Kids Club for cutting their projected expenses by $60,000.
Makom Hebrew High School program for 9-11th graders has 33 students enrolled. Siyyum program for High School Seniors has 7 students enrolled. The Jacksonville Jewish Center has not had a high school Jewish Education Program specifically for our teens in 15 years. Thank you to Hazzan Holzer and Rabbi Lubliner for creating and administrating our new high school education program. For more information go to JaxJewishCenter.com and click on JJC Schools.
The JJC PTA is sponsoring the following upcoming events. More detailed information will be sent home with the students and communicated through school websites and e-mail communications
Sunday, October 24, 2010 — Rummage Sale from 10:00am-2:00pm in the parking lot behind Kristals on San Jose Blvd, one stoplight north of Crown Point Road. If you have small items to donate, bring them into school next week. If you have larger items, bring them to the parking lot on Sunday, October 24th. You can also set up your own table and give 20% of your sales to the PTA. All money raised goes to the JJC PTA.
Friday, October 29, 2010 — PTA all Schools Shabbat Service and Shabbat Dinner Florida/Georgia football theme. Come and celebrate Shabbat with all of your school friends and dress up in your football school colors.
Monday, November 1, 2010 — PTA Evening Meeting at the home of Dave and Carrie Bielski Speaker from Love and Logic
Sunday, November 7, 2010 — 4th Annual Family Chai Run and Fall Festival Fundraiser-Come out and support our PTA and get some exercise as a family. Following the fun run, you can stay and enjoy the carnival with games and activities for kids of all ages. All money raised goes to the JJC PTA.
A process is being created to evaluate and review all of the principals/head of schools. The plan is to review everyone in May of each year. More details to follow as the process is solidified.
The governance structure of the schools is being reviewed by the board of the synagogue. This is being done to make sure our governance is the best it can be for each of our schools. More details to follow as more information becomes available.
The Finance Committee has passed some new policies which will affect our schools. The board of the synagogue has not reviewed and approved the policies yet, so the details are subject to change. The policies are related to collecting past due school tuition, Jewish Professional tuition discounts, and all fundraising in the synagogue being approved by the finance committee. More details to follow as soon as the policies are passed by the board of the synagogue.
The State of the Schools Forum is scheduled for Thursday, January 6, 2011 in the evening. This forum is an opportunity for parents and teachers and administrators from all of the JJC Schools to get together and learn about what is going on in each of our schools. If you are interested in helping to plan this forum, please reply and make a comment and I will get in touch with you.
We are off to a great start. We are blessed to have dedicated administrators and faculty and volunteers to insure that our schools are running optimally.