June 2020: Schools and the Coronavirus

The 13th annual summer Think Tank conference drew over 250 leaders and educators from Jewish day schools across the country and beyond. Focused on What Great School Leaders Do Differently, this year’s conference featured outstanding presenters from the Jewish day school community and the broader educational world, along with networking opportunities and interactive panel discussions, with special […]

By Paul S. Oberman, PhD At my school in Houston, Texas, we shifted immediately from classes on campus to online classes in the middle of March. Teachers used their weekends to familiarize themselves with video conferencing […]

by Rabbi Eliezer Y. Lehrer, M.Ed. Students feel that they should be commended for attending their online classes each day.  They profess that they are too stressed to think about finals.  Others bring up the fact […]

By Tania Levenstein When one hears the term community day school, one often thinks about the campus, the buildings, and the classrooms. One may wonder what AP classes are offered, what the early childhood philosophy is, […]

Rabbi Baruch Noy, MEd, CETL While leading professional development for schools taking on a new virtual reality, there are certain recurring themes that were expressed. These expressions came from such a varied crowd – new teachers […]

By Mrs. Rivkie Gottlieb Assuming the role of principal comes with a host of challenges, including among others the very common “imposter syndrome.” This feeling of being an imposter feels like a constant, though it occasionally […]

By Rabbi Jordan D. Soffer COVID-19 and the resulting period of extended school-building closures have popularized debates vis-a-vis the purpose of schooling that had previously been limited to pedagogues and academics. The sudden prominence of this […]

By Dr. Henry Abramson Jewish colleges and universities and departments of Jewish studies may be guided by the core values of traditional religious texts, but their specific tools for survival in the post-COVID-19 era will probably […]

Rabbi Elchanan Poupko If there is anything I have learned working as a teacher in New York City during COVID-19, it is how vital Jewish education is. The school I teach in, the Rabbi Arthur Schneier […]

By Cyrel Brudny On the morning of Thursday, March 12, after a rollicking, fun-filled  Shushan Purim spent in school, I gathered my teachers for a quick briefing on the possibility of either radical measures designed to […]