February 2025: Parent Stewardship and the Parent-School Relationship

Rabbi Shimshon Gewirtz, Editor The parent-school relationship holds so much powerful promise for both parents and schools, yet it remains one of the ubiquitous challenges of chinuch. On the one hand, parents are commanded ושננתם לבניך, but […]

A conversation with: Dr. Eli Shapiro & Mrs. Miriam Gettinger

Mrs. Etti Siegel The longstanding divide between schools and parents, often framed as a “school vs. parents” conflict, has persisted for far too long, creating barriers to the collaboration necessary for promoting student success. Too often, […]

Mrs. Penina Noy A few years ago, after a particularly difficult incident with a student’s parents, a colleague sighed and commented, “It would make our job so much easier if we ran a school of orphans.” […]

Rabbi Dr. Avichai Pepper Imagine driving on a freeway with several GPS devices providing conflicting directions at the same time. Waze suggests taking the next exit, while Google Maps proposes a different route, and a third […]

Mrs. Chana Wallach Mrs. Cohen is sitting in her son’s principal’s office. Her son acted out in class again, and she was asked to come down to school for a meeting. She is confused by her […]

Rivka Gottlieb, Nicole Rzonzew, Rowan Bigham The term “parent partnership” often conjures up visions of friendly parents volunteering for the PTO and other opportunities to give from their own time to the school. This vision, though, […]

Dr. Chaim Botwinick One of the opportunities facing parents today is their capacity to forge meaningful and lasting relationships with the faculty and administration of their children’s schools. Parent involvement and engagement in their children’s day […]

Rabbi Baruch Noy An inescapable contemporary feature of the yeshiva and Jewish day school ecosystem is the cost of tuition. Parents are investing in their children’s educational experience more than ever before. With that increase in […]

Mrs. Besie Katz In today’s educational landscape, the partnership between home and school is vital in fostering student achievement and social/emotional development. In this essay, we will address why it is so important to develop this […]

Mr. Jakir Sorscher Communication is not a single act but a continuous process of building bridges. When schools prioritize transparency through communication, they create a culture of trust and partnership that enriches the entire educational experience. […]

Rabbi Menachem Linzer School leaders focus mostly on things like curriculum, teacher support and retention, student behavior, or fundraising. When it comes to parents, we usually do our best to tiptoe around them and only get […]

Rabbi Reuven Leuchter In the realm of חינוך and עבודת ה׳, the central focus should not be on our ideals or pressure-driven motivation but on the individual, the מתחנך, and their journey in עבודת ה׳. This approach aligns with the concept […]