Member Portal User to Reset Their Password

We upgraded our member portal on October 18th. Please reset your password the first time you log into your account.

The School Where I Never Expected to Be

Image
School Feature: The School Where I Never Expected to Be

A Second Home

Jessica Silver, The Gordon School, Miami

I never thought I would send my kids to a Jewish day school. I didn’t attend one, and religion was not high on the list of factors I considered when I was looking at all the preschool options in Miami. But like so many parents, I found myself enrolling my kids in a Jewish preschool both because I wanted to lay the foundation of Judaism for them (which I wasn’t doing consistently at home) and because the Jewish preschool in our neighborhood was absolutely wonderful. 

Before I knew it, my oldest was ready for kindergarten. I once again explored all the available options: my neighborhood public school, some secular private schools and the Jewish day school, which would be a continuation of her preschool experience at the warm and nurturing Gordon School.

What was I looking for when I visited elementary schools? I wanted my child to be academically challenged and to have access to music and art. I wanted her to be safe and nurtured. More than anything, I wanted her to learn to be a good person and to love herself. 

Ultimately, our family decided on The Gordon School for our children’s elementary education because of the intangibles. The Gordon School was comparable to the other schools I looked at in terms of academics, arts and extracurricular activities. Class sizes were smaller than most, and the facilities were average.

Image
School Feature: The School Where I Never Expected to Be

But the overall vibe when you entered any classroom was amazing. All of the children were so much more engaged than the children I observed on other school tours. The experience felt more like observing children in their own home than overseeing children at a school. There is the sense of community that feels warm and wholesome. Each child is seen as a community member and is expected to actively engage with the community as a whole, with the other children and with the adults.

Every year I revisit the school question. Is this school still a good fit for each of my children? Is it too much of a Jewish bubble? Are the class sizes big/small/diverse enough? And these final two questions are most important: Is my child happy? Am I happy with the person my child is becoming in this school environment? 

Each of my kids has wildly divergent needs. One is sensitive emotionally and has no academic obstacles. Another has sensory issues, ADHD and reading struggles. Our third is extremely advanced verbally and average in other areas. They all need something different academically, and they are each getting exactly what they need at The Gordon School.

In addition, the type of Jewish education my children are receiving will endure for the rest of their lives. The school community is diverse, made up of Jewish and non-Jewish students, neurotypical and neurodiverse students. Some families are observant, some not. They learn that being Jewish can show up in so many different ways, both at home and at school, and that all variations are accepted. The acceptance and welcoming of observant, non-observant, interfaith and non-Jewish families is truly something special.

After my oldest child moved on to middle school elsewhere, we kept our younger children at The Gordon School although logistically it would have been easier to move them to the same school. At Gordon School, I know that my children show up as their authentic selves every day and are taught to see the inherent value in themselves and in each of their fellow students. They learn what it means to be part of an inclusive, welcoming, diverse community. 

The Gordon School is a second home for our family. Our children feel seen and accepted there, always. And so we continue to choose to stay there, year after year.

Cultivating Knowledge Seekers

Rachel Messinger, The Leffell School, Westchester, New York

From the moment we began considering The Leffell School, we have felt a sense of community and genuine interest in both our children and our family.

Initially, we were only considering Leffell for our younger son. On a fall day in late November 2022, my husband and I attended one of a series of small informational Meet & Greet sessions Leffell offered for prospective middle school parents. We were applying to both Jewish and secular private schools. 

As a part of the presentation, we watched a short video with highlights from the eighth grade trip to Israel. We saw how the trip held moments of observance and rituals, sheer joy and fun, all taking place throughout the experience in Israel. The way Israel seemed to play such a key role in helping students to shape their identity as young Jewish individuals was something we didn’t know we valued until we saw that video. At the end of the session, my husband turned to me and said, “We have to get both kids here.”

The head of school, Michael Kay, then took a few minutes to speak to us. We shared how the session impacted us, and we chuckled in saying that we had to figure out how to get our other one there. He asked about our other child’s interests and told us about the school’s engineering and entrepreneurship program.

Image
Cultivating Knowledge Seekers

A month later, at the invitation of the department chair, my son was able to spend nearly two hours exploring the engineering wing. During that time, he and I saw an educator who had a passion for helping students learn and experiment. Students walked in and out of the fabrication lab, talking to the teacher. Some were asking questions about their works in progress; others were proudly sharing their completed projects. 

A few things stood out on that visit. Even more than teachers being passionate about their subjects, they are teaching students to be learners, encouraging them to be bold in problem solving, to feel comfortable making mistakes and then trying new strategies and approaches. If those educators can give a child the skills to grow into a seeker of knowledge, someone who feels safe to experiment and try things that may not work out at first, then that is the place where I want my children to be.

After only one year at Leffell, it is evident that our observations and instincts were correct. How do you tell that your child is becoming a “knowledge seeker”? When you see him motivated to revise a position paper for a school club, perfect a speech for a class presentation, or spend his free time in the engineering lab to learn more about coding and creating. 

I can’t imagine being in any other place to have gone through this past year. The teachers and staff at Leffell have done an excellent job of educating about many of the nuances going on in Israel at present. I feel very fortunate to be in a place where that responsibility is shared. The pride and ownership my kids have developed towards Israel are evident in things like the students holding bake sales to raise money to support Magen David Adom or the sports teams choosing to carry the Israeli flag across the field or finish line. That pride in Israel and that sense of connection to the larger Jewish community that my children, and my whole family, feel is something cultivated by our time at The Leffell School.

No Going Back

Nicole Frehsee Mazur, Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit

In the bleary-eyed days of early parenthood, my husband, Joel, and I discussed our dreams for our children: health, of course. A safe neighborhood. The opportunity to travel. And while receiving a great education was highly important, sending our kids to private school didn’t even make the list.

Joel and I are both public school grads, from kindergarten up through college at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!). Our respective districts offered solid academics, quality extracurriculars and a diverse student body. Having forged lifelong friendships with classmates and meaningful bonds with teachers, we both feel that our experiences in the public school system shaped us for the better. 

So when it came time to enroll our oldest daughter, Maya, in kindergarten, we didn’t look further than our local public elementary school. Sure, the building was slightly dated (as we saw during a tour), but the teachers were nice, the curriculum seemed enriching and the district ranked among Michigan’s top 10. Plus, the commute was all of seven minutes on foot. Sending Maya there was a no-brainer. 

Then Covid hit. Cue months of attempting to entertain Maya, then 5, and Sadie, 3, while both working full time, juggling domestic duties and managing other pandemic-era stressors. It wasn’t easy, to say the least.

Come June 2020, our district’s plans for fall were still unknown, but some local private schools were preparing to open. The prospect of our kids staying home all day and “learning” on Zoom was deeply depressing, not to mention impossible if I cared to keep my job (and my sanity).

Image
No Going Back

Our kids loved their Jewish preschool, so exploring Hillel felt like a logical next step, even though we worried it wouldn’t be a fit. We were concerned that the focus on Judaic studies would overshadow more “practical” subjects like reading and math. We felt guilty not exposing our kids to other cultures. Also, did we really want to pay tuition when a perfectly good education was available literally around the corner? 

The night before our Hillel tour, a storm knocked out power to the area. But even with the lights off, the school shone bright. The building was clean and modern. The classrooms were colorful and vibrant. The teachers we met exuded warmth. It was summer break, but I could almost hear children running through the halls, buzzing with laughter and Shabbat songs.

It felt like home.

Initially, we planned to stay at Hillel for one year, enough time for our public school to get its act together. But with every fun school event, or kind face that welcomed us, or new friend our daughters made, our resolve to leave weakened. Soon it disappeared altogether, replaced with a treasured community of friends, strong relationships with teachers and staff members, and a feeling of true belonging for us and our kids.

Now, partway through our fourth year as a Hillel family, we’ve made peace with the fact that we’re stuck at Hillel for the long haul—in the best possible way.

Finding Warmth and Dynamism in a Sephardic School

Debra and Adam Verstandig, The SAM School, Manhattan

Making parenting decisions is hard. We are faced with critical choices that have lasting effects on our families. One of the most important decisions is our children’s education and choosing a school to trust as a partner. 

When selecting a school for our three children, SAM—a young school whose Jewish identity is rooted in classical Sephardic heritage—was not initially on our radar. Our grandparents came from Europe after surviving the Holocaust, and we were educated in schools rooted in Ashkenazi tradition. 

The October 7 atrocities and resulting burst of antisemitism around the world triggered a renewed introspection about how and where to educate our children. We sought an intimate, close-knit school that valued our children as individuals and provided a love of Torah and Israel along with a rigorous secular education. We looked for a school with a clear vision that offered a safe and nurturing learning environment where our children would be encouraged to discover their unique gifts and build the confidence needed to thrive in a complex society.

Image
Finding Warmth and Dynamism in a Sephardic School

It was fate that a close friend told us about SAM and urged us to see it for ourselves. From the moment we walked through SAM’s doors, it was clear that our values were aligned. We were struck by the warmth and forward-thinking vision conveyed by Dr. Harari, Mrs. Peldman and Rabbi Mizrahi, and the electric energy inside the classrooms. As our conversations continued, we knew we found the right school for our family. 

SAM embodies the Israeli persona of a “startup nation” and considers its families as part of its founders. Entrusting a young and growing school with our greatest “asset”—our children—was a serious decision, but one we made with confidence and clarity. We are living in uneasy times that are unpredictable and constantly changing. But what the Jewish people have—and what SAM instills in its students—is our millennia of tradition and uncanny ability to use that tradition to continually create a better future. 

SAM’s motto exemplifies just that: “With a foundation in the past, we are building for the future.” At SAM, our children will be grounded in the experience of the Jewish people as a whole and understand their responsibilities in becoming positive contributors to society. In a time when there is much division and separation, we are so fortunate to have found a school where our children will learn within a united Jewish community that will make them feel proud of their past and continue the extraordinary path of Am Yisrael.

Falling in Love, at the Very Last Minute

Ryan and Adam Munitz, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, Rockville, Maryland

For many people, the decision to send a child to a Jewish day school is made after months of tours, information sessions and conversations with school administrators. For us, it occurred around 45 days before our daughter was scheduled to start kindergarten in the fall of 2023 at a public elementary school in Montgomery County, Maryland. 

The public school system in Montgomery County is widely regarded as remarkable. However, as parents, we could not help but reflect on the incredible experience our daughter had in our synagogue’s preschool. That time was filled with the type of warmth and nurturing teaching that is inherent to a Jewish educational institution.

Our daughter felt it too: She’d often come home from camp lamenting the fact that she missed the “comfort of Har Shalom.” Once the realization hit us—that it was essential that we mimic the positivity of our daughter’s preschool experience in order for us to maximize her likelihood of happiness and success, and preserve her early connectivity to Judaism—CESJDS was the obvious choice. Its commitment to academic excellence is renowned, its dual curriculum is superb, and we felt certain that our daughter would one day graduate with all of the skills she needed to succeed and to lead a life as a knowledgeable and proud Jewish woman.

Image
Falling in Love, at the Very Last Minute

That’s not to say that this decision was made lightly. One of the main reasons why we moved to Montgomery County was for the school system, and, of course, making such a big change so close to the start of the school year is never easy. We had already gone to kindergarten orientation at the local elementary school, attended playdates with future classmates and even filled out all of the countless health forms that the school district requires. However, although we knew that public school in our area could provide an excellent secular academic experience, it would be missing the Jewish values, knowledge and warmth. And that was the other half of what our daughter needed.

To date, our expectations have only been surpassed. Our daughter’s kindergarten experience was equal parts nurturing and challenging. Her teachers were outstanding and created a dynamic, joyous classroom, in which secular fundamentals were advanced, and Hebrew and Judaic basics were instilled with skill, patience and deliberateness.

Above all else, we all want our children to be happy, and we have been overjoyed to watch our daughter excitedly run into school each morning and leave in the afternoon with an ecstatic beam.

We are beyond grateful for the experience our daughter has had to date at JDS and consider ourselves so fortunate to be a part of the CESJDS community. Few things in life are certain, but in this instance, we know we made the right choice.

Books, Bagels and Mensches

Peter Mellman and Sandra Valle, Portland Jewish Academy, Oregon

As a blended family, one Jewish parent and the other Mexican American, we made an intentional decision to raise our children in the Jewish tradition. While our plan included observing holidays and such, attending a Jewish school—much less any private school—was not on our radar. But life changes quickly when you have young children. 

Our oldest child was four and taking swim lessons at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. One morning after class, we were trudging back to the car anxiously wondering how to entertain our kids until naptime. A “Books and Bagels” sign next to the open doors of the adjacent Portland Jewish Academy (PJA) was extremely inviting. 

Inside, we were greeted by a beautiful library and a couple of middle schoolers. They approached our son and asked if he’d like to make paper airplanes and read books with them. Reluctant for only a second, he excitedly dashed off with the Big Kids. It was an incredible turning point for our family.

Many things go into the decisions about how to educate one’s children. What are the class sizes? What are the teachers and administrators like? Will my child’s needs be met? But one not often considered is, What kind of people does this school produce?

Image
Books, Bagels and Mensches

Following this initial visit to PJA, we felt very good about our initial questions. But the image of the middle schoolers warmly taking our four-year-old under their wing for the morning continued to resonate. The memory of them coming over to talk with us adults so confidently and maturely was enduring. Truly, the PJA community seemed to be in the business of “making mensches,” and this is what we wanted for our children.

We quickly signed up for a tour of the school. The campus and classrooms were beautiful, filled with the tools needed for learning. Given this would be our first formal relationship with a larger Jewish organization as a family, we were worried that the values and perspectives of the community may not reflect our own. When I brought this concern to the PJA admissions director, she responded with a smile, “Rodef shalom,” referring to the school’s signature curriculum and pedagogy. 

She explained that the school fosters the integration of Jewish text learning in the development of skills in collaborative debate and discussion. She assured me that all perspectives and questions are welcome. (Fast forward, we have seen this play out in elementary school discussions of the weekly parsha and middle school exchanges on the complex world outside the school walls.)

Just one issue remained: logistics. We live in North/NE Portland. Sending our child to Southwest for school seemed so far and, significantly, insurmountably out of the way of our day-to-day lives. Paying for private school would already be significant, but to also drive to and from SW Portland twice a day for years? Can we rearrange our professional lives to do it? Do we even love our children this much? Of course we do, but this is what we were wrestling with when the admissions director said, “Oh, we have a bus!” It was another aha moment. Everything fell into place.

Our son is graduating from PJA this year, having become a middle-school mensch himself. We feel pretty confident that after spending nine years at PJA, our kids will be prepared to think for themselves and work for the world. What a gift.

Return to the issue home page:
Image
Fall 2024 cover image
Raising Enrollment
Fall 2024
Image
Blackbaud ad Fall 2024
Image
Deledoa ad fall 2024 HaYidion
Image
Facing History ad Fall 2024 HaYidion
Image
MTEI ad fall 2024 HaYidion
Image
Kosher X ad