A New Way Forward

June 11th, 2007 · 198 Comments

Shlomo Bolts writes in:

It took me a long while to get around to posting this. At first, I was too devastated by our defeat to post anything cogent. Then, I wanted to withdraw from the situation entirely, because it was too much for me—and then, I realized that for me to withdraw would be (perhaps!) exactly what the Board wanted.

True, we suffered a serious defeat last Wednesday. We could have gone home in a position of equal power with the Board, but instead we ended the day far from it. But one crushing electoral defeat should not obscure all the progress we have made. We went from 0% of the votes to 30% in less than a month. We showed that a substantial portion of the school shares our views.

We also have a lot more power than you think. Because it takes 50 families to call an open Board meeting, we have effective veto power over major decisions. As a result of our campaigning, we could easily get fifty. The Board knows this, and knows that if next April is like last April, they will be in for some awkward questions. The Board further knows that if it does something to catalyze another groundswell of opposition, it could lose the next election.

In the meantime, we need to remember that Hillel is a school—not a political battlefield. The voters have spoken. The election was decisive. A vast majority like the direction that (they think?) the school is going. We are a minority. So what are we going to do? Will we destroy Hillel in frustration?

Maybe that is an option if you don’t truly care about the school. You heard me. When I say I care about the school, I mean I care not only about my former teachers, but also about the many friends I still have in the school. But maybe I’m different from other people here. At times, some people here seem to be clawing in vain against the march of time, desperate to preserve some theoretical Hillel in their memories. Let me tell you, you are sacrificing real people, good friends of mine, for a Hillel that is long gone. Time passes, and Hillel must change with the times.

The election, to me at least, was not about whether or not Hillel changes. Rather, it was about whether or not Hillel changes against the vociferous opposition of a vast majority of CURRENT stakeholders. It is about whether CURRENT Hillel parents will get a say as the school drastically changes direction. I honestly believe that if most people knew the full implications of their vote, the alternate slate would have won. So, we need to educate parents. An educated individual won’t BUY propaganda. The relative ease with which the Board can get out information is less important when the timescale is months, not weeks. The Board knows this.

In the meantime, we need to stop some of the ugliest practices of this website. The calls for Holden to get the axe have to stop; we don’t need Holden to resign, we just need him to work by consensus. Besides, the Board should be our top priority now. Also, the borderline racism has to stop. We do not a need JEWISH administrators (a reverse-antisemitic notion). We need administrators that RESPECT JEWISH VALUES. The Board did not win because of a changeable, slobbering mass of “MANY MANY LATINS” that are easily fooled. Leave that sort of nativism to the Minutemen. It COULD be that the new influx of Latinos wants something legitimately different. They have a full right to that. Our goal is not to take away from them what they want. Our goal is to keep them, and all other parents and students, from getting fooled.

I’ll post more specific ideas sometime in the near future.

Tags: Voices

198 responses so far ↓

1 sara // Jun 11, 2007 at 11:26 pm

No one is fighting change per se. How about respect? to you, an alumnus? to parents who ask to serve on committees? to teachers who are in the school every day?
2 anonymous // Jun 11, 2007 at 11:28 pm

You are absolutely correct. These individuals did not really understand. Had they understood, the outcome may have been different.

However, the way they operate is they vote as a popularity contest. They are followers and listen to each other. they voted for their friends.

Some of them had even registered their kids in alternate schools if their friends did not win, they were going to move them. This speaks volumes for why they are here. They will stay so long as their friends are in power and have influence. If the alternate slate would have won, they would have moved their kids – - and they said that!

This type of action is most interesting as the goal of any parent should be the well being of their kids and the learning that takes place at school. Children should not be pawns of their parents’ political aspirations. Obviously, the education is not the priority.

Again, if individuals do not like the education being provided, why don’t they leave to those “other” schools. The reason they don’t leave is because they would be treated like anyone else, their child would be a number and there would be no special handling and frankly, they don’t like that! Their money would have no influence in these other schools. Sad isn’t it?

WE must continue to educate – - that 30% will grow with appropriate education and at the time of the next election – the results will be different.

Forge forward – - be positive – there is much work to be done!!
3 Anonymous // Jun 11, 2007 at 11:45 pm

The vote was, without question, a popularity contest much like elections in high school are run.

The key indeed is to start educating parents and opening their eyes now.

Eyes have definitely been opened.

Build on that momentum. Move forward. Insist on getting on the alumni committee. Insist that your voice be heard.
4 anonymous // Jun 11, 2007 at 11:48 pm

Yes, this is the way we should move forward.

The lip service provided will and should be brought to the forefront – - the open communication these board members and Holden referred to will not and cannot be tolerated. The parents should know.

They cannot continue to foster deceptive practices. Their words lack integrity and credibility. This cannot be allowed.

We must continue to move forward and make a difference to SAVE HILLEL!
5 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 7:46 am

It is quite sad that the parents on the board make an offer to the parent-body-at -large to include them in the process by graciously allowing them to get on committees and feel compelled to rescind it 24 hours later because they are pressured to do so by the Head of School.

The Head of School should welcome more input if he cares about what’s BEST FOR THE SCHOOL AND OUR CHILDREN and not just what’s BEST FOR HIMSELF.

The BOG’s initial instincts were correct. They should follow them. THE WAY FORWARD IS TO INCLUDE ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE PROCESS STARTING TODAY.

IF THIS IS DONE, THERE IS NO DOUBT WE CAN SAVE HILLEL for the CURRENT students in the high school who are old enough to ARTICULATE why it matters that we do and can ARTICULATE just what it is that needs improvement.

Elementary school children do not have this type of awareness understandably. Understandably, elementary school parents think all the bloggers are disrespectful nut jobs.

The high school parents, on the other hand, know the truth because they’ve heard from their CURRENT children’s mouths. Their CURRENT children are saying the exact same thing that the OLDER ALUMNI are saying. Funny, isn’t it?

THIS IS NOT ABOUT RETURNING NOSTALGICALLY TO SOME YESTERYEAR THAT NO LONGER EXISTS.

THIS IS ABOUT RETURNING TO WHAT WAS IN PLACE LAST JUNE THIS TIME.

Of course, more EXCELLENCE is always welcome. Just do not neglect and get rid of the EXCELLENCE that already exists before you.

We welcome the Blueprint to Excellence.

We welcome a Blueprint to Kindness.

We ultimately welcome including more stakeholders in the shaping of the direction of the school . That is what healthy schools do.

Move forward. Alumni have a great deal of power now. GET ON THE COMMITTEE. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

It’s not about Adam Holden and Adam Holden can’t stop alumni from joining. IT’S ABOUT HILLEL.
6 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 8:07 am

I will even go one step farther.

Occassionally, the alumni should invite Adam Holden should join their discussions and he should invite them to join his.

EVERYONE MUST WORK TOGETHER NOW.

It’s about WHAT’S BEST FOR HILLEL.
7 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 12, 2007 at 11:40 am

Shlomo,

One of your central points is something that I mentioned a while back, and with which I agree wholeheartedly. But I must disagree very strongly with most of your message.

There is no value in trying to bring back a vision of Hillel built on nostalgia and warm feelings. We all have those wonderful memories – of teachers, administrators, friends – but times change, people move on, goals evolve. What must be tantamount is the education of the children and the ability of the teachers to effectively educate. The desires of the current parents and students are extremely important, and if they see Hillel as a different place than it was once envisioned, that is fine…within limits.

Every institution has core abstract values upon which it is built, as well as core principles that effect those values in the real world. Hillel is a Jewish Community School.

Let’s start with the concept of School. Core Value: Excellent Education. Core Principles: Provide Excellent Education through Effective Teaching and Principled Leadership.

In order to have a school, you must have effective teachers. Intimidated, fearful teachers are ineffective. Under-appreciated teachers are ineffective. Unguided teachers are ineffective. Regardless of what the current parents or students want, all of the elements necessary for teachers to teach effectively must be present and encouraged. If you don’t have this, then you don’t say, “Well, OK, it’s what the parents want these days.” You shut down the school, because your core values can no longer be given effect. The teachers have spoken – the situation is no secret.

A prerequisite to effective teaching, and an indispensable element in its own right, is principled leadership. I cannot go into a detailed discussion of what leaders are made of in this short space, but I will say one thing. Leaders do not lead by consensus. A true leader has a certain independence in intellect and in action that stands out from his or her peers. A leader guides not only by experience, but by intuition. Serious doubts have been raised about the leadership qualities of the current administration, and if the goal is to shepherd the Head of School by committee, the end result is sure to be disaster. Regardless of what current parents or students want, the concept of School rests on principled leadership. Shutting down is better than compromising.

Let’s move on to Jewish. Core Value: Excellent JEWISH Education. Core Principle: Provide Excellent Jewish Education through Excellent JEWISH Educators.

A Jewish school cannot be run by people who merely “respect Jewish values.” My boss has to respect Jewish values. My colleagues, acquaintances, and friends have to respect Jewish values. Anyone who wants to effectively associate with me has to respect the fact that I am Jewish and that I see the world in a certain way because of it. But my school? My JEWISH school? The institution responsible for actually crafting me into what it means to be a Jew? The school that was created as an alternative to the wonderful American public education system precisely because Jewish education requires immersion in an environment, a culture, a special curriculum? This is not the city subway where I trust that I won’t get stabbed for wearing a yarmulke because I believe that the other people respect Jewish values. This is a Jewish Day School. The Head of School MUST be Jewish. How can the education possibly be expected to come out authentically Jewish if the person with ultimate responsibility doesn’t participate in the very fabric of the school’s purpose and existence, even if he has tremendous respect for Jewish values? The current parents and students may be wowed by the “new vision.” Some of it might even be worthwhile. But take Jewish out of the school’s name and call it what it is – Jewish schools are run by Jews…this used to be obvious.

Finally, the concept of Community. Core Value: Education for the Entire Community. Core Principle: Education for Everyone through Targeted (not Universal) Curriculum and Teaching Methods.

This is the tough one. After all, shouldn’t a community school serve the desires of the actual community? Most of today’s Hillel parents and students aren’t interested in the education Hillel was once designed to provide. They have new values, new goals, new ideas. Sounds nice, but it’s a huge logical fallacy. Jewish day schools were founded not because it is nice to teach Jewish kids about Jewish things. Jewish day schools were founded because Judaism mandates that Jews be educated in a unique way. We concern ourselves with the sciences and the humanities, but we also concern ourselves with Torah, with Talmud, with ethics, with Halacha. What a shame if the thought in creating Hillel was to pander to every individual’s idea of what Jewish education should be, and in that way serve the entire community with an innocuous universal curriculum. I do not believe this to be the case. On the contrary, a Community School meant that TRUE Jewish education would be brought to the entire community. This, of course, is a much greater challenge. How do we interest students and parents in an education built on a religion, on values, on modes of action, that may be foreign to them, or worse yet, with which they may vehemently disagree? Well, is this not the mission of the Jewish people…to be a Light Unto the Nations…and first of all to our own nation? Some of our beloved teachers understand this, and have made it their mission to achieve. The Hillel Community Day School is not a school RUN BY the community, but one TO SERVE the community with (real) Jewish education. If we’re not up to the task, then call it quits.

Let’s be real…the problems with Hillel are not just a lack of the happy place we once knew. THE SCHOOL IS AWFUL! For all the fancy colleges the students attend, for all the different colored tassels on the graduation gowns, for all the talk of wonderful visions and new directions – Hillel as an institution (to exclude certain very unique and talented teachers – who no doubt will or should leave very soon) could not produce a halachically observant, 13-Principles-believing Jew with even a cursory knowledge of Talmud and Jewish scholarship without miraculous divine intervention. This school is the laughing-stock of the entire day school/yeshiva world. No one takes it seriously. Let’s not make it worse now with endless compromises. Either fight the fight or sit down and start researching real Jewish schools to which to send your children (present or future).
8 A former Hillel parent // Jun 12, 2007 at 1:13 pm

Aron, perhaps you have hit the nail on the head. The community changed, or so we were told. So we have to serve THIS community, so we were told. This community wants a Jewish environment but is not interested in producing “halachically observant, 13-Principles-believing Jew with even a cursory knowledge of Talmud and Jewish scholarship,” so we were told.

And so a number of people have done what you suggest…they have researched other Jewish schools and made decisions based on their tenets. Some have made the decision to send their children (high school age) to Boca. Some have made the decision to send their younger (elementary and middle) to Maimonides. Others, we have been told, will be sending their children (elementary and middle school) to the new charter school.

So, as was suggested in a post yesterday, is it the time now for a new, more-religiously focused Jewish High School, one which can serve the North Dade/South Broward area?
9 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 12, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Perhaps it is time. Or perhaps not. I can’t make the decision, because it’s not my children in the school.

And just to clarify, I didn’t mean to suggest that forgetting about Hillel is the better option than fighting. My point is that you have to identify the very fundamental principles that form the school and recognize that without those principles, it’s just not worth it.

A Jewish school compromised as to its basic Jewish mission is just a ridiculous idea. So either really fight for those principles, or abandon the school and take the principles elsewhere.
10 anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Again, if these people want somehting other than what we have – - why don’t they go elsewhere.

Do you know why they don’t? – - -they really have NO concept of what they want – they don’t understand education. They want to create a hybrid of all of the things they like of the other schools. This is a recipe for disaster!

It is physically and effectively impossible! So, they should go where they find the most of what they want. We must work together to put our school back together again.

These people have built more of a social structure than an educational one. That is how they live in their countries – - not in ours. It is utterly ridiculous.

The whole issue is truly a shame.
11 Aaron // Jun 12, 2007 at 2:24 pm

I agree with my former classmate Aron.
12 sara // Jun 12, 2007 at 2:44 pm

so, we are back to where we began– on a mission to SAVE HILLEL.
13 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 12, 2007 at 2:47 pm

To anonymous (Post #10):

Your bigotry is appalling. Some of the finest, Torah-abiding Hillel alumni I know are from Latin families virtually no different than the Latin families in the school today. Similar attitudes and opinions across all of the cultures represented in the school have always been present. I do not believe that has changed monumentally.

What has changed is the quality of the leadership, the curriculum, and the commitment of the school to fine Jewish education. The wrong people got too much power while everyone stood by watching. Where were all the concerned parents the day Rabbi Bald left the school, citing an inability to continue an authentic Jewish studies curriculum due to opposition from the Board? Where were all the concerned parents the day Dr. Levy, Z”L, passed away, to ensure that an administrator with the same passion for leading a Jewish school would be selected in his place? Where were all the concerned parents when the Boca school opened up and Hillel had to deal with a near-exodus of the 8th grade class, whose parents already felt that the Hillel Jewish education was lacking?

The writing was on the wall a long time ago, and all the parents stood silent. Your children could have told you, if only you had cared to ask.

So stop the disgusting bigotry. Instead, get to work trying to fix the mess that got created while no one bothered to care enough. I’m sure there are some wonderful Latin parents who would be delighted to help you.
14 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 4:13 pm

Let’s not call people bigots. Bigots is a strong word and too harsh here.

There were several Latins on the new slate too.
Fanny, Marsha, and Isaac are Latin. Jessica’s mother (not stepmother) is also Latin.

It’s not about Latin vs. non Latin. It’s more about cliques.

The truth is that the majority of parents are not aware of the issues educational or otherwise so it’s natural to believe whatever their friends tell them, especially if they only have young children who are not in the high school or have not graduated from the high school.

The two women who have been making the majority of educational decisions at this school for well over a decade now have not been Latin. They’ve been your stereotypical European Asheknaz intellectual types and look where they’ve gotten us.

The problem is that whoever runs this school whether Latin or not needs to allow ALL of the stakeholders to have a voice ranging from the Latin parent to the Israeli parent to the Ashkenaz Orthodox parent to the teachers to the students to the alumni. ALL OF THE STAKEHOLDERS DESERVE A VOICE.

Just like Shlomo said:

“The election, to me at least, was not about whether or not Hillel changes. Rather, it was about whether or not Hillel changes against the vociferous opposition of a vast majority of CURRENT stakeholders.”

The BOG creates the situation so that anyone who wants to run for a new slate has very little time to organize and campaign. They design the system this way on purpose. Had the campaigning gone on for more than roughly 3 weeks, I’m sure that the new slate would pick up much more than 30% of the vote. It’s actually amazing that they did given the short time they were given to find each other, get petition signatures, and start campaigning.

So now is the time everyone should be campaigning for the next election.

I believe that the majority of parents, if they knew the truth, would have voted a different way. Latin or not. Clique or no clique.
15 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 4:17 pm

ALUMNI, PLEASE FIND A WAY- WHETHER IN MIAMI OR OUT OF TOWN -TO GET ON THE ALUMNI COMMITTEE NOW AND MAKE YOUR VOICE BE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR.

JUST DO IT!
16 sara // Jun 12, 2007 at 4:17 pm

Aron, you are wise beyond your years. Perhaps you should major in school administration. In the interim, I would hope that you are working with other alumini to do whatever alumini are able to do.
17 Another Teacher // Jun 12, 2007 at 4:23 pm

Shlomo, Aaron, and Aron are all wise beyond their years. It has been a privilege to have taught some of them.
18 sara // Jun 12, 2007 at 4:55 pm

Actually, if I recall correctly, the BOG did not “do” anything in regards to a new slate. It was the ex-executive board member who got the word out. Unfortunately, time was short. You are certainly correct, though; much was accomplished in the short time they had.

I offer a stong word of caution: For a board that apparently re-writes or re-interprets by-laws—they may try to re-write the clauses about presenting alternate slates. They seem to do whatever they want. Call in those checks and balances now!

And that includes Avi Frier, who will have his articles on record…words he wrote about a group of people that got petitions signed, formed an alternate slate, etc. And that includes getting 50 signatures for an open board meeting, should the need arise for one. Call in those check and balances now!
19 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 12, 2007 at 4:58 pm

I apologize if my words were harsh. I am not looking to make personal attacks. A statement (“That is how they live in their countries – - not in ours”) was made that would very deeply hurt anyone who might be its target. It is the type of statement that a Jew should shudder to hear. It was bigotry, and I am sure that its author could have chosen words more thoughtfully.

More importantly, I was trying to make the point that the perspective of the statement was not the most productive, and that learning from past mistakes and taking intelligent action in the present would be more appropriate than finger-pointing, particularly along cultural lines.

And thank you to “sara” and “Another Teacher” for your kind words. I don’t think school administration is in the cards for me (my already busy career notwithstanding), but I am happy to do what I can. I’m not quite sure what that is at this point.

The parents need to make the strongest move here. Your children are in Hillel to learn Torah, to get smarter, and to become respectable Jews. If it’s not happening, do whatever you have to…these are your children…you only get one chance. There are many options: try to save Hillel, get your kids (and our beloved teachers) out, supplement the school curriculum at home, create extracurricular programs, etc. etc. etc. Just make sure your kids get the education they deserve. You don’t really have a choice in the matter.

“Rabbi Tarfon said: ‘The day is short, the work is abundant, the workers are lazy, the reward is great, and the Master of the house is insistent.’”
Ethics of the Fathers, 2:20
20 sara // Jun 12, 2007 at 5:23 pm

I agree. It IS the parents who need to make the strongest move. Alumni cannot vote. Well, we have a group of parents that DID make the strongest move—they created a New Slate and earned a respectable % of votes–all in a short time.

So, I have a whole new idea here– A NEW WAY FORWARD : What about parents and alumni working TOGETHER? It has been suggested here (Post #43 under “A Bitter Realization”) to have town meetings in people’s homes, to network more, to reach/inform/educate elementary and ECE parents, to send out postcards, to create phone chains, etc. etc.

The people of the New Slate, their supporters, and alumni can reach out TOGETHER in a kind and not-time-rushed manner to the Hillel Community.

This concept needs planning, organization, commitment, and strong leadership. This concept will take time. What do you all think, and who will get the ball rolling?
21 sara // Jun 12, 2007 at 5:27 pm

One more point I forgot to mention—If my recollection is correct, meetings in parents’ homes, etc– this is the way the Boca school “got ” its first students…..from meetings with Hillel families!
22 Hillel Teacher for 7 Years // Jun 12, 2007 at 5:51 pm

“In order to have a school, you must have effective teachers. Intimidated, fearful teachers are ineffective. Under-appreciated teachers are ineffective. Unguided teachers are ineffective. Regardless of what the current parents or students want, all of the elements necessary for teachers to teach effectively must be present and encouraged. If you don’t have this, then you don’t say, “Well, OK, it’s what the parents want these days.” You shut down the school, because your core values can no longer be given effect. The teachers have spoken – the situation is no secret.”

Exactly right Aron.

The sad truth is that many just don’t care.
23 Anon // Jun 12, 2007 at 5:59 pm

you’re right, Hillel teacher for 7 years, they don’t care. But they seem awfully interested in knowing what’s being said here, making statements like all teachers who post here should be fired and attacking administrators who actually show respect to the teachers (who after all are the sole reason that these kids got to where they are).

there was a statement made at the election meeting from a rabbi who says that Hillel does not need saving. if you are discrediting the site, why are you so concerned about the name of the site? it just so happens that 99% of the teachers at Hillel disagree with you.

hillel needs saving in a bad way. If there is no respect to teachers, the quality of education suffers. let’s see where the future graduates of Hillel end up, especially after you clean house and replace experienced teachers with inexperienced ones. I’m sure colleges would love to know what kinds of problems exist in Hillel and maybe they’ll reconsider accepting the kids from here.
24 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 6:14 pm

Without good teachers remaining it will indeed be harder for students to get into good colleges.

Every accomplishment that an individual teacher helps a student achieve is now being credited to the institution rather than to the teacher who helped that student.

It is not on account of Hillel that a student gets into certain colleges but on account of that student, his or her parents, and the role very specific individual teachers and guidance counselors play.

It is not on account of Hillel that a student wins a thespian award or a choir award but on account of Michael Andron or Marlena Tuchinsky.

Such wonderful individuals’ names are no longer even being acknowledged anymore.

These accomplishments and triumphs are now soley the triumphs of HILLEL.

Not acknowledging the good that others do — specifically by individual name — goes very much AGAINST the Torah derech as has been mentioned somewhere else on this blog –not giving credit where credit is due (i.e. acknowledging by individual name the role specific teachers play) is a GROSS VIOLATION OF THE SACRED PRINCIPLE HaKarat HaTov , showing appreciation of the good done on one’s behalf.
25 Aaron // Jun 12, 2007 at 6:15 pm

I think the question is not “Does Hillel need saving?”

The bigger question is “Can Hillel be saved?”

My magic eight ball tells me that “all signs point to no.”
26 Anon // Jun 12, 2007 at 6:32 pm

“This is a Jewish Day School. The Head of School MUST be Jewish. How can the education possibly be expected to come out authentically Jewish if the person with ultimate responsibility doesn’t participate in the very fabric of the school’s purpose and existence, even if he has tremendous respect for Jewish values? The current parents and students may be wowed by the “new vision.” Some of it might even be worthwhile. But take Jewish out of the school’s name and call it what it is – Jewish schools are run by Jews…this used to be obvious”

Israel is a tiny dot on the map. Why doesn’t it allow the Arab majority to become Israeli citizens and vote the Jews right out of power and right of our homeland into the ocean where many of them would love for us to end up?

At one point the UN said “Zionism is racism” and Israel is an “apartheid state”.

(They have since repealed that.)

I beg to differ. When it comes to Jewish Education, it’s like Rav Hillel said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? ”

If we, as Jews, less than 1% of the entire world population are not for ourselves and do not protect our own interests and ensure that our future — our children — are able to do so, we have greatly failed as a people, forget that we’ve failed as a particular school.

A Jewish Head of School has sensitivities to our culture and mission that a non Jew simply does not have.

Adam Holden did not fail the school. The board failed both Adam Holden and all of the community.

I can’t think of any Jewish day schools in this country – Reform, Conservative, or Modern Orthodox for that matter – that have a non- Jewish Head of School. If any exist, they are certainly the exception, not the rule. Jewish day schools need Jewish heads of school –not because they’re bigoted or racist or apartheid — but because they have a very specific mission to accomplish and need a leader who lives and breathes that mission himself– despite what any Chabad Rabbi on this Current Board tells you………I wonder where that Rabbi sends his own children, by the way, or where Rabbi Lipskar sent his own children, by the way…It’s great to make an endorsement to a leader or to a school that you don’t even have enough confidence to put your own children in. ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS.
27 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 6:35 pm

Unfortunately Aaron all the tell tale signs point to a big NO and as Aron pointed out- the writing has been on the wall for a very, very long time- but it’s still such a painful reality, isn’t it?
28 Another Teacher // Jun 12, 2007 at 6:49 pm

“The writing was on the wall a long time ago, and all the parents stood silent. Your children could have told you, if only you had cared to ask.”

The teachers would tell parents now, if only parents cared or knew to ask. A couple members of the board have told blatant, egregious lies to the parents (i.e. lies like ” Oh, those 3 teachers were never nonrenewed; they were just asked to show credentials and improvement [a blatant lie all the way around]. We don’t understand what all the fuss on the blog is all about”….) and many parents have swallowed the lies hook, line, and sinker. I don’t blame the parents for their being lied to and misled. I blame those specific board members. I hate to say it, but I don’t think anyone can’t beat down this propaganda machine that is erasing the past and rewriting its own revisionist version of history–they’ve got too much money invested in keeping the machine running and have got marketing firms and consultants keeping it well oiled.
29 Carrot Top // Jun 12, 2007 at 7:40 pm

I know a non-renewed teacher very well. That person is very perturbed about the huge numbers of non-renewed teachers. This person finds the whole sistuation as “unprofessional”. That person has gone to find a better pasture, but is missing colleagues terribly.

My friend views the time at Hillel as having been beneficial to teaching.
30 Golda Meir // Jun 12, 2007 at 7:46 pm

“Again, if these people want something other than what we have – - why don’t they go elsewhere. ”

It looks like 70 percent of the parent body are satisfied with what we have here and that it is WE who are going to be the ones who need to go elsewhere.

And at this point I am more than prepared to do so having witnessed the debacle Wednesday night with my own two eyes–the debacle of the pomp, the circumstance, the slick propaganda, along with the ignorant applauding masses. It was enough to make me physically ill.

Former Hillel Parent rightly questions:

“So, as was suggested in a post yesterday, is it the time now for a new, more-religiously focused Jewish High School, one which can serve the North Dade/South Broward area?”

The answer to this question is yes. It is time now. Neither Hillel nor the Charter School will fill the niche that a significant group of parents are looking to fill.

If anyone is interested in starting such a school in the future, I’d be greatly interested in getting involved. I hope to have children in the near future, G-d willing, and none of my close friends with young children are satisfied with the current options available – they are not happy with Hillel, Hebrew Academy, or Maimonides. Nor am I.

If anyone is interested in beginning such a school in a few years from now when I and the alumni will have young children, find me through the site administrator and I will jump on board to help build a great school with the core principles Aron delineated established as the foundation.

Parents are hungry for better alternatives. This niche market appeals to several. If the school were located in the Aventura area then it could cater to the Miami Beach, North Miami Beach, and Hollywood communities as Hillel once did in its heydey when core values were still being hailed (through actions not merely words) as the bedrock of the institution. Perhaps kids who schlep all the way from Miami Beach to Boca YHS wouldn’t have to journey that far anymore.

Food for thought!
31 Aaron // Jun 12, 2007 at 8:21 pm

Just a (very) biased opinion… if we were to start a new school, I would suggest the following blueprint:
http://nshahs.org
32 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 8:27 pm

Excellent Aaron. Let’s get your dad back down here to help us with that blueprint in a few years!
33 Anon // Jun 12, 2007 at 8:41 pm

Now let’s not start rumors about Rabbi grant leaving NSHA to return to Hillel. I can’t imagine why he’d want to come back to hillel considering what it has turned into.
34 Anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 9:07 pm

I didn’t say he should come back to Hillel.

I said if he is ever ready to come back to Miami, he may want to come help build the type of school Aaron, I , and several others would like to put there kids in.
35 sara // Jun 12, 2007 at 10:10 pm

We are waiting to hear from you, Shlomo.
36 anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 10:57 pm

With all due respect to those writing on this blog. I have supported this blog and this cause more than you will ever know.

I take personal offense to the attack. I fully respect and welcome the alumni, however, there is a level of knowledge that you are not exposed to within the school.

The latins of the past are Americanized and grew up in this country. They assimilate and have American friends. The newly arrived families from the South American countries who have fled the tyranny and economic issues have not adopted the culture of the country where they are living. They only associate with their Latin friends and do not and are not accepting of the American culture.

They do things within their cliques. If you are not one of them, you are not really accepted in their social circles.

The observations regarding the newly arrived latin population was not meant in disrespect; it is a statement of absolute FACT. Validate it with the teachers. It is most evident in the elementary and middle school. We have lost many families due to the DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE SCHOOL BEING IMBALANCED.

Call me whatever name you wish, however, it is something that has been personally experienced and such information can be validated. Again, due to these imbalanced demographics, many people have left the school.

Hillel is in my heart and therefore the fight to save this school is something personal to me.

You have the right to not agree, understand, or support what has been said, but using disrespectful names is unacceptable.

This is the very problem in the school – - the lack of Derech Eretz that the Administration has towards our teachers, some parents have towards our teachers or those parents who do not share the same thoughts about the board or head of school.

Without Derech Eretz for the school, the teachers, the parents, the students, and the alumni – -honestly, there is nothing to fight for.

Our teachers deserve respect, our students deserve respect and everyone needs to respect each other.

Continue to work towards saving HILLEL!
37 sara // Jun 12, 2007 at 11:23 pm

To Post #36. Your passion, support, and commitment are so very much appreciated. The question is HOW to continue working towards saving Hillel.

A number of suggestions have been put forth here, including my own (post #20). What do we do now? HOW do we promote and ensure Derech Eretz? HOW do we ensure that parents– all parents– will be received well by the school? HOW do we ensure that the alumni are treated as alumni should be treated? HOW do ensure that respect will be shown to the teachers upon their return to school?

HOW????
38 anonymous // Jun 12, 2007 at 11:33 pm

We need to continue to be visible. We need to continue to knock on the door and ask to be involved.

We cannot give up, back down, go away, or settle for rejection.

We want to make a difference and be included. We cannot allow these individuals to make idle offers in public and then back out in Private.

These are things that need to stay in the forefront. If this type of deceptive practice continues, we must let CAJE and the community know. They offered in a public forum and must stand by their word whether the head of school approves or does not.

Apparently, the problem is that the board does not practice good governance practices. If they did, they would not take direction from the head of school as to what they are permitted to do. They should be instructing him and providing leadership. This would be good governance. Additionally, they would seek support from Key Stakeholders – - the parents. This is how buy-in is illicited and support is garnered.

Therefore, we must continue to contact them and ask to be involved. The more calls and letters the better.

Continue to get the word out and get involved — any way you can.

It is unbelievable that once again, the board does not address these issues.

The community and the media are watching to see how the collaborative process will play out. If it does not, the deceptive nature and lack of integrity and credibility of the words spoken at the parent meeting will be exposed for what they are.

Frankly, is this the way the school wants to play. It is a shame that so many (OVER 1/3 OF THE PARENT BODY) is disturbed about the goings on at the school. That number will continue to grow if such issues are not addressed!

So get connected – - keep these issues in the forefront and SAVE HILLEL!
39 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 12:24 am

The truth is that much of what poster 36 says is true.

The Latin population at Hillel today is indeed vastly different than that of the past. I’m not saying good or bad. Just different.

I have heard this now from parent after parent after parent.

I personally know of non-Latin parents who are new to the school who try to befriend some of these cliquey parents and they are excluded because they are not “members of the club” so to speak.

I personally know of an ECE parent pulling his kid out because his child is the ONLY English speaking kid in the class who gets BULLIED by the rest of the Spanish speaking kids because he is different. Yes, I know, whoever the minority kid is -white, black, Latin, what have you –will be the one to get picked on and and now it’s the English speaking child in the minority. That’s not a judgment call. The parents, however, do not want their young child to continue to be bullied and are pulling him out next year. The election was actually the decisive factor that made them understand that this demographic might not be most suitable for them personally. Not good or bad. Just different.

That said, however, this demographic did not make the educational decisions for the past 10 years — 2 Ashkenaz intellectuals did — one with a Phd and one who is a scholar and went to an Ivy League university — so we can’t blame this mess on the changed demographic entirely

It is human nature to vote for who your friends tell you to vote for…and I’m sure that instinct cuts across all cultural boundaries

Ultimately the majority at Hillel (regardless of cultural background) do not care so much about RELIGIOUS education. They care more about a taste for Jewish culture and that their children don’t rub elbows with kids in the public schools. These parents who just voted the new board in will be the first to break their contracts for the upcoming school year if their children get admitted by lottery to the new Jewish themed charter school opening this fall.

They won’t care about paying a penalty for breaking the contract because they’ll still be saving THOUSANDS of dollars that year. Hillel will definitely be losing tuition dollars in the near future. That’s a fact.
40 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 13, 2007 at 12:48 am

To “anonymous”:

We are on the same side, so we should not argue with one another. I have no doubt that you are closer to the situation than I am. And I am not in the dark about the demographic changes in the school, as you suggest. I have seen the effects of it in my own family. I do not condone or support the type of exclusive, bullying tactics common in certain social circles.

However, there are Latin students, parents, and alumni (plenty of whom are from this “new wave”) who would not want to be associated with some of the less desirable characters in the school with whom they coincidentally share a common heritage.

Sweeping statements about people based on nationality are bound to alienate potential supporters. On those grounds, I support limiting criticism to the ideas with which you have a problem, not the nationality of the individuals who possess those ideas. It’s not about their countries vs. ours. It’s about a positive Hillel vision vs. a destructive one. Let’s criticize and analyze the ideas, not the nationalities. There are good apples and bad apples on all sides of the international divide.
41 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 12:52 am

100% correct Aron. Let’s stay focused on the ISSUES.
42 A veteran Hillel teacher // Jun 13, 2007 at 1:29 am

A middle school student said to a middle school teacher that she would not be back next year because she is “going to the new FREE Jewish school.”

Is the new charter school now determining enrollment by a lottery?
43 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 1:49 am

Yes by lottery. The demand for this school is overwhelming. Parents who are both religious and non religious – from Miami Beach to Hollywood – are CLAMORING to get their children in by any means necessary. Ultimately it will come down to a lottery. Don’t know when the results of the lottery will be announced. Many current Hillel parents entered the lottery.
44 Anon // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:00 am

anonymous, you say “Call, get active – -if then you are turned away, there is an issue.”

They DID call. They WERE turned away.

37 anonymous // Jun 11, 2007 at 10:52 pm

That relates to the committees. Perhaps the committees are not meeting over the summer. Many of these individuals are off on the mission to Israel or other family trips, etc.

I am hearing very conflicting reports.

I am hearing now that parents are welcome after the summer when board members return from trips etc.

I PRAY this is true.

Working together respectfully and including more parent voices is the key to improving the school environment.

If this happens, then there is HOPE.
45 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 13, 2007 at 3:16 am

Lowercase anonymous, I understand your frustrations or appreciate your passion for Hillel. I would also like to take this opportunity to formally welcome you and everyone else on SaveHillel to the immigration debate.

That’s right, folks! You’ve heard it on Capitol Hill. You’ve heard it in City Hall. Now, the immigration debate hits the Hillel Community Day School!

I figured I might as well put this into context, because the same thing (obviously, with variations) is happening nationwide. Due to socioeconomic factors that not even the most powerful men in the world can fully control, we as a nation have seen a large influx of Latinos with very different backgrounds and customs. How do we, the traditionalists, respond?

There’s always the nativist option. We could reject “them” because “they” are too different from us. It is perhaps natural for “us” to divide into cliques and exclude “them”. It is perhaps natural for Ashkenazim to only talk to other Ashkenazim, for whites to only talk to whites, and for Latinos to only talk to Latinos.

I believe that some of the worst misunderstandings, on both sides, come as a result of this exclusionistic spirit. So, on SaveHillel, we assume that anyone who agrees with Dr. Holden has been brainwashed (or is a Board member in disguise). But just last week, I got a message from a very intelligent student leader who currently attends Hillel, and she told me that it was Hillel4Change that was doing the brainwashing.

Which side is correct? If “we” are correct, should “we” give up on “them”? Knowing full well that as a result, “they” will give up on “us”? Is the answer for each side to set up permanent opposing camps on Battlefield Hillel, and interact with “them” only to trade political volleys? I hope not, because whoever wins the ensuing conflict, worthy students like the one I talked to will be caught in the crossfire.

There are other reasons to reject this exclusivistic option. Dividing into camps will worsen our own marginalization on campus, and will contribute to the marginalization of Latinos on a national scale. Given that the Latinos seem to be less observant than the whites, exclusivism would also further the fractionalization of Judaism, such that observant and nonobservant do not mix and each stays among their “kind”.

As a group that claims to be saving Hillel for Judaism, I think this final point is most relevant for as. We need to remember that although the new immigrants are less observant, a vast majority still identify as Jewish. We are a people that hold as core values that all men are created equal as “Betzelem Elokim” (White, Black, Asian, Latino) and that all Jews share in one another’s fate (“Kol Yisrael Arevim Ze Bazeh”). This is a test of our devotion to these values: can we overcome different observance levels, can we overcome a racial divide, and move forward united as Jews to Save Hillel?

Most Latinos that I’ve encountered are Jewish, but less observant. They should be accommodated to the greatest extent possible. If this requires a Jewish curriculum that less observant kids find manageable, and some extra teaching on Shabbat for the more religious folk, I’d prefer this to ramming Judaism down Latin throats until the Latins come to hate the taste of it. Ultimately, educating these people about Judaism will result in a more vibrant and diverse South Florida Jewish community.

It might be true that the Board is a clique; it might be true that Latinos are a clique. But just as the alternate slate is making every effort to work with the Board, we at the grassroots level must make every effort to work with the opposing Latino electorate. After all, if truth is on our side, they will come to understand and agree with our perspective the more they interact with us.

I think Sara’s idea is a fabulous one. We need to maximize interactions among the various groups, and especially among the seemingly opposing groups, at Hillel. Such interactions are the best weapon against propaganda, and just plain vitriol. Such interactions are a critical part of the new way forward.

A key aspect of these interactions will be, as Sara pointed out, alumni-parent interactions. Invite some alternate slate parents, some Latinos, and some SaveHillel alumni to a house party, and people will begin to wonder why alumni were thrown off campus.

Furthermore, these collaborations need to start at home, right here on this site. Toning down the rhetoric and moderating to the greatest extent possible will further alumni-parent interaction, by assuring that parents can collaborate AND keep credibility. Right now, parents do not feel free to do this. I can not tell you how many times members of the alternate slate expressed their concerns about being associated with SaveHillel. We are a catalyst, but also a political liability. Many alternate slate members were very easy about the planned alumni rally for this reason. So here’s some incentive: if this site becomes less about vitriol, and more about a clearinghouse for proactive ideas, Jill Shockett WILL gain power at Board meetings, through her association with us. That is a goal we can all agree on.

From here on out, let’s do our best to make SaveHillel something even a Board member could be proud of.
46 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 13, 2007 at 7:39 am

“If this requires a Jewish curriculum that less observant kids find manageable, and some extra teaching on Shabbat for the more religious folk, I’d prefer this to ramming Judaism down Latin throats until the Latins come to hate the taste of it.”

I am not quite sure what this “manageable” solution would entail. If it means limiting the amount of time in the day consumed by Jewish studies for some students, I think it’s a natural solution. But if it means watering down the content of the curriculum so as not to offend, then I believe it is a recipe for disaster, and my precedent is from the Torah itself.

As Maimonides explains, when God sent Moses to Pharaoh, it was not merely to secure the freedom of the Jews, but to engage Pharaoh in theological debate, so that “the world will know that I am God.” Moses’ response was not to universalize the “curriculum.” He could not compromise an ounce of the truth for the sake of gaining Pharaoh’s favor. In fact, what he presented was perhaps the greatest Jewish Studies curriculum ever witnessed by mankind…full of passion, uncompromising intellect, and, at times, the necessary amount of fury.

So how did Moses win Pharaoh over (as Maimonides further explains, Pharaoh was convinced by Moses’ arguments and did in fact desire to release the Jews but for God’s hardening of his heart)? He did but studying Pharaoh’s psychology, his culture, the nature of Egyptian idolatry. He got down to the very fundamentals of his opposition and fine-tuned his plan accordingly.

I believe Moses’ model would serve Hillel well. Hillel has never shoved Judaism down anyone’s throat, nor should it ever. At the same time, the Judaism cannot be sacrificed. Take the time to understand the opposition – not just their ideas, but their values, their culture and plan the curriculum accordingly. It may be an arduous process, but it’s the only viable solution.
47 anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 8:10 am

The charter school

http://www.bengamlacharter.org

This is posted on their website – - they have a waiting list and have delayed the lottery due to too many applicants.

I would like to thank everyone who came to enroll during the initial registration
period. We received close to 800 applications, and many people have since
signed up to be placed on a waiting list.
Our original intention was to do the lottery and give everyone a definite answer
no later than June 5. We understand that people need to give answers to other
schools and make arrangements for the upcoming year.
Because we have so many applicants and because we want to be able to accept
as many students as possible, we are currently looking for alternate locations
that can accommodate everyone who has applied. We have made offers on
several large sites and as soon as we have a signed agreement we will know
exactly how many students we can accommodate.
Therefore, as much as I want to do the lottery now to give people a definite
answer about admittance, I have to ask for your patience for two more weeks.
This will give us the time to secure a facility that can accommodate many more
students. If we can avoid turning away over 200 students, ultimately the two
week wait will be worth it. We will send out an email as soon as we have clarity
about the new site and about the lottery if it is still necessary. The absolute
deadline we are setting for ourselves is June 19, but we will try to have the
information earlier. You can also check back on the website periodically.

Hillel is far superior to this school. Our teachers are what make our school. You cannot go anyplace else to receive what you get at Hillel!

Save Hillel!
48 Aaron // Jun 13, 2007 at 9:10 am

Once upon a time the model for Hillel’s curriculum was 50% secular studies & 50% religious studies.

Of course, we would fudge the numbers a bit by having prayers and Hebrew (the secular studies foreign language requirement) count in the religious studies column.

Now it seems was some people want is 90% secular studies and 10% Jewish culture.

Does it scare anyone how happy the vast majority of the parent body would be if the curriculum’s Jewish studies consisted of solely of optional morning prayers and a mandatory daily class on “Jewish culture”?
49 Anon // Jun 13, 2007 at 9:22 am

I think that’s the rise and fall of Hillel. Remember, Aaron, our classmates would rather say that they went to “Lipson High” than “Hillel” in many cases.

i suggest that Hillel rename itself, scrapping itself of the Jewish titular affiliation, and then parents can react accordingly.
50 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 9:41 am

Shlomo:

I love that current students think that hillel4change “brainwashed” people–

hillel4change sought to bring in Community Rabbis to discuss what an appropriate Judaic curriculum for the CURRENT community should look like … go read the platform http://www.hillel4change.org. How is that brainwashing?

They did not advocate a specific Judaic position-tthey merely stated that a MULTIPLICITY OF VOICES need to be included to figure this mess out. JUST THAT PEOPLE NEED TO OPEN CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION .

They weren’t telling people which position to adapt-they were merely saying LET’S ALL SIT DOWN TOGETHER OPENLY RATHER THAN IN CYBERSPACE SO WE CAN ALL FIGURE THIS THING OUT TOGETHER.

OPENING CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION was the entire point. Ask Isaac.

So if they think that’s brainwashing then I say their parents brainwashed them. But more importantly, you are missing the ENTIRE point.

A SCHOOL IS ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS TEACHERS.

THE TEACHERS ARE HILLEL.

Let me say that again: THE TEACHERS ARE HILLEL.

hilllel4change brought to light that the TEACHERS ARE NOT HAPPY.

Many parents actually changed their votes at the night of the election when they heard the words come out of A TEACHER’S MOUTH- even after we heard so many times that the speeches would NOT sway the voters- apparently the teacher’s speech SWAYED SOME VOTERS–whatever percentage is IRRELEVANT.

THE COMMUNICATION WOKE PEOPLE UP! That is a huge victory in and of itself.

Clearly, the STUDENTS haven’t bothered to talk to the teachers because if they did they would know the truth too. But teachers are too professional to lay that kind of trip on their students. So of course, THE STUDENTS are in the dark!

Now, if the teacher morale does not improve and the best teachers leave, THERE IS NO SCHOOL LEFT.

No Judaics. No liberal arts. Nothing. Zippo. It won’t even matter WHAT Judaics are taught or not taught or HOW they’re going to be taught or not taught BECAUSE THERE WILL BE NO ONE GOOD LEFT TO TEACH .

Are you following me? That’s what this is about. That’s why there’s a blog announcing to the world that we’ve got a big problem here and this blog won’t come down until teachers en masse start to say that we NO LONGER have a problem on our hands.

COMPRENDE?????????????

Don’t confuse the issues. This has NOTHING to do with the cultural background AT ALL.

Aron hit the nail on the head:

“In order to have a school, you must have effective teachers. Intimidated, fearful teachers are ineffective. Under-appreciated teachers are ineffective. Unguided teachers are ineffective. Regardless of what the current parents or students want, all of the elements necessary for teachers to teach effectively must be present and encouraged. If you don’t have this, then you don’t say, “Well, OK, it’s what the parents want these days.” You shut down the school, because your core values can no longer be given effect. The teachers have spoken – the situation is no secret.”

THE LACK OF COMMUNICATION ONCE IS THE CENTRAL ISSUE.

If teachers had a venue through which to speak directly to board members, if teachers had a venue in which to address the parent-body, if teachers had an appropriate grievance committee, and a teacher advocate NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER HAVE HAPPPENED.

Again, let’s stop confusing the issues.

UNTIL THE CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION ARE PUT IN PLACE NOT ONE SINGLE PROBLEM WILL BE RESOLVED.

IF THOSE CHANNELS ARE CREATED, I GUARANTEE MOST OF THE PROBLEMS WILL DISAPPEAR.

WHY IS THIS SO DARN DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND?

IT’S ABOUT A LACK OF COMMUNICATION, DUH!
51 anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 9:42 am

“A middle school student said to a middle school teacher that she would not be back next year because she is “going to the new FREE Jewish school.”

What is ironic about this comment is that qualified, devoted, yet extremely disheartened Hillel teachers may also be considering this and other moves…

After the jeering and cheering of the June 6th election, many teachers were left shell shocked by the results.

Unfortunately, this election may go down as a pyrhic victory for the “old guard Board Members” and the unknowing parents that elected them.

Parents are now suprised that they were not welcomed on committees as promised ?

Why???

Alumni were stopped at the gate by security guards from even witnessing the election.

If you look at the CAJE list of administrators on
their website, you will see we are the only school with a non-Jewish leader. In addition,many of the Jewish administrators’ names on the Hillel list will no longer be there in the fall, replaced by non-Jews.

The chairman of Hillel’s Board told parents on the eve of the election how it is so difficult to find competent Jewish educators to lead day schools.

As mentioned on previous posts, even the nation’s first FREE Hebrew charter school was able to find a Rabbi to lead them into these new “unchartered” waters.

An educator once asked Abraham Fischler , founder of Nova Southeastern University, why there were so many Jewish educators and staff at Nova. He replied “we don’t go out of our way to exclude them”. (Nova is one of the few universities in the country closed on both “High Holidays”).

If stakeholders want to “Save Hillel” as the Jewish Day School it was inscribed to be in the by-laws drafted with love by its founding fathers, then they need to start looking for a Jewish leader.

Only a Jewish Head of School can kiss the mezuzah on its doorpost and hold the Torah its Beit Midrash…
52 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 9:48 am

AMEN TO THAT TOO!
53 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 9:59 am

There is another HUGE IRONY here that seems to be lost on many people.

The biggest Hillel advocate we’ve had on this blog routing for Hillel’s survival is somebody who is affiiated with the Charter School — who clearly sees the writing on the wall of what is about to happen here and is trying to tell us to get our act together:

“I would like to thank everyone who came to enroll during the initial registration
period. We received close to 800 applications, and many people have since
signed up to be placed on a waiting list.”

WAKE THE HECK UP.

PUT THE CHANNELS IN PLACE NOW

The more the channels communicate with one another the better.

Alumi committee should talk to parents to teachers to students etc.

The board should talk to alumni to parents to teachers to students etc.

Let’s get everyone sitting down and talking. I can’t believe this issue has been going on at this school for as long as it has

IT’S SO EASY TO FIX..What are they waiting for? The Messiah?

The Messengers have spoken. DON’T KILL THE MESSENGERS. HEED THE MESSAGE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
54 Good Wolf // Jun 13, 2007 at 10:11 am

That is true.

A Catholic Head cannot, for a lot of reasons.

If I were to work in a Jewish school again (and it may happen, I have become a rather Judaically oriented Christian (there are a lot of us out there by the way) it would be with joy in my heart because the students and faculty were incredible at Hillel. I felt like I was part of a big family and that I had a place at the table.
I will miss the warm, cosy happy feeling from the spot at the table. The next school is not Jewish but I will give it a year and see how I feel then (no religious symbols just really secular, I found myself missing the mezuzah on the door post but on the other hand the place did feel like a good place).
I know Hillel can be saved from the secularization process. It was a hugely horrible mistake not to renew so many of us.
If the Head had just come out and said that he wanted an IB school (International Bacchelauearate) or whatever and had given a list of goals to reach that; this whole mess could have been a smaller mess.
But, no.
The Red Queen went “off with their heads!”
And so it was…
55 anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 11:24 am

What are you talking about – - the post about the Ben Gamla School was in response to the person asking about the lottery which is not taking place.

that school is only for elementary at this time.

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT AND LEARN TO READ – -

THIS POSTER IS FOR THE HILLEL OF 50%/50% – - DO NOT CONTINUE TO PUT WORDS IN PEOPLE’S MOUTHS!

THE ACCUSATIONS ARE DISPICABLE!

MOST OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS SITE ARE FOR THE BENEFIT OF HILLEL – - ONLY FACTUAL DATA IS PROVIDED.

DO NOT BE SO QUICK TO JUDGE AND ACCUSE – - THAT IS PART OF THE CORE PROBLEM!
56 admin // Jun 13, 2007 at 12:10 pm

I will continue to block all anonymous posts sent via IP proxy until the attacks stop. In fact, if you post via proxy from this point forward, don’t expect to be able to do so with the same IP in the future. Thanks.
57 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 1:27 pm

It seems I misread.

The poster was citing material from the website without quotation marks.

I took them to be the poster’s actual words.
58 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:03 pm

Anonymous writes: “IT’S ABOUT A LACK OF COMMUNICATION, DUH!”

I hope you realize the supreme irony of this statement. You just asserted that there needs to be a greater level of communication–but you did it in a way that shuts down dialogue!

You ask why it is so difficult to understand the need for communication, even though it should be a “duh” issue. But whenever a new person comes on to SaveHillel to post a dissenting viewpoint, he is quickly flamed, and accused of being a Board member–often by you personally. Not only are these conversation-stopping remarks downright rude, but they also sabatoge the very purpose of this site: communication.

A lot of people on the opposing team have an interest in convincing people there’s no one on the other side to talk to, and that we’re just obstructionists that oppose progress. Do you think it would help our cause, just a bit, if we refrained from proving their point for them?
59 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:04 pm

“i suggest that Hillel rename itself, scrapping itself of the Jewish titular affiliation, and then parents can react accordingly.”

agreed
60 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:05 pm

“Do you think it would help our cause, just a bit, if we refrained from proving their point for them?”

nope-already have seen that it makes not one bit of difference how you slice the dice you will be ignored
61 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:12 pm

“Unfortunately, this election may go down as a pyyrhic victory for the “old guard Board Members” and the unknowing parents that elected them.

Parents are now suprised that they were not welcomed on committees as promised ?

Why???

Alumni were stopped at the gate by security guards from even witnessing the election.”
———————————————–
“That relates to the committees. Perhaps the committees are not meeting over the summer. Many of these individuals are off on the mission to Israel or other family trips, etc.

I am hearing very conflicting reports.

I am hearing now that parents are welcome after the summer when board members return from trips etc.”

one would think that in the midst of a crisis situation the doors of communication would be opened immediately if there were sincere interest in trying to resolve conflict
62 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:22 pm

Anonymous,

Wrong. There was a large swing vote in the last election, and it almost entirely swung to the Board. That’s why we lost.

So here’s how we’re going to “beat” the Board: grassroots collaboration. Find solutions to problems. Start collaborations with parents, start coming up with solutions. If the Board lets us in, we’ll do it on the Hillel campus. If they don’t, we’ll do it off-campus where they can’t control us. The bottom line is, even if THEY don’t get input from everyone, WE will, and then WE will propose plans designed by consensus. If the Board continually rejects our plans, they will get destroyed in the next elections, because we will have been collaborating with the swing vote.

But this can only happen if the politically adversarial comments stop. Now. Otherwise, you will repel all the swing voters due to political lines, and we’ll be in the same place next year at this time.
63 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:23 pm

I hope you are correct
64 Good Wolf // Jun 13, 2007 at 2:28 pm

Yes!
65 admin // Jun 13, 2007 at 3:09 pm

Repeated from earlier: If you post via proxy from this point forward, don’t expect to be able to do so with the same IP in the future.
66 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 13, 2007 at 3:13 pm

Lowercase anonymous writes: “Only a Jewish Head of School can kiss the mezuzah on its doorpost and hold the Torah its Beit Midrash…”

That’s true, but Dr. Barbieri did just fine here even though he was a Catholic who did neither. I would be have been happy to had Dr. Barbieri continued his time here for many years, regardless of his religion. We want a quality Head of School, Jewish or not.

Aron writes: “Leaders do not lead by consensus. A true leader has a certain independence in intellect and in action that stands out from his or her peers. A leader guides not only by experience, but by intuition.”

Hey Aron, who’s your favorite president? Do you think he made decisions with the help of info provided by top-rate advisors? Or do you think he made uninformed decisions based on his “independence of intellect” or “intuition”?

The Board are Holden’s top advisors. They need to do their jobs.
67 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 3:30 pm

“You ask why it is so difficult to understand the need for communication, even though it should be a “duh” issue… Not only are these conversation-stopping remarks downright rude, but they also sabatoge the very purpose of this site: communication. ”

This a valid point. Unfortunately, the lack of communication has existed at Hillel for several years now and regardless of how it is addressed—provocatively, politely, in the open, behind closed doors—it continues to be swept under the rug.

Ultimately, it’s like the poster said about the Alumni Association, that Hillel has been “trying for years” already to create an alumni association and if they were so interested they would have done so by now.

Just like the alumni association, Hillel has been well aware of the problem with teacher morale and “has been trying for years” via different organizations to resolve the problem and apparently still has not done so. Why aren’t they successful? If they really wanted to fix the problem , they would have by now. It just happens to be that now it’s reached it’s all time low.

Hillel has been given LISTS OF SUGGESTIONS BY REPUTABLE ORGANIZATIONS THAT THEY FAIL TO IMPLEMENT.

They do not need advice from any grassroot alumni movement. That is endearing but naive thinking. They’ve already gotten the expert advice they choose to ignore. They’ve paid a lot of money for it too.

Do you really believe they don’t know how to fix this? Do you really believe that educated parents haven’t offered substantive suggestions much more sophisticated than the ones being offered by this grassroots movement? Of course, they have. They have not been listened to, they are not being listened to, and they probably never will be listened to. It is indeed unfortunate.

“If the Board continually rejects our plans, they will get destroyed in the next elections, because we will have been collaborating with the swing vote.

But this can only happen if the politically adversarial comments stop. Now. Otherwise, you will repel all the swing voters due to political lines, and we’ll be in the same place next year at this time.”

They will never get destroyed. That is naïve and wishful thinking. The manner in which you express yourself is almost irrelevant at this point because very few read the blog anyway. Teachers, the board, and alumni do. Most parents are not of the computer generation; they do not sit in front of computers the way we all do. The board seems to prefer communicating this way. If they didn’t, they would open the doors of communication now, this blog would be shut down, end of story. It’s up to them really-how long would they like to continue to this mode of communication?
68 Another Teacher // Jun 13, 2007 at 3:34 pm

I agree with Aron.
69 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 13, 2007 at 4:50 pm

Shlomo:

I want to clarify what I meant. It seemed to me that you (as well as the new slate in their election “campaign”) were suggesting that an advisable idea would be to retain Holden, but negate the effects of his incompetence, lack of ethics, and serious character flaws by having his “advisers” (i.e. the Board) actually dictate to him the proper course of action behind the scenes. In this way, we would save face with all those who are enamored by him, but at the same time not allow him to ruin the school as he did in Kansas City.

I have exaggerated slightly, but only to bring out my point. A leader needs to be someone who knows when to get advice (from the right people, of course) and how to synthesize his experience, his own ideas, and the experiences and ideas of those he trusts into a confident decision – a decision that he can defend with logic and with passion. President Bush has come under much criticism since the beginning of his administration for appearing to be incapable of making a decision on his own. Political theorists have long characterized his presidency as the reign of a brain trust rather than a president. From a political standpoint (I am not commenting on his specific policies), his popularity and effectiveness have both been disasters precisely because he does not have the qualities of a true leader that I described. He intended to rule through his “Board” and the results have not been pretty.
70 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 13, 2007 at 4:53 pm

As an aside, I think Plato’s _Republic_ should be required reading for all current and prospective school administrators and governors.
71 Another Teacher // Jun 13, 2007 at 5:58 pm

Well said.
72 anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 6:39 pm

Leadership Styles

Leadership style is the manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people. There are normally three styles of leadership :

Authoritarian or autocratic
Participative or democratic
Delegative or Free Reign

Although good leaders use all three styles, with one of them normally dominate, bad leaders tend to stick with one style.

Authoritarian (autocratic)

This style is used when the leader tells her employees what she wants done and how she wants it done, without getting the advice of her followers. Some of the appropriate conditions to use it is when you have all the information to solve the problem, you are short on time, and your employees are well motivated.

Some people tend to think of this style as a vehicle for yelling, using demeaning language, and leading by threats and abusing their power. This is not the authoritarian style…rather it is an abusive, unprofessional style called bossing people around. It has no place in a leaders repertoire.

The authoritarian style should normally only be used on rare occasions. If you have the time and want to gain more commitment and motivation from your employees, then you should use the participative style.

Participative (democratic)

This type of style involves the leader including one or more employees in on the decision making process (determining what to do and how to do it).

However, the leader maintains the final decision making authority. Using this style is not a sign of weakness, rather it is a sign of strength that your employees will respect.

This is normally used when you have part of the information, and your employees have other parts. Note that a leader is not expected to know everything — this is why you employ knowledgeable and skillful employees. Using this style is of mutual benefit — it allows them to become part of the team and allows you to make better decisions.

Delegative (free reign)

In this style, the leader allows the employees to make the decision. However, the leader is still responsible for the decisions that are made. This is used when employees are able to analyze the situation and determine what needs to be done and how to do it. You cannot do everything!

You must set priorities and delegate certain tasks.

This is not a style to use so that you can blame others when things go wrong, rather this is a style to be used when you have the full trust and confidence in the people below you. Do not be afraid to use it, however, use it wisely!

Forces
A good leader uses all three styles, depending on what forces are involved between the followers, the leader, and the situation. Some examples include:

Using an authoritarian style on a new employee who is just learning the job. The leader is competent and a good coach. The employee is motivated to learn a new skill. The situation is a new environment for the employee.

Using a participative style with a team of workers who know their job. The leader knows the problem, but does not have all the information. The employees know their jobs and want to become part of the team.

Using a delegative style with a worker who knows more about the job than you. You cannot do everything! The employee needs to take ownership of her job. Also, the situation might call for you to be at other places, doing other things.

Using all three: Telling your employees that a procedure is not working correctly and a new one must be established (authoritarian). Asking for their ideas and input on creating a new procedure (participative). Delegating tasks in order to implement the new procedure (delegative).

Forces that influence the style to be used included:

How much time is available.
Are relationships based on respect and trust or on disrespect?
Who has the information – you, your employees, or both?
How well your employees are trained and how well you know the task.
Internal conflicts.
Stress levels.
Type of task. Is it structured, unstructured, complicated, or simple?
Laws or established procedures such as OSHA or training plans.
Positive and Negative Approaches

There is a difference in ways leaders approach their employee. Positive leaders use rewards, such as education, independence, etc. to motivate employees. While negative employees emphasize penalties. While the negative approach has a place in a leader’s repertoire of tools, it must be used carefully due to its high cost on the human spirit.

Negative leaders act domineering and superior with people. They believe the only way to get things done is through penalties, such as loss of job, days off without pay, reprimand employees in front of others, etc. They believe their authority is increased by freighting everyone into higher lever of productivity. Yet what always happens when this approach is used wrongly is that morale falls; which of course leads to lower productivity.

Also note that most leaders do not strictly use one or another, but are somewhere on a continuum ranging from extremely positive to extremely negative. People who continuously work out of the negative are bosses while those who primarily work out of the positive are considered real leaders.

Use of Consideration and Structure

Two other approaches that leaders use are:

Consideration (employee orientation) – Leaders are concerned about the human needs of their employees. They build teamwork, help employees with their problems, and provide psychological support.

Structure (task orientation) – Leaders believe that they get results by consistently keeping people busy and urging them to produce.

There is evidence that leaders who are considerate in their leadership style are higher performers and are more satisfied with their job (Schriesheim, 1982).

Also notice that consideration and structure are independent of each other, thus they should not be viewed on opposite ends of a continuum. For example, a leader who becomes more considerate, does not necessarily mean that she has become less structured.
73 Good Wolf // Jun 13, 2007 at 7:37 pm

You are absolutely right about the authority structure.
Machivelli was the basis for this last year.
74 anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 7:53 pm

There are a number of different approaches, or ‘styles’ to leadership and management that are based on different assumptions and theories. The style that individuals use will be based on a combination of their beliefs, values and preferences, as well as the organizational culture and norms which will encourage some styles and discourage others.

Charismatic Leadership
Participative Leadership
Situational Leadership
Transactional Leadership
Transformational Leadership
The Quiet Leader
Servant Leadership

http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/leadership_styles.htm

Additional research
The Managerial Grid: Blake and Mouton’s people-task balance.
Lewin’s leadership styles: Three original styles.
Likert’s leadership styles: from autocratic to participative.
Six Emotional Leadership Styles: from ‘Mr. Emotional Intelligence’, Daniel Goleman and friends.
75 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 7:58 pm

Good Wolf:

Hillel no doubt follows the Machiavellian style of leadership.

They may not have Plato’s Republic, but they sure have memorized Machiavelli’s THE PRINCE–a style totally inappropriate and ineffectual for a school environment.
76 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 13, 2007 at 8:01 pm

Thanks for all the excellent research…some good material in there. One thing that all of the leadership styles have in common, though, is that the leader is distinguished from the pack. The leader takes on the ultimate yoke of accountability. No leadership theory says that an unqualified, figurehead leader is just fine as long as the he has a bunch of people behind him telling where to go and what to do.
77 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 8:08 pm

We have yet to see anyone here take any accountability whatsoever-hence, no TRUE leaders.
78 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 8:21 pm

Also, some leaders are so caught up in the PROCESS sitting behind closed doors all day researching and talking and planning what they should be doing that they don’t actually TAKE ACTION and just fix problems AS THEY ARISE.

I think this “process style” -and I’m not sure of its technical name (would you know Aron?)- is a big part of the problem.

The “leaders” at Hillel research, they talk, they analyze, they bring in experts, the pay big bucks, they re-visit, they insulate themselves, but they never DO anything with all that knowledge. They have at least 10 years of expert knowledge under their belt now. When are they going to take action and implement concrete solutions?
79 Anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 8:24 pm

It’s time to put THEORY into PRACTICE!
80 Aaron // Jun 13, 2007 at 10:56 pm

I know what could up teacher morale instantly. If the entire faculty received a 25% raise, I am sure you would see a lot more smiles around campus…
81 Akiva Cohen // Jun 13, 2007 at 11:54 pm

“If this requires a Jewish curriculum that less observant kids find manageable, and some extra teaching on Shabbat for the more religious folk, I’d prefer this to ramming Judaism down Latin throats until the Latins come to hate the taste of it. Ultimately, educating these people about Judaism will result in a more vibrant and diverse South Florida Jewish community.”

Shlomo,

Interestingly enough, one of my Latino, non-observant friends from Hillel once told me that what he missed most after graduation was Talmud class.

People don’t come to love or hate “the taste of it” based on quantity. It’s all about *quality*.

And, as always, that comes back to the teachers. My friend was in Rabbi Bald’s shiur; religious or not, it was impossible not to enjoy learning with a teacher like that.
82 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 14, 2007 at 7:32 am

Anonymous:

This is sometimes referred to as “approach-avoidance.” It refers to a decision-making style where those in charge of governance take a strong approach to installing good leadership and making good decisions, but then back down at the last moment as an act of avoidance. One of the most common reasons for the development of “approach-avoidance” is the fear of the decision-makers that they will choose or empower a leader who is “too good,” i.e. one who will diminish their power when he/she takes control. Other motivations are fear of public opinion, fear of risk-taking, or a belief in “superficial leadership,” whereby the value is placed on image rather than on substance. All of these factors can lead to a style where they research, debate, and (over-)analyze, but at the end of the day accomplish nothing.
83 Good Wolf // Jun 14, 2007 at 8:55 am

Issues are important.

What is to be done with the Leadership?
84 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 2:03 pm

Akiva:

You make an excellent point:

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops.” Henry Brooks Adams

“And, as always, that comes back to the teachers. My friend was in Rabbi Bald’s shiur; religious or not, it was impossible not to enjoy learning with a teacher like that.”

I actually know several non-religious students who did not enjoy Judaic studies at all ,but after taking classes with certain dynamic and inspiring teachers at Hillel, particularly Rabbi Bald, they were so inspired that they became religious later on.

I have met a small group of students from Hillel that are actually rabbis now and they credit their desire to become rabbis 100% to Rabbi Bald. I ask them, “Does Rabbi Bald know you became a rabbi?” I’m not even sure that he does. Amazing to me, quite frankly. Some of these kids were not even from religious homes. It’s truly amazing what the right approach can turn someone on to.

That is why as Aron said before: A Jewish community day school is supposed to SERVE the community, not be RUN by the whims of a few who believe they are pandering and serving to the desires of the moment.

The Torah is the ultimate blueprint to excellence. It cannot be watered down. The approach to teaching it can be discussed. The number of Judaic courses can be discussed. But you can’t dilute the winning blueprint itself.

Give kids a taste of it. They may spit it out at first. I certainly spit out vegetables and preferred candy when I was young. But the taste may grown on them if served in the right way.

This is not about trying to make kids become religious. It’s about exposing them to the Torah and providing them with a solid foundation so that they have THE OPTION to decide later on if they would like to learn more or even become observant. Regardless of whether they ever become religious or not, they should have the exposure to the document that is their thousand year heritage. The torah is the common link that binds all Jews.

Shlomo:

“IT’S ABOUT A LACK OF COMMUNICATION, DUH!”

I thought I was being clever with that. It was a political allusion to the tag line that won Clinton’s first election. Clinton’s winning tag line was: “IT’S ABOUT THE ECONOMY, STUPID”

I guess that reference was before your time and the meaning was lost on you. I would have thought that older readers would pick up on it.

However, some of them may not be well versed in the national discourse and so my message was probably lost. It was not meant to shut down communication.

Aron:

“This is sometimes referred to as “approach-avoidance.’” It refers to a decision-making style where those in charge of governance take a strong approach to installing good leadership and making good decisions, but then back down at the last moment as an act of avoidance. One of the most common reasons for the development of “approach-avoidance” is the fear of the decision-makers that they will choose or empower a leader who is “too good,” i.e. one who will diminish their power when he/she takes control. Other motivations are fear of public opinion, fear of risk-taking, or a belief in “superficial leadership,” whereby the value is placed on image rather than on substance. All of these factors can lead to a style where they research, debate, and (over-)analyze, but at the end of the day accomplish nothing.”

This is precisely the problem Hillel is faced with today. I never imagined that these were the reasons for the problems.

It explains a lot though. It explains why certain board members keep picking one failed leader after another and why they are the only board in the nation unable to find a suitable Jewish Head of School. Some of them had wanted to create their very own schools but since that was too much of a headache, they decided to highjack Hillel.

Aron: Is this mess fixable??????????? I’m inclined to believe, like Aaron, that all signs point to “no.”
85 anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 2:33 pm

“Other motivations are fear of public opinion, fear of risk-taking”

yes – - – !
86 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 14, 2007 at 4:06 pm

Anonymous:

Initial thoughts…. Yes, it can be fixed. But fixing it is probably not the most efficient path to achieving the real goal – a top-quality day school education.
87 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 4:30 pm

Aron: What is the most efficient path?
88 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 4:33 pm

“Aaron // Jun 13, 2007 at 10:56 pm

I know what could up teacher morale instantly. If the entire faculty received a 25% raise, I am sure you would see a lot more smiles around campus…”

I disagree. The pay is good. The environment stinks.
89 Aron Sotnikoff // Jun 14, 2007 at 4:54 pm

Again, just initial thoughts:

For students/parents, 3 options:
1) Go to another existing school – Boca is probably the best option now…it’s not perfect, but at least there’s a thorough Jewish Studies curriculum;
2) Start a new school – if you have some money on your side, this is no more difficult than giving Hillel a complete makeover;
3) Push really hard for limited changes within Hillel – I would start with a well-organized, vocal demand for a rigorous Jewish Studies option for interested students…this administration would rather appease and silence you than allow conflict to foment within the school if it could come back to haunt them.

For teachers, also 3 options:
1) LEAVE! GET OUT! MOVE ON! Unfortunately, this makes option 3 harder for students/parents to accomplish, but let’s face it – it’s really the only sensible choice at this point.
2) Collaborate with students/parents in forming a new school (option 2 above)…could cause a problem making end’s meat for a while;
3) Stay, and be miserable, but keep passing Go and collecting your weekly $200.
90 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 4:57 pm

Aron, I agree with every single word you just said.
91 Juno // Jun 14, 2007 at 7:40 pm

Aaron, some of us were given no choice…
92 sara // Jun 14, 2007 at 8:12 pm

One week since the election. Emotions have run the gamut—from Shlomo needing “time” before he could get his thoughts down to some ALL CAPITAL LETTER postings filled with frustration—both on the thread “A New Way Forward.” And now Avi Frier’s article.

In response to all of this, I have a been doing a great amount of thinking and a small amount of research . I do hope, as has been suggested on this site, Board members ARE reading what is here. In no special order, here are some things everyone needs to think about.

The current board appears to be in violation of some SACS standards. One proposal made by the new slate also seems to be in violation of SACS standards. I urge everyone to carefully read the standards.

In addition, from the Florida Department of Education—to parents in regard to evaluating private schools:
“•Are the teachers known in the community as a faculty that is dedicated to children and their needs? A sign of a well run school is a good working relationship between teachers and administrators and with parents.

•Is there evidence of strong leadership in the school as reflected in the general cleanliness of the school, the appearance and attitudes of the students, and the ready availability of answers to your questions?

•How long has the principal or school head been at the school?

•What is his or her administrative qualification and background? Although private schools are not required to do background checks of all teachers, state law does require background checks of all school chief administrators, all early childhood faculty and staff, and authorizes a background check of all teachers and school employees who have contact with students. Certified teachers are automatically part of the background check process.

•If a school does not require state certification for its faculty and administrators, are other measures taken to verify moral and ethical suitability to engage children in the educational process?

•What is the school’s evidence of the successful placement of their graduates in the next level of schooling?”

A Jewish Day School is unique. Analyzing systems of leadership will not help us with our immediate concerns. Yet, management our Jewish Day School cannot be taken lightly. Some universities have Jewish Day School Leadership programs. There are Jewish Day School consultants. Here are just 2 of many links:

http://www.jewishschoolmanagement.com/index.htm

http://www.luc.edu/education/jeli_academics.shtml

Contrary to what we believe, Hillel is not the first Jewish Day School to hire a non-Jewish head. (Perhaps we are in an extraordinary circumstance with the majority of the new administration not being Jewish—this my research did not uncover.)

The point, though, is that I strongly believe that we may have even gone along with – albeit not necessarily be satisfied with—a non-Jewish head. But, too many “other things” came out. The “firings which were not really firings” brought to light the overall disrespect shown to teachers—the threats, etc. (As for your student leader friend, she does NOT know how her teachers are being treated. She does not know because her teachers have remained professional; it is not professional to discuss such “things” with students. I trust she would look upon things differently if she knew)

Which, in turn, led to disrespect exhibited toward alumni and even some parents. And then the integrity issue, which was brought up again as recently as a couple of days ago. Further research by people posting here indicates that certain legal avenues can still be pursued.

A Jewish Day School is nothing without Derech Eretz – THIS IS WHAT IS NOW MISSING AT HILLEL. “ Dr. Harvey Raben, education director of Beth Israel Day School (San Diego), says he uses an acronym for the word “Torah” in order to help students learn the concepts underlying derech eretz.
T — tolerance, trust
O— openness
R — respect, righteous living, responsiblity
A— academic excellence
H— honesty, humility, humor

A number of adults in the Hillel Community need to learn and practice this concept.

Day Schools throughout the country are dealing with and have successfully dealt with differing levels of Judaism. They offer multiple minyans, Yeshiva tracks, etc. This hurdle can be overcome if people talk to one another, if they TORAH (as in the acronym above).

“Our classmates would rather say that they went to “Lipson High” than “Hillel” in many cases.” We must listen to these words very carefully. Even Rafa Russ acknowledges (in Avi’s article) that the high school needs to be the focus. Also acknowledged are statements about the vote going in the opposite direction had this been a high school-only election.

So, we need to make some decisions here. Talk and philosophizing don’t count. Do we still want to do something? The choices seem to include the following: Air our “dirty laundry” (e..g, SACS and/or legal avenues). Forget everything. Do something concrete (e.g., the grass roots collaboration) and begin NOW. (Much was accomplished in short time New Slate had. Imagine the possibilities when time is on our side!)

And the people running the school need to make decisions, too: To TORAH. To institute, perhaps, (and to advertise it as strongly as they advertised their slate), a Yeshiva Track.

Aaron suggests that Hillel cannot be saved. If that be the case, if the people running the school don’t show something concrete (and soon) , then the choices mentioned above are moot—we will know exactly what to do.
93 Jessica Fishbein // Jun 14, 2007 at 9:05 pm

“One proposal made by the new slate also seems to be in violation of SACS standards.”

Question for Sara: What proposal did the new slate make that is in violation of a SACS standard? If the new slate proposed anything in violation of SACS, it was certainly done unknowingly. I would appreciate if you would elaborate. Thank you.
94 sara // Jun 14, 2007 at 9:20 pm

I know it was done unknowingly…… I apologize; I should have included that in my posting. I have been on your side all along and marvelled at the fact that you were able to put together the slate in the short time you had. If you still want to know, go the SACS site…Standards for NonPublic Schools. Point remains, though, that current board does seem to be in violation of more than one standard…and in violation of their own self-study.

I am crestfallen, as are we all.
95 sara // Jun 14, 2007 at 9:22 pm

And, Jessica, I think you should show that document to Avi Frier. He says he wants to report fairly….he should correct his own words..in a follow-up article next week. OR what you posted you should write in a letter to the editor. We must make sure that truths are known!
96 Jessica Fishbein // Jun 14, 2007 at 9:31 pm

Avi has told me to write a letter to the editor. I will do so once I finish school this week.
97 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 9:53 pm

I believe the only path to change is to become involved. Apply for the committees – we cannot all be turned away! Committee involvement can lead to election to the board. It may take time, but we CAN make sure our voices are heard.

I don’t accept the notion that we suffered a crushing defeat. To the contrary, we sent a message loud and clear that cannot be ignored.

Do not be disheartened. Continue talking – to the board, to the administration, to the teachers, to other parents.

As angry as I am with the board for all that happened in the last few months, I am willing to move forward and try to work with them.

We must stop attacking each other on this site and take POSITIVE steps toward a better future for Hillel.

The board knows what we accomplished in a few short weeks and what we can accomplish given a whole year.

Even Dr. Holden knows that mistakes were made this year and that the community is watching.

I urge everyone to find some forgiveness and peace in their hearts so we can work together for our school.

Please do not continue to pit Jew against Jew based on cultural background or a given slate.

It is time to heal.

The board knows that they cannot continue to shut out 1/3 of the families in the school.

The administration knows that the community will not stand for the disrespect shown to our teachers this year.

Yes, we need a Jewish head of school, but we must face the reality that it will probably not happen now. We must work with the current leadership, help to educate them about the Hillel we knew and loved, and work our hardest to preserve what we love about the school.

We won a great victory in finally having our voices heard. Let us take that victory in a positive direction and work together for Hillel.

Elul is just around the corner and t’shuva should be in all our hearts.
98 anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 10:05 pm

Parents should let other parents know that there are committees available to get involved in – - many are not aware!

We must all be positive and work together to SAVEHILLEL!
99 sara // Jun 14, 2007 at 10:16 pm

Jessica, I am sorry that Avi will not do a follow-up story himself, but I am glad that he goes along with the idea of a letter to the editor. Looking forward to reading it…and any responses from the Jewish Community it brings.
100 sara // Jun 14, 2007 at 10:31 pm

“Yes, we need a Jewish head of school, but we must face the reality that it will probably not happen now. We must work with the current leadership, help to educate them about the Hillel we knew and loved, and work our hardest to preserve what we love about the school.”

Yes, you are correct, but will they work with us?
That what I was trying to say. “Rumor had it” that had the New Slate won, Holden would have resigned…that he stated he did not want to work with the new people. I do not know if this is true or not.

The school MUSTwork with and for all of its families….the 2/3 and the 1/3…and not lose sight of TORAH:
T — tolerance, trust
O— openness
R — respect, righteous living, responsiblity
A— academic excellence
H— honesty, humility, humor
101 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 10:46 pm

We must force them to work with us. They know what we can do if they try to ignore us again.
102 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 10:53 pm

“For example, it was recently posted that shortly after last week’s election, Diana Kahn, a member of the Hillel4Change slate had volunteered for a school committee and was turned away. In actuality, according to Kahn, she had received an email acknowledging her offer to join a committee, and notifying her that decisions with regard to new committee members would not be made until the end of the summer.”

“But upon speaking with Helen Broide, who sent the email, Kahn confirmed that this was not her intention at all, and that committee decisions were truly reserved for the end of the summer.”

“Board member Michelle Amselem, who shares the task with Broide of collecting committee applications, told the Florida Jewish News that there is a process that needs to be followed. “We collect all of the applications, and then recommend applicants for various committees based upon their individual expertise,” Amselem said. “We also need time to confirm how many current members of the various committees will be returning next year. Finally, we submit the applications to the Board and Committee Heads in August for approval.”

According to Diana Kahn’s bio on http://www.hillel4change.com, she has already sat on the budget committee at this school and has therefore already proven herself and where her area of expertise lies:

“Since her children entered Hillel 8 years ago, she has taken on various projects including Box Office Manger for the Hillel Community Theater, a seat on the budget committee, bookfair co-chair, and HIP luncheon table captain and Guardian of Learning”

I question why she would not be taken onto a committee immediately. The sooner her input is heard the better for all concerned.

Time will tell what the true intentions of the board are.

At this moment, it is difficult to discern if the inviation is sincere or not.

At the end of the summer, if caring dedicated parents are not permitted to get involved, the intentions of this board will become crystal clear.

Parents should try to get involved on committees and teachers should spread the word to parents that such committees exist – many do not know.

According to Avi Frier’s article over 4,000 people have viewed this site more than 28,000 times, I believe, however, that a very small percentage of that number are parents in the lower school and a small number are parents in the high school. I have no way of knowing of course but that is what I gather from talking to several parents.

Spread the word to all parents that they should get on committees and spread the word to alumni to get involved with the alumi committee.
103 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 10:54 pm

“They know what we can do if they try to ignore us again.”

I wonder what it is you can all do and if they don’t work with you, I surely hope you do it!
104 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 11:09 pm

If the board is sincerly taking applications from parents to join committees, then they should mail a letter out to the parents stating so. How else would parents even know that such an offer exists? Most do not. Rafa Russ should have his marketing volunteer craft the letter in such a way that it will be sure to catch parents’ attention.
105 sara // Jun 14, 2007 at 11:17 pm

And they should have been clear when they exteneded the invitation …written in the last Kol Hillel of year…they should have been clear about parents calling in August.
106 Anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 11:20 pm

One wonders what their true intentions are. They have not done anything to create a sense of trust in anybody.
107 anonymous // Jun 14, 2007 at 11:22 pm

Do not be disheartened!

Everyone must continue to try to get involved and be positive!

We must all do everything we can for the benefit of HILLEL!!
108 Avi Frier // Jun 15, 2007 at 12:22 am

Allow me to explain:

1. I never said to anyone that I would or would not do a follow-up article. I’m not one to beat a dead horse so it would take VERY compelling information from named sources to warrant a follow-up.

2. Everyone is invited and encouraged to write letters to the editor. I am especially inclined to specifically request a letter from people who passionately express their opinions to me, simply because it does no one any good to have these opinions expressed to me. If something is to be said in response to an article, it should be “shared with the entire class.”

Everyone, regardless of which side of the vote you were on, is invited and encouraged to write a letter to the editor.

Bear in mind, however, that we do not print anonymous letters. Sometimes a name might be withheld if the writer provides a really good reason for us to do that, but we absolutely will not acknowledge letters that are sent to us anonymously.
109 Avi Frier // Jun 15, 2007 at 12:25 am

P.S. Letters should be emailed to letters @ floridajewishnews.com
110 anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 2:14 pm

“Hillel isnt fearful of losing its students to other competition. I have heard stories of families pulling their kids out and sending them to Sinai, Beth Torah, Aventura Turnberry, and others. I really don’t think the board or administration really has fears of losing it’s student body.

Please indulge us with this new school information. When my child is old enough, hey I may even consider sending them there if there is such an option.”

Attention “Get Your Facts Straight” AND ALL HILLEL TEACHERS:

Word on the Street: The Ben Gamla school is now discussing opening this fall going up to tenth grade!!!

Did you hear that Debbie Galitzer?

The Ben Gamla school believes that teaching Jewish History is without question part of their New “Vision”

The 800 applicants are now up to 900 applicants.

What was it again that person said on the blog the night the election results were tallied? I believe he said:

“Na Na Na Na na na Hey hey hey GOODBYE!”

More groveling . More groveling.
111 anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 2:20 pm

“I question why she would not be taken onto a committee immediately. The sooner her input is heard the better for all concerned. “
112 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 2:32 pm

There has been much talk of a Jewish charter school being opened in Sunny Isles, Miami Beach by another rabbi ( Rabbi Lancri?) to accomodate the overflow of demand that Ben Gamla cannot meet right now

and there has also been much discussion in Miami Beach that Rabbi Zweig now also holds a charter to open up a Jewish themed school in Miami beach

these are interesting times we are living in
113 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 2:36 pm

you know, saying “Na Na Na Na na na Hey hey hey GOODBYE!” essentially is another way of saying – “you lost, and it’s ok, because you’re not welcome here anyway.”
114 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 2:48 pm

that’s right but it looks like those mistreated teachers will soon have several options where they will be treated a lot better – options right around the corner from hillel

i’m sure those charter shcools will treat their alumni much better too

i’ve heard that 100 families from up here have applied for the lottery for b.g. – that’s close to a 2 million dollar loss in tuition for hillel next year…….plus you don’t have to deal with any attitude problem..you’d think by now there would have been an attitude readjustment, but instead of that we’ve just gotten a lot of silence smugness and gloating

if this web site in 2 and a half months time already had something like four thousand people read it , can you imagine how many more will have read it by next april

we will see who the last man standing in the room will be

some people just refuse to take their heads out of the sand and smell the burning coffee SAD SAD SAD
115 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 2:55 pm

Here’s the thing: they dont care. Even a board member’s wife has been quoted as saying that teachers who post here (who simply want change in their livelihoods-what’s so bad about that?!) should be fired. THEY DONT NEED ANYONE HERE.

and truthfully, they don’t deserve these teachers to educate their children either.

Let the teachers go to bigger and better. May Ben Gamla succeed and fill the void that Hillel has opened.
116 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 2:58 pm

As for rebbeyim and female Judaica teachers like Mrs. Heber, I’m sure Modern Orthodox or families who are interested in Judaics in general are going to be looking to hire independent rabbis and Judaic teachers during after school hours or on Sundays to supplement what their kids are not getting at the charter schools.

They are going to probably rent out space elsewhere from 2:30 on or so to make sure that their children will get some Judaics too.

They’ll probably spend a lot less than close to 20 grand a year to get the same thing that Hillel offers.

Parents with 3 kids spend close to 60 grand a year now in tuition .
117 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:02 pm

“Let the teachers go to bigger and better. May Ben Gamla succeed and fill the void that Hillel has opened.”

Amen. Im Yirtza Hashem. Looks like there will be a lot of job openings for teachers, if not this year, certainly by next year.

Hashem works in mysterious ways. Livelihood comes from Hashem not from any Board of Governors.

I don’t why the current board ever believed they were more powerful than G-d.

The universe will only support evil for so long.
118 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:05 pm

You close one door, you often open a better one.

Every loss is a gain not recognized.

Blessings in disguise.

Na na na na na na Hey hey hey goodddddbyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeee
119 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:07 pm

INDEED “A NEW WAY FORWARD”

THE NEW FACE OF JEWISH EDUCATION HAS ARRIVED
120 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:11 pm

“For teachers, [...] 3 options:
1) LEAVE! GET OUT! MOVE ON! Unfortunately, this makes option 3 harder for students/parents to accomplish, but let’s face it – it’s really the only sensible choice at this point.
2) Collaborate with students/parents in forming a new school (option 2 above)…could cause a problem making end’s meet for a while;
3) Stay, and be miserable, but keep passing Go and collecting your weekly $200.”

RIGHTO!
121 Another Teacher // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:27 pm

“Anonymous // Jun 7, 2007 at 12:05 am
NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA HEY HEY HEY GOODBYE!!!!!!

ANONYMOUS // Jun 7, 2007 at 12:11 am
BURNED…YOU GUYS OBVIOUSLY OVERESTIMATED YOURSELVES…NOW WE CAN REALLY GO FORWARD WITH THE PLAN TO MAKE HILLEL TRULY A SCHOOL OF EXCELLENCE…THE VOTERS VOICES HAVE BEEN HEARD!!!!”

Good Luck to you Hillel!

“INDEED “A NEW WAY FORWARD”

THE NEW FACE OF JEWISH EDUCATION HAS ARRIVED”

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
122 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:43 pm

The Shiva is over ! Go out and celebrate a new lease on life –paradigm shifffffffffftttttttt
123 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:45 pm

“At times, some people here seem to be clawing in vain against the march of time”

Indeed time marches on….MAZEL TOV
124 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:52 pm

“Registration & Lottery Update

I would like to thank everyone who came to enroll during the initial registration
period.

We received close to 800 applications, and many people have since signed up to be placed on a waiting list. Our original intention was to do the lottery and give everyone a definite answer
no later than June 5. We understand that people need to give answers to other schools and make arrangements for the upcoming year.

Because we have so many applicants and because we want to be able to accept as many students as possible, we are currently looking for alternate locations that can accommodate everyone who has applied. We have made offers on several large sites and as soon as we have a signed agreement we will know exactly how many students we can accommodate.

Therefore, as much as I want to do the lottery now to give people a definite answer about admittance, I have to ask for your patience for two more weeks. This will give us the time to secure a facility that can accommodate many more students. If we can avoid turning away over 200 students, ultimately the two
week wait will be worth it.

We will send out an email as soon as we have clarity about the new site and about the lottery if it is still necessary. The absolute deadline we are setting for ourselves is June 19, but we will try to have the information earlier. You can also check back on the website periodically.

I thank you for your patience and apologize for the delay. Please understand our intention is not to burden you, but rather to accommodate as many children as we possibly can.

On a related note, I have already hired close to fifty percent of the staff for next
year. Thanks to all of the publicity we have been getting and to the recruiting help of some parents, the quality of the teachers that we have coming on board is amazing.

I am so excited for the upcoming school year because many of the teachers that we have so far are absolute superstars.

If you have any specific questions, please email me at bengamla@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Adam Siegel”
125 Another Teacher // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:57 pm

I think I’d much prefer to work for this Adam and I think I’d much prefer to work for this Rabbi.
126 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:02 pm

Get ready for the groveling. Here it comes.
127 Another Teacher // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:06 pm

Adam Siegal sounds a lot better than Adam Holden and Rabbi Druin.
128 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:07 pm

Hmmm. I spend two days filling out job applications, and when I come back, people are contemplating with glee the destrution of Hillel.

Lowercase anonymous, good luck with your new charter school.

Teachers, good luck finding better jobs.

I think I’m done here.
129 Another Teacher // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:11 pm

I think we’re all done here.
130 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:12 pm

shlomo: nobody wants to destroy hillel. But I think there is a clear message being said from the other side. They don’t want people like you and I who want to make a difference and focus on what’s important – the teachers. What are we to do?

Do you think it was appropriate of the board member’s wife to say that teachers who post here should be fired? she doesn’t care, it’s not her job on the line. it’s not her family she has to feed.
131 Another Teacher // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:15 pm

If Hillel gives us the message it’s done with us – it leaves us no choice but to be done with it.
132 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:19 pm

Only if you’re too cowardly to fight back.
133 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:23 pm

for the record, anonymous lower case is not involved with the charter school…someone misread that.

anonymous lower case clarified the misconception
134 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:28 pm

anonymous // Jun 13, 2007 at 11:24 am

What are you talking about – - the post about the Ben Gamla School was in response to the person asking about the lottery

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT – -

THIS POSTER IS FOR THE HILLEL OF 50%/50% -
135 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Didn’t Hillel slam the gate in the faces of the alumni on night of the election?

I am impressed with the fighting spirit still left in some alumni.

Many are plain old tired of fighting and having the door slammed in their faces year after year after year.

Parents and teachers are just plain old worn out.
136 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:31 pm

shlomo, you have to understand that it’s not about being cowardly and unable to fight back. It’s your job and livelihood that is on the line.

Also, you’re not supposed to fight in your work environment. this is a professional career. What kind of example would that set? How would it look? How would it help them in the future?

You can’t just gather up and riot against your superiors in an employment situation–it often does not work. but what is being said here should hopefully be eye-opening to the teachers. Avi’s aritlce mentioned this too. they know they have a problem with teacher morale that they need to address. Let’s hope they do and that nobody says ridiculous comments like “teachers who post on that website should be fired.” THAT is not a way to go forward.
137 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:33 pm

true that
138 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:35 pm

looks like they’ve known they have a problem for at least 10 years – how long should people “fight” – fighting is not the way – they clearly are not intrsted in resloving problmes
139 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:37 pm

So the Board knows it has a problem with teacher morale, and needs to address it. That shows there is hope.

This is the worst time ever to be worn out, because this is the best time ever for change.
140 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:37 pm

shlomo: unfortunately wehn you leavde the ivory tower and enter the workworld you’ll see it’s not always a pretty thing
141 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:39 pm

Translation: “I’ve run out of arguments, so I’m just going to play the You’ll-Learn-When-You’re-Older Card.”
142 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:40 pm

shlomo, when I was in college, I also looked to the future differently. I’ve been there once before and I see the light.

Most kids your age still can rely on their parents to fund their college tuition and to provide them with money for other expenses. When you’re in the real world–and have been there for decades– you don’t have those people to rely on anymore.
143 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:40 pm

The world is as pretty as you want it to be. The world is as pretty as you make it. Of course, as Lebron James could tell you, you miss every shot you don’t take.
144 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:41 pm

By the way, shlomo, I am not the other anon (#140). I am the anon (#142).

And to respond to your response to #140, that’s not a card to be played–it’s a true fact.
145 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:42 pm

and sometimes, you miss every shot you do take.

Some situations are lose-lose situations.
Nobody will emerge a winner.

It’s great to be optimistic, but encouraging people to fight will bring nobody happiness in a dictatorship.
146 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:43 pm

If you are a teacher, I am not saying you should refrain from switching schools. I’m just saying you can’t give up.

Jessica Fishbein switched schools, and I think she’s doing alright in the SaveHillel department.
147 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:44 pm

If you read the thread of Avi Frier’s article, it becomes apparent that Rafa Russ was given a report that clearly stated the problem of low teacher morale at Hillel and yet Mr Russ chose to fudge the facts and tell the reporter that the problem is one that all Jewish day schools face. That sounds like lying to me. That sounds like someone who does not care to admit there’s a problem. Does not sound encouraging at all.

We all remember when that report was done. The board has been aware of the problem for more about 10 years and yet they still do nothing. Judy Dach and Joanne Papir have known for years. Does it look to you like they’ve cared to fix it at all? Why would they care now?
148 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:44 pm

Anon’s, please identify yourselves. I thought you were both the same person, and it’s confusing.
149 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:46 pm

They care now more than ever because grassroots pressure has been building over the past ten years, and is now stronger than ever. Or maybe it’s not, judging from comments here over the past two days. The pressure is as strong as you make it.
150 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:47 pm

Clarification of post 148: I was not saying to reveal your identities, just to say “I’m number one!” or “I’m number two!”.
151 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:48 pm

i’m anon 2

yeah-don’t give up but teacjers may still need to get out until thinsg get better
152 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:48 pm

“So the Board knows it has a problem with teacher morale, and needs to address it. That shows there is hope.

This is the worst time ever to be worn out, because this is the best time ever for change.”

That’s IF they address it.

-Anon (posts 113, 115, 130, 136, 142, 144, 145)
hope that clears that up.
153 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:50 pm

anon 2

rock on – i’m praying 4 change
154 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:51 pm

Just read the article. Mr. Russ said that low teacher morale “is an old problem that needs to be fixed once and for all”. This implies he will fix it.

If he doesn’t (and IF we don’t give up), he will get clocked in the next election. He knows that.

Before the elections, time was on their side. Now, it’s on our side.
155 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 4:57 pm

anon 2

well it really looks like he LIED and who knows if some1 who lies really cares at all about integritiy or doing the right tihng – time’ll tell
156 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:01 pm

“Mr. Russ said that low teacher morale “is an old problem that needs to be fixed once and for all”. This implies he will fix it. ”

Im Lo Achshav Ei ma tai?

If not NOW, WHEN??????????????????
157 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:04 pm

“If he doesn’t (and IF we don’t give up), he will get clocked in the next election.”

We hoped he got clocked on this election and he didn’t. suave marketing or exclusive meetings could prevent that clocking from occurring.

right now, the guys in play have a huge advantage over any “new slate.” they have the resources available to them AND the administrative backing. while that may mean nothing to you, if you got called into an administrator’s office in an exclusive meeting and were told to vote one way, would you really say no? What if there were side benefits they can offer?

Ethical? hardly. but it happened. last week’s election results were pretty much determined blindly. Evne though this is a school and it’s about the education of our children, the parents didn’t want to educate themselves. It was popularity and sweet talk that determined the outcome for the most part.
158 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:04 pm

When school resumes. It’s not unreasonable for people to take a break over the summer. See what they do next year. We will be watching.
159 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:05 pm

Indeed the community is watching– all 4256 of us and growing!!!!!!!!!!!
160 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:09 pm

Russ’s slate basically ran on the idea that Hillel’s doing great, and that we are better off staying the course because we’re “on track for success”.

Now, he has to make it so. Popularity and sweet talk and slick marketing can decide an election if the electorate remains uninformed. Educated people won’t fall for that. We must educate!
161 Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:10 pm

Let them have a much-deserved break. But let’s make sure that at teh end of the day, the teachers get the recognition they deserve!

Agreed re: education- but again, resources available to the current board are not available to any new slate members. I think that itself decided the election. Educate. For sure. But some people have an advantage over others for sure too.
162 anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:11 pm

the older you get the more you realize that you can’t bring down the machine

i don’t think there are any parenst left willing to duke it out anymoer

it’s done
163 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:13 pm

We will see if parents have the energy to step up and fight this battle anymore.
164 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:14 pm

They have slick marketing. We have truth.

They win inside Hillel because they control information flow. We win outside Hillel, because our first amendment rights are protected. If the Board does not respond and improve (and they might), we work for change outside the Hillel campus.
165 Shlomo Bolts // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:17 pm

Lowercase anonymous, that’s a self-fullfilling prophecy.

We don’t have to “duke” anything out. The Board can not stop us or even object if we create our own mini think-tanks that make recommendations based on what’s happening on the ground. All they can do is ignore us. If we include enough parents in our proposals, and allow them to participate such that they feel ownership of their ideas, they will vote the Board off.
166 Juno // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:18 pm

Absolutely.

Anon // Jun 15, 2007 at 5:10 pm

Let them have a much-deserved break. But let’s make sure that at teh end of the day, the teachers get the recognition they deserve!

Like others have said, sometimes you don’t have a choice. Sometimes when you pick up the pieces, you get what you need.
167 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:00 pm

The current board has every resource available. You will never take them down.

1. They have big money and big family names behind them. One of the founding families is the family who is one of the biggest Federation donors. Federation and CAJE go hand in hand.

2. The founding family is extremely popular and beloved by the entire community. The founding family alone can make or break the vote.

3. The President has a large loyal following. He too can make or break the vote.

4. The administrators on campus invite 4 to 5 parents for exclusive intimate private meetings on school grounds who persuade parents to vote in the current board. Parents love all this private, personal attention from the administration. They eat it up. They tell their friends to vote for the current board too.

5. Parents who are initially on the new slate feel compelled to step off of it- allegedly because their friends pressure them to.

6. They question their own friends who signed petitions for the new slate saying “how could you do that???????????”

7. It is rumored that they threaten to boycott the businesses of anyone who runs on the new slate or helps the new slate.

8. One board member ( a female) calls a few teachers and tells them they can’t attend the annual meeting. Even Rafa is appalled to hear such a thing.

9. According to a main poster on this blog, they threaten to pull their kids out of the school if the new slate wins.

10. . Time is on their side. They (at least one woman if not more of them) make phone calls over Shabbos to campaign.

11. One current female board member actually lies to parents and alumni and says that the 3 teachers were “never nonrenewed” in the first just asked to show improvement and credentials. We love the revisionist version of history.

12. They refused to give the parent EMAIL address list to the new slate

13. They have marketing firms on their side. Who knows who’s really paying for them …you can only wonder especially because….

14. They do not allow board members access to the financial statements and books until after the election even though all board members are supposed to have access to them at all times.

15 It seems as if they do not admit Diana Kahn onto a committee right away because they are scared of what she will discover when she takes one look at those books. They postpone accepting members to committees until after the summer. This seems like it is to buy them some time so they can clean those b0oks up.

16. They have STUDENTS endorse Adam Holden at the graduation even though they’re the first to tell you to keep the children out of politics. And as Shlomo said, this is such a farce.
“No one got more applause at graduation than Rabbi Kaplan did. No one.”

17. One of the teachers who the kids dedicated the yearbook to this year feels she must step down after an encounter with the Head of School. No one on the board tries to retain her.

18.. Despite the great job Rabbi Kaplan has done and his popularity with teachers, students, and parents, he is passed up for promotion.

15. They refuse to acknowledge any specific teacher accomplishments. All achievements are thanks to the “special partnership” that exists between “parents” and “school”. Teachers had nothing to do with it. Individual teachers being mentioned by name? Never. These are the accomplishments of the institution, the accomplishments of HILLEL.

16. They get “endorsements” from prominent local rabbis. At the election, they quote Rabbi Lipskar as saying that “Adam Holden is an excellent person”.

On the night of the election, Joanne Papir reads those words as if Rabbi Lipskar said them only yesterday when it now appears that he had actually said them A YEAR AGO. (This endorsement is currently under investigation.)

Joanne’s voice cracks as she reads the words.

The unsuspecting masses eat it up.The rest of the crowd reaches for a barf bag.

17. They get a Chabad Rabbi on the board to say that Hillel is a wonderful place and that people need to stop using the expression “Save Hillel” because it’s obvious that Hillel needs no saving.

For this statement, they get thunderous applause.

18. Rafa Russ is apprised in a written report that Hillel has had a teacher morale problem since at least 1998 and he goes on record and pretends it’s a problem that all Jewish schools face.

19. They are considering rewriting the by-laws so that no one will be able to run for a new slate in the future, or at the very least, to make it as difficult as possible for anyone to be able to.

20. They slam the doors on the face of their own alumni on the night of the election.

21. They attempt to shut down the only real channel of communication by sending cease and desist letters to the site administrator.

Again, you will never take down this machine.
168 sara // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:17 pm

Rachel and Michael Scheck would NEVER allow teachers or alumni or parents to be treated in the manner we have seen. Rachel Scheck respected the teachers. Rachel Scheck put education in the hands it belongs…hands of educators.

If all you say is correct, #167, then do we now play not nice?
169 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:19 pm

If we can’t take them down then we have to learn to work with them. Work within the system. Get on committees. Watch, listen, be vocal. It may take time, but time is on our side now.
170 sara // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:20 pm

#169, are you the same one who posted #167?
171 Juno // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:25 pm

Sigh…
I have cried again.
172 admin // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:26 pm

No, #169 and #167 are two different people.
173 sara // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:32 pm

From the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061301950.html
174 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 6:32 pm

Sara: Call the Schecks yourself.They are nice people and they are being LIED to.
175 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 11:28 pm

“If all you say is correct, #167, then do we now play not nice?”

Playing it nice has gotten you nowhere. The Jews are a long-suffering people. The question is how much longer would you like the suffering to go on because I guarantee you it will go on ad infinitum. Working within the system will barely make a dent. The system is the entire problem. The system is making sure through every means possible that no one can shake its foundation. The only ones who can are the people you just mentioned. Go directly to the source and let them hear the truth from your mouth. That is the only way now. You know that someone will preempt your call before you get to them and lie to them some more. That is actually a good thing. Because when you get to them and set them straight, those liars will look even more base in their eyes. The words of the teachers are indisputable. Every time a teacher tells a parent or a founder the truth, that person changes his mind. Why do you think they’re fighting so hard to keep the teachers silenced? You are the only one who can do it now. You and you alone.
176 Anonymous // Jun 15, 2007 at 11:36 pm

One last thing. Several of the Schecks are in Israel now. I’m not sure which ones. Keep in mind that Gil Bonwitt is a Scheck. Approach with kid gloves.
177 Anonymous // Jun 16, 2007 at 12:11 am

“We don’t have to “duke” anything out. The Board can not stop us or even object if we create our own mini think-tanks that make recommendations based on what’s happening on the ground. All they can do is ignore us. If we include enough parents in our proposals, and allow them to participate such that they feel ownership of their ideas, they will vote the Board off”

Shlomo: The Board will never ignore what you are doing. To your face, they will ignore you and slam the gate shut. Behind your back, they will work hard to spin it. They are reading every word of this blog and are using every resource (and their resources are pretty much limitless) at their disposal to offset this blog. Thus far, they have won. They discredited the blog in the eyes of their friends immediately by telling parents it’s all rumors and lashon hara. That was very wise of them to do. So now you are essentially cut off from communicating with the majority of current parents.

Let’s say you think you still want to try to reach the parents in the future, they will cut your access off to these parents in every way they can. They will seal every door. You witnessed the sealing of the doors firsthand.

They are trying to make sure that parents and teachers had a very difficult time getting to the parent body-at-large. And then when you get to them, they will have told them a bunch of LIES that most will have swallowed whole…and, even those who do believe you will say, “I’m so sorry but my friends are on the board and there’s nothing I can do. I can’t vote against my FRIEND”

Now yes there are a good hundred families or so who are very, very unhappy right now. If one hundred families leave Hillel that’s close to 2 million tuition dollars they lose. So that is indeed a significant number. If those families could be enlisted to help you, you might be able to unseat this board, but you’d have to start right now.

What the alumni should be doing is enlisting the aid of these parents.

You might want to read Avi Frier’s article again to get some idea of which parents would be particularly receptive.

Is this really worth doing?
178 a former teacher // Jun 16, 2007 at 6:27 pm

I’m writing this a little late, because I have been away from a computer, but to say that the teachers need a 25% raise would help boost the morale is a little too simplistic. Morale has been bad for several years now, and yes, money is in part the cause, but yet another part is teacher involvement. We have one of the most important jobs — to educate and help you grow into productive young Jewish men and women. We take our job seriously, yet we are often shut out of major decision making processes — curriculum development, appropriate training for teachers, visions for the school. It is very difficult to be told, year after year, how to do something, but never once asked for our own professional imput. After awhile, it becomes to onerous to keep fighting. Shlomo, I find your argument too naive — at some point, you realize that people are not listening, and you need to know when to leave. It is not an easy thing to do, and I made the decision with a very heavy heart — Hillel had been my home for 11 years — but I felt, as some others did, that we were not being heard, and in some cases, lied to. Hillel as an institution does need to be saved — will it become as it once was? No, but then again it shouldn’t be. Schools need to change with the times, but Hillel can still be a great place to work and study — certain people just need to be reigned in.
179 Another Teacher // Jun 16, 2007 at 8:51 pm

“Shlomo, I find your argument too naive — at some point, you realize that people are not listening, and you need to know when to leave. ”

Exactly right.
180 Anonymous // Jun 16, 2007 at 9:05 pm

We have a paid high price this year alone for the lack of reigning in. Thank heavens we still have Mrs. Heber, Mrs. Galitzer, and Rabbi Lefkowitz. We almost lost them but thanks to this blog they’re still here.
Goodbye and thank you Michelle Holcman and Rabbi Feinerman. You will be greatly missed.
181 Juno // Jun 16, 2007 at 11:25 pm

Fare-the-well to all the rest as well…to those who were able to stay and to those of us that departed…
Some to new schools, some to new states…
182 sara // Jun 18, 2007 at 5:03 pm

From Avi Frier’s article: “The Nominating Committee’s slate responded with professionally-designed flyers touting their recent accomplishments, including the creation of a Jewish & Student Life Division set to launch next year, financial stability, rapid growth in enrollment, and the purchase of additional land for future expansion of the high school.

The slick flyers raised suspicions (which were also posted on SaveHillel.com) that school money was being used to hire professional marketers to help with the campaign, however the Florida Jewish News confirmed that the design was done on a volunteer basis by a graphic artist who has done work for the company owned by board chair Rafa Russ.”

This only addresses marketing firms/money being used for the flyers. Does NOT address whether marketing firms are being used for any OTHER purpose.
183 Juno // Jun 18, 2007 at 6:15 pm

The was an article in the Sunday Sunsentinel about the new bi-lingual school…
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/education/sfl-cbengamlajun17,0,5580082.story?coll=sfla-news-education

Very interesting…
184 Anonymous // Jun 18, 2007 at 8:11 pm

Marketing firms are being used.

They’re the ones who told them to start making those teacher appreciation breakfasts, dinners, etc. that just appeared so recently on the scene.
185 Anonymous // Jun 18, 2007 at 8:27 pm

HaKarat HaTov:

Let’s keep following in these footsteps. Thank you Raquel Rubin. Kol Ha Kavod. I hope your fellow board members can take some lessons from you and follow your example.

Accomplishments are the accomplishments of INDIVIDUALS not an INSTITUTION.

_________________________

The Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) recently sent out the following press release announcing the award recipients of a Targum Shlishi–funded awards program.

TEACHERS AWARDED GRANTS FOR EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE AND CREATIVITY FUNDED BY THE TARGUM SHLISHI FOUNDATION

JUNE 12, 2007 – Two years ago the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) was awarded a $50,000 grant from Targum Shlishi, a Raquel and Aryeh Rubin Foundation, in order to promote and recognize Jewish educational leadership in the Greater Miami Jewish community.

The Targum Shlishi Foundation initiated this project by awarding CAJE $10,000 per year over five years to be used to provide select day school, congregational school and early childhood teachers in Greater Miami with a $1,000 award in recognition of their contribution to promoting excellence and creativity in their respective schools.

The ten recipients of this year’s award program are:

Rabbi Shlomo Ackerman: Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School / Ben Lipson Community High School

Rachel Baum: Temple Beth Am Religious School

Denise Bergman: Temple Beth Am Day School

Sue Einhorn: Greenfield Day School

Dr. Ari Kedem: Congregation Bet Breira Schimmel-Binder Religious School

Revital Marotz: Greenstein Early Childhood Development Center at the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center

Laura Medina: Temple Beth Am Religious School

Rabbi Mordechai Rosenberg: Kesher, Inc.

Irit Roth: Beth Shira Congregational Early Childhood Center

Beth Ruck: Rohr Middle School

A special Awards Ceremony and Reception took place on June 6th, 2007 at CAJE’s end of year Celebration of Leadership.

Miami philanthropist Mr. Aryeh Rubin, director of Targum Shlishi, stated that, “the purpose of this program is to identify and promote Jewish educational leadership on the local school level…we must find new and creative ways to identify, encourage and motivate educational innovation and excellence in our schools…I am hopeful that this program will attract other funders and philanthropists who share in this vision and mission for our Jewish community.”

CAJE President/CEO Dr. Chaim Y. Botwinick stated “this program will have a dramatic impact on the way in which the Miami Jewish community bestows honor and respect upon its Jewish educators.” Dr. Botwinick lauded Raquel and Aryeh Rubin and their foundation for being in the forefront of providing the Miami Jewish educational community with venues and opportunities to enhance the quality of its educational personnel. These initiatives included a $10,000 grant to CAJE for professional development in memory of J.J. Greenberg, and a recent grant to implement a CD-ROM produced training curriculum for the teaching of Talmud in Jewish Day Schools.

About Targum Shlishi: Targum Shlishi is dedicated to providing a range of creative solutions to problems facing Jewry today. Premised on the conviction that dynamic change and adaptation have historically been crucial to a vibrant and relevant Judaism and to the survival of its people, Targum Shlishi’s initiatives are designed to stimulate the development of new ideas and innovative strategies that will enable Jewish life, its culture, and its traditions to continue to flourish. For more information on the foundation visit its website: http://www.targumshlishi.org.www.targumshlishi.org.
186 Aaron // Jun 19, 2007 at 12:46 am

There’s a phrase that I’ve heard several times this week from my contacts who favor Hillel’s “new vision.” Actually, two phrases. However, both are variations on the same theme.

“Hillel needs saving from its alumni.”

“Hillel needs saving from its teachers.”

I was disgusted when I first heard these comments, but I sort of understand them. Anyone who stands in the way of the “new vision” now stands in the way of Hillel.

I loved Hillel. I”ll always cherish those memories. However, everyone knows that for most of its life, Hillel has been suffering from a leadership deficit. I may not like the way Holden is leading, but at least he’s leading. That’s more than most have done. (To paraphrase Aaron Sorkin, “people are so desperate for leadership that in the absence of it, they’ll follow any man with a microphone.”)

Still, I personally believe he’s leading Hillel to its demise. Accept, since the election, it has become clear that Holden is Hillel. This leads me to only one conclusion.

“Hillel needs saving from itself.”
187 sara // Jun 19, 2007 at 8:48 am

Aaron…yours is probably the saddest post of all—what some perceive to be the saving that Hillel needs.

Quality educators are not knocking down doors. Nation-wide there are shortages and projected shortages of staggering numbers, especially in the fields of math and science. The cavalier attitude expressed in “Hillel needs saving from its teachers” only further exacerbates the issues that have been brought to the forefront.

A former teacher (post #178) is correct in stating “ Hillel as an institution does need to be saved — will it become as it once was? No, but then again it shouldn’t be. Schools need to change with the times, but Hillel can still be a great place to work and study…” THIS is the point. A school that needs saving from its teachers” is NOT a great place to work. Hillel could be a great place to work. It should be a great place to work. Mutual respect is needed.

I urge all of you–current board members, teachers, and alumni—to read the following.

http://www.nais.org/ismagazinearticlePrint.cfm?print=Y&ItemNumber=144281

A Survival Guide for the Teacher Shortage
Norman A. Colb

Schools throughout the United States are in the early stages of a serious, deepening teacher shortage, the result of three major forces quietly working their way across the nation. First, a generation of experienced teachers is approaching retirement age. Second, many younger teachers, tired of poor pay and difficult working conditions, are leaving the profession well before retirement. And third, the status of the teaching profession is so low that new recruits are not being attracted in nearly the numbers required to replace those who are leaving. In short, the need for teachers, projected to reach a total of more than two million by 2010, is beginning to increase dramatically.

What does this mean for schools? For many, simply finding enough teachers to cover classes is going to be a challenge; for even the most robust schools, the competition for outstanding teachers is likely to be fierce. And yet, while the next few years are sure to be difficult, I have begun to see in this impending shortage the potential for a positive outcome: some schools — those that define teaching as a profession and treat teachers respectfully — will see their values and practices affirmed, while other schools may be forced to adopt fundamental changes that strike me as long overdue. In either case, the shortage may ultimately strengthen schools rather than weaken them.

What makes a school attractive to excellent teachers? Because the quality of the faculty is a school’s single most important resource, answering this question will be the greatest challenge facing schools for years to come. This is a complex problem; no single response will serve. The elements of a comprehensive response range from the obvious and tangible (e.g., improving compensation and working conditions) to the abstract and intangible (e.g., aligning the school’s actions more closely with its mission statement).

Having worked in both public and independent schools, I have come to see eight aspects of the lives of teachers in schools as particularly significant. Based on my experience — and I write as a practitioner, not as a scholar — a list of these eight may be useful in predicting how successful a school will be in attracting and retaining excellent teachers during a time of scarcity.

Going a step further, a school might want to use the list of eight to identify changes that might help it fare even better.

Perhaps because they are so obvious, the first two do not receive anywhere near the attention they deserve:

Compensation
No one teaches to become wealthy. A teacher should, however, be able to lead a life of economic dignity. This means, among other things, being able to purchase a home, widely regarded as an important sign of economic viability and membership in the middle class. (I encourage members of a school’s finance committee to explore these questions: Where can teachers in your school afford to live? How many years of experience would a teacher in your school need in order to earn enough to qualify for a mortgage on a modest house within reasonable commuting distance of the school? Are answers to these questions acceptable or worrisome?)
Economic dignity also means that a teacher should be able to send his or her children to college and then, some 15 or 20 years later, retire with assets sufficient to maintain a modest standard of living. And the teacher should be able to meet these predictable economic hurdles without having to hold down a second job, not to mention a third. While most of us would agree that these are reasonable expectations, too few schools actually meet them.

Working Conditions
Excellent teachers expect to work with the equipment and space that allow them to do their best. Specifically, they expect — as do other professionals — to have ready access to telephones, computers, and copiers, and to spend their days in space that is adequate, comfortable, and well maintained.
The working conditions that matter to most excellent teachers go well beyond computers and clean classrooms: teachers want assignments that give them a chance to succeed, assignments that reflect a stronger commitment to educational quality than to economic efficiency. This is one reason small classes matter. Placing a few extra students into a classroom may allow a school to live within its budget, but doing so announces to teachers that they and their work are simply not the school’s central concern.

Personal security is also an important working condition. At the very least, the school should be clear about the approach it takes to decisions that have the potential to be life changing (e.g., those that deal with performance evaluation, reappointment, and salary setting). Ambiguity about any process that touches on security is invariably demoralizing and encourages teachers to seek employment elsewhere.

Compensation and working conditions are essential, but they are only the most obvious factors that matter to teachers. Everyone reading this article knows intuitively that teachers also look for other less obvious qualities in deciding whether to affiliate with a school, and that these intangible qualities can be even more important than those that are more obvious.

Respect and Appreciation
In schools that are particularly attractive to teachers, parents and trustees treat teachers as professionals to be supported, not as labor to be controlled. (And for their part, teachers treat parents and trustees as partners, not adversaries.) A respectful web of formal and informal relationships connects teachers, on the one hand, and parents and trustees on the other. Members of each group must see members of the other two as stakeholders in the school’s future. When they do, they are highly productive. When the school contemplates new initiatives, for example, parents, trustees, and teachers can work together with a minimum of friction, expending almost no energy trying to clarify issues of responsibility and control.

Respect for teachers is everywhere in a healthy school. Appreciation begins with the board and extends to parents who give teachers ample reason to know the esteem in which they are held.

Core Values
Almost all schools say they are committed to lofty goals such as lifelong learning, appreciation of diversity, and character development. Scratch a bit beneath the surface, however, and clear differences emerge. One school may be passionate about promoting their students’ enthusiasm for learning, for example, while another may be more narrowly committed to little more than improving students’ test scores (the fate, regrettably, of more and more schools).
I have a strong bias here: every teacher I know understands that test scores are an important metric of school effectiveness, but the very best teachers save their passion for goals that speak to curiosity, ethical behavior, and citizenship. And schools that take these values seriously are often much more attractive to outstanding teachers than schools that do not.
It is worth mentioning that excellent teachers are often adept at unearthing a school’s real values and then matching them with the school’s official pronouncements. In this search, candidates go beyond the school’s website and viewbook. They ask probing questions of teachers already in the school (My current favorite: “What do you have to do to get in trouble around here?”), study the agendas of staff meetings, and examine material displayed in the halls. The data about what the school truly cares about are everywhere; candidates have only to look. The closer the match between the school’s “walk” and its “talk,” the more attractive the school becomes.

Collegiality
In most strong schools, teachers see themselves as members of a community of professional peers. They readily turn to each other for insights and assistance. Asking for help in such a school is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Collegiality begins with civility — an absolutely essential component of a strong school’s culture — and then goes well beyond. In a school with a strong sense of collegiality, teachers rely on each other for straight talk about their work. (Because it is so hard to talk straight about one’s work, teachers may need the support of a formal training program in order to become comfortable speaking candidly with each other about important issues.) True colleagues openly share their best practices. When a staff member leaves a school that is strongly collegial, those who remain experience a powerful sense of loss, a sense that the professional community has been diminished.

Autonomy
Excellent teachers invariably want to exert a significant degree of influence over curriculum and instruction. They bridle at being told in any detail what they must accomplish. At the very least, they expect to be able to modify the school’s curriculum if their students are bored or frustrated. While it is now out of fashion in many schools to give teachers this degree of responsibility, doing so is a sign of trust, an indicator that teachers in a school enjoy professional status. A healthy degree of autonomy also says that the school respects teachers as individuals with unique strengths and interests.
There is an obvious tension between autonomy and collegiality; they move in opposite directions. In practice, however, excellent teachers often seem to require the first and then choose the second. In order to be professionally fulfilled, they want the freedom to control their curriculum and instructional practices while they simultaneously welcome the benefits of being part of a community of their colleagues.
Induction
While induction to a new school may take almost no time at all, it has far more significance than its duration indicates. (This is akin to how I form a judgment about a movie. I base my judgment on the first few minutes, and the remaining hour and a half almost invariably does little more than confirm this initial impression.) Whether or not we mean it to have such importance, the induction program displays a school’s central values and its view of teachers in sharp relief. How unfortunate, then, that some schools offer virtually no program for new teachers beyond giving them a manual of procedures, a map of the campus, a handshake, and an invitation to stay in touch.
Successful induction programs spend a considerable amount of time affirming the school’s core values and examining examples of how these values shape day-to-day life in the school. Practical information also deserves attention, of course, especially that information teachers need during the first days of school. However, an induction program that attends primarily to the practical details of school operations — two days filled with fire drills and attendance procedures — broadcasts powerful messages about what life in the school is like. Striking the right balance between school values and operational detail is as essential as it is difficult.
The best induction programs last well beyond the first few days of school. Such programs surround new teachers with as much support as they want or need, and provide support through a variety of informal sources.

Professional Growth
One of the deepest problems in schools is that responsibilities and challenges do not expand for most of those who master the craft and stay the course. It is almost as though schools have structured the role of teacher so that want ads can read, “If you like stability, teaching will be perfect for you: for the next forty years you can count on your work remaining essentially unchanged, and your initial level of training will suffice throughout your career.”
It is worth speculating about those who would be attracted to a role that is so static and to a career that promises to remain largely unchanged for so long. Would such a position be attractive to some prospective teachers? Certainly. Would such a position be — or stay — engaging to very bright professionals whose classrooms sizzle and inspire? Unlikely.

These, then, are the factors I believe are most significant in attracting and retaining outstanding teachers. That said, I also want to acknowledge that identifying these factors is easier than improving them. One problem is that some involve considerable expense. To improve compensation, working conditions, and professional development invariably requires either sharp increases in tuition or the redirection of scarce resources from other priorities.

Second, improving most of these factors involves investment in people and school culture, and such an investment rarely produces quick results. Years can pass before a school can boast of its outstanding staff while other schools, with depleted human capital, find that they are providing services that are more custodial than educational.

A final problem is that improving most of these factors invariably complicates school management and leadership. In particular, a school head who wants to exert direct control over the curriculum will not be much helped by the commitment to collegiality and autonomy or even the type of induction program described above.

With these complexities noted, school leaders who commit themselves to improving these factors almost certainly will be more than repaid by the excellence of their schools and their success in attracting outstanding teachers, our most important and increasingly precious resource.

Norman M. Colb is head of Menlo School (California).

Comments or questions about this article? Send a letter to the editor at ismag@nais.org.
________________________________________
National Association of Independent Schools
1620 L Street NW Suite 1100
Washington DC, 20036-5695

© 1997-2007 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
NAIS is the national voice of independent education. We offer standards, targeted resources, and networking opportunities for our 1,300 member schools. Tel (202) 973-9700
Fax (202) 973-9790
Email info@nais.org
188 sara // Jun 19, 2007 at 9:07 am

And, too, Aaron, in response to “Hillel needs saving from its alumni”

Again, I urge everyone to read the following report of a study of Day School alumni

http://www.peje.org/docs/peje_day_schools_and_alumni.pdf

PEJE Report on Day Schools and Their Alumni: A Report on
Selected Schools
From: Josh Hacker
To: Staff
Date: May 4, 2004

I. Goal of Project
The goal of my work was to identify schools that use their alumni as speakers, or would be able to identify for PEJE alumni who would be strong speakers on behalf of Jewish day school education. From the information that I collected in talking to 12 different day schools, it became clear that using alumni as speakers was not an area that schools had focused on to date. A couple of schools had used speakers at events with limited success, but this was not common. Of the schools that I spoke with, most are still trying to build their alumni bases to a level where they can justify spending the time and resources on developing and cultivating alumni relations. The focus of my research developed into what schools are doing to keep track of alumni and communicate with them, rather than on how schools are using alumni as speakers.

II. Methodology
Since the beginning of March I have been working in different stages on this project. Initially I met with PEJE staff to find out what they knew about the schools, to identify as many schools as possible that have someone assigned to alumni relations. After gathering a larger list of approximately 25 schools, I established the criteria by which I would be selecting the schools I would be interviewing. 12 schools were selected based on how well they communicated and planned for their alumni, while also trying to create a balance of schools across denomination, age, and location. I developed an interview protocol, and over the next two weeks interviewed the relevant person or people at each school over the telephone.

The 12 schools that were part of the survey were: Milken Community HS, Maimonides School, Ramaz School, Yeshiva of Flatbush, Weinbaum Yeshiva High School, Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Gann Academy, Akiba Hebrew Academy, Beth Tfiloh, Brandeis Hillel Day School, Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, and Gross Hebrew Academy.

III. Findings
After speaking with the schools I have analyzed the information, gathered the data, and made several recommendations. Subsequent to my research, a number of details stand out:

• None of the selected schools had documented their alumni’s involvement in the Jewish community as adults. Though some schools have some anecdotal evidence of their alumni going on to be leaders in community organizations or other day schools, no school has documented that information in any way.

This demonstrates that schools do not understand the impact of Jewish day school education on Jewish adults.

It also shows that schools do not understand the value of tracking their alumni. If the schools that have the time and resources to devote to alumni relations are not doing enough to develop it at their schools, then more must be done to make alumni a priority for all schools.

• The two newest schools (opened since 1997) that I spoke with, began tracking and reaching out to their alumni since their first graduating class, and as a result have stayed connected with their alumni. This will make the job of soliciting and updating alumni information much easier in the future because they have maintained a relationship and established a system for keeping track of the information.

• All of the schools keep track of alumni in their regular database/fundraising program, the most common program being Raiser’s Edge used by 5 out of 12 schools.

• The most common means used by schools to connect with alumni are: Thanksgiving reunion/bb games, e-mail bulletins, print newsletters, holiday packages at Rosh Hashanah, Purim and Pesach.

• Only 3 out of the 12 schools had specific alumni campaigns, and none of these campaigns are very successful in terms of the number of alumni who donate or the amount of money raised. Ida Crown Jewish Academy had 90 out of 4500 alumni donate to their first alumni campaign last year, raising a total of $5200. Brandeis Hillel Day School also held their first alumni campaign last year, but only received 20-40 gifts from 800 alumni. The Ramaz School has an annual alumni campaign to raise money for scholarships and scholarship endowment, but it is not a major focus of their fundraising.

• Most work with alumni to date has been reactionary, such as trying to create a program for an alumni class that wants to hold a reunion.

Schools have not engage in any strategic planning to understand the impact alumni could have on the school as role models and donors.

• Eight out of the nine older Jewish day schools (schools founded before 1965) have been tracking alumni in some form since at least the mid-1980’s. However, these schools have done little with the information or have not updated their databases continuously.

• Some schools are beginning to plan events specifically for their alumni by alumni. One example is the Yeshiva of Flatbush’s alumni evening for attorneys, where one of their alumni, Ezra Levin, is giving a talk entitled “Corporate law and the influence of Jewish values”. Steven Bayme, a graduate of Maimonides School and the National Director of the Department of Contemporary Jewish Life at the American Jewish Committee, recently gave a lecture entitled “Modern Orthodoxy and Jewish Education: Problems and Prospects” to alumni at Maimonides.

• Of the 12 schools that I surveyed, only two of the schools have full-time staff devoted to alumni relations (Yeshiva of Flatbush and Maimonides). Half of the other schools have development staff responsible for alumni, while the other half have part-time or administrative staff responsible for alumni relations.

The lack of dedicated staff time that schools are giving to alumni relations is an indicator of how important they see their alumni, and the value that they currently attach to them.

IV. Best Practices
1. Milken Community High School in Los Angeles has a program called Milken Mentors, where graduating high schools can connect with alumni at the college they are attending in order to help them make the adjustment to college life and make them feel more comfortable in a new surrounding with a friendly face.

2. Three schools, Maimonides, Ramaz, and Yeshiva of Flatbush, have begun or are beginning career/mentor networks for alumni. These networks have allowed alumni to come together from different classes to create new networks and develop a larger school network.

3. The head of school and the executive director of the Weinbaum Yeshiva High School of Boca Raton have made calls to their alumni every year before Rosh Hashanah and Pesach. The school has many alumni who spend a year studying at yeshiva in Israel after graduation, and every year the head of school travels to Israel to meet with the students in Israel. The school has also made a point to have someone from the school visit all alumni who are at universities in the United States. For the first time next year, the school will have two former faculty serve as alumni coordinators in Israel looking after Weinbaum Yeshiva alumni there.

4. Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School created a flash presentation that has been used in presentations to their board and the community. The presentation gave a few notes about outstanding alumni accomplishments from each graduating class since the first high school graduating class in 1990. This presentation is a model for other schools of how easily a school can profile their alumni in an impressive way with little effort.

5. Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School has an upper school elective in business that is taught by five alumni on a rotating basis. The course has given the school an opportunity to take advantage of its alumni’s talents while also benefiting the current students.

V. Recommendations
1. The over 450,000 alumni of Jewish day school∗ are still only a small percentage of the Jewish community overall, but the number of alumni is increasing annually as the number of children in day schools continues to increase.

As the number of alumni increases, schools should begin to commit the proper professional time to building their alumni body, which will benefit the Jewish day school movement in the long run as well. These professionals need to be prepared with the proper resources and knowledge to serve the alumni effectively. PEJE could facilitate this by helping staff in charge of alumni learn from each other and from the
independent schools, who do a much better job of alumni relations than Jewish day schools.

2. To date there has been little research done on how alumni of Jewish day school are involved in their communities as adults in the United States. If PEJE is interested in leading the field to the next step of how to use alumni, PEJE should become a leader in researching the influence of day school education on alumni as adults. The way this research could be done is by working with schools to document how their alumni have become involved in the Jewish community, and then evaluating and comparing that research between schools of similar size, age, and geographic region.

3. Jewish day schools do not use e-mail and internet resources to their fullest capacity. Schools cannot afford not to update to the latest technology in order to keep track of today’s graduates, who are all very computer literate. They need to keep in touch with their alumni by e-mail and through the use of stimulating websites to keep their attention. If the schools are not up to speed with their alumni and prepared to connect with them on the same technical level, then they will lose the connection they have with them to other organizations. One resource that I came across that several schools use successfully is a relationship management system called 2beintouch.com. 2beintouch.com is an internet based application that enables an organization to easily and cost effectively maintain an on-going relationship with its alumni requiring no technical knowledge. This tool is valuable for communicating news, events, and development information and interaction.

4. Leaders of Jewish day schools, like most everyone else, need to be convinced that an investment is going to payoff before they buy-in. In doing this research, the only document that I found about investing in alumni was a 2000 Avi Chai Foundation publication. This brochure discussed investing in alumni as part of a greater context of the “Jewish Investment Portfolio”. If no organization is going champion the development of alumni relations in Jewish day schools, then it is unlikely that Jewish day schools will take on the challenge themselves. Some schools might respond individually, but if there is to be an improvement across the field nationally, PEJE needs to make it a priority in their work with the schools.
189 Jessica Fishbein // Jun 19, 2007 at 10:40 am

I, too, am deeply troubled to hear that people are saying that Hillel needs saving from its teachers and its alumni. The first rate teachers and alumni are what I miss so much about Hillel . I have not seen such quality alumni replicated elsewhere. It has been a privilege to have taught so many of you and has touched me to see how much you all care for your alma mater. That quality should be hailed, not condemned. Kudos to you all.
190 anonymous teacher // Jun 19, 2007 at 11:14 am

They won’t have too much work to do to save Hillel from the teachers because most of the veteran teachers won’t be there anymore and they can indoctrinate the new ones with their “Mission.” Let’s see how the parents feel about a bunch of untried rookies teaching their children. I can guarantee that the results academically won’t be as good of the results in previous years. The faculty was dedicated, bright and caring no matter what anyone says.
191 Jessica Fishbein // Jun 19, 2007 at 12:05 pm

That is a true shame. The veteran teachers contributed so much to our alumni.
192 Juno // Jun 19, 2007 at 1:01 pm

sigh…
193 anonymous // Jun 19, 2007 at 1:47 pm

We must keep this site and our spirit alive through the summer.

….don’t let the light go out – - it has burned for all of these years…..Don’t let the light go out, let it shine through our love and our tears…..
194 Anonymous // Jun 19, 2007 at 1:53 pm

To post #190 —

Who are the teachers who are not returning? Surely if they are not returning, they have secured other positions and can let people know.

Afterall, the children are at stake here. The stakes are high. People need to make informed decisions prior to the commencement of the school year, not after it has begun.

Anyone with information on the teachers who are not returning either, voluntarily or otherwise, are encouraged to post.
195 Anonymous // Jun 19, 2007 at 7:26 pm

The blog may quiet down while many are on hiatus over the summer but expect it to pick up again in the fall. I’m sure there will be an earful to report.
196 anonymous teacher // Jun 19, 2007 at 9:02 pm

I’m not being more forthcoming with names because teachers throughout the divisions are waiting to hear from other schools. They are using the summer to line up other jobs. It would be betraying confidences to name names at this time. Let’s just say that many are unhappy. Especially now that we read that the school must be saved from the teachers. That’s just hostile.
197 Another Teacher // Jun 19, 2007 at 10:10 pm

We lost Feinerman and Holcman. We lost countless others–several of our BEST– throughout past 10 years or so on account of the low morale and environment. (These teachers’ names have been mentioned already on several different threads on this blog.)

My theory is Holden will not engage in mass firings next April so as to lull teachers into a false sense of security and complacency. Also, the board is still reeling from all of this and from being in the spotlight of the community. I’m sure they’d like things to quiet down before they instruct Holden to pick up the ax again. My guess is that he will pick up the hatchet once more in April 2009 and ax several teachers again. Although a Stalinist purge could be on its way sooner.

The price that is being paid by the current student body for the loss of so many “greats” is INESTIMABLE.
198 anonymous // Jun 19, 2007 at 11:33 pm

Agreed! Our teachers are the lifeblood of our school.

It is unclear what is meant by post #196 that hillel has to be saved from the teachers.

TO BE PERFECTLY CLEAR…. IT IS OUR TEACHERS WHO ARE ACTIVELY SAVING OUR SCHOOL!

We love our teachers.

We must move forward and continue to be vocal and speak up. We must continue to bring issues to the forefront.

It is apparent that the environment is not good. It is no longer permissible for teachers to tutor on campus over the summer. Certainly far from a welcoming, nurturing environment. These idiotic decisions are abominable.

It is truly a shame the board is blind to these issues. Perhaps insignificant to them – but mean a world to others.

So to those who need not be concerned with how they make their livings and support their families, One day, may it be G-d’s will that they see life through a different set of eyes. May it be G-d’s will that when they do, they find the fortitude to understand what it means to really have to work and earn a living. ….and how difficult the place they have called “home” for so many years can no longer be considered a “home” – a warm, welcoming environment. Perhaps then these oh so righteous individuals will better understand the destruction they permitted under their careful (careless) reign and wreckless disregard for the dignity and credibility of our beloved teachers.

Shame on the board who is allowing such harmful destructive forces to take over our school!

Save Hillel

Protecting the Quality of a Fine Education

A New Way Forward

June 11th, 2007 · 198 Comments

198 responses so far ↓

Search It!

Recent Entries