JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS ARE CREATING MODELS FOR DISTANCE LEARNING AND BUILDING STRONG COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

When Gov. Inslee’s March 12 announcement prompted school closures across Washington state, local Jewish day schools were already prepared for distance learning. By that day, Seattle Jewish Community School, along with other Jewish day schools in the Seattle area, had soft-launched their remote learning program, seeking feedback from students, parents and teachers and getting everyone up to speed.

“It was like I had hired 12 brand new teachers despite the decades of seniority and experience they had,” says Head of School Ron Waldman. “In this format, all bets are off. None of our educators had ever been trained for this type of teaching and learning, and not all children can easily adapt to continuous learning.” Even though they’ve had their challenges, Seattle Jewish Community School — along with Northwest Yeshiva High School, Jewish Day School and Seattle Hebrew Academy — are making it work, teaching students important lessons and forging strong communities at the same time.

While global change is impressive, there is also plenty of work to be done right in our own backyard. And Jewish day schools are getting in on the action there, too.

Supporting the local community through acts of kindness

Emerging from the pandemic, local Jewish schools have poured countless hours into building community and offering services to ensure their students and families feel a stronger sense of connection and responsibility. Providing meaningful experiences through volunteer work is one way the schools are strengthening bonds. Working with the Seattle Parks and Recreation department this past year, students at the Seattle Jewish Community School (sjcs.net) planted hundreds of daffodil bulbs to honor the memory of children who perished in the Holocaust and to call attention to those suffering in humanitarian crises today. Students had the opportunity to aid local wetlands in the process.

It started with surveying everyone’s needs. On their first day, NYHS held an orientation for distance learning, where all classes met for 15 minutes each and there was a check-in to make sure students had access to technology. They also conducted troubleshooting with teachers so that the following day regular classes could start. Schools are continuing to seek feedback throughout this crisis. According to Waldman, SJCS is sending out surveys at least once a week, while JDS is adjusting practices as they go. “We have made revisions to our remote learning schedule and instruction along the way, based on feedback from families,” says JDS Head of School Vivian Scheidt. “Our teachers have reached out individually to each family to get their input on how their child is doing with remote learning.”

At MMSC Day School (mmscdayschool.org), giving back comes in the form of spreading joy. Students routinely craft holiday cards and gift baskets for the elderly and those in need.

As schools try out different modalities for remote learning, they are discovering the value of using a variety of formats, including full class groups, small groups and individualized meetings, as well as instructional goal reassessment. “Beyond the objectives of getting through a syllabus and finals, we are finding that instruction has become learner-centric, with students increasingly driving their learning and building community in a more thoughtful and intentionally deeper way. This has really been the silver lining of distance learning,” says Feld.

According to foundation CEO Connie Kanter, “Our mission is to support Jewish continuity through the education of Jewish youth. Jewish day schools are the most impactful way for us to cultivate future Jewish community members and leaders.”

SHA Head of School Rivy Poupko Kletenik emphasizes that learning is the focus, but community building and engagement are vital as well. SHA has organized a drive-by food drive and held virtual events for Jewish holidays and days of remembrance. Each of the schools is engaging with people inside and outside of their school community by hosting open virtual classes, celebrations and commemorations.

To make Jewish day schools in the Seattle area more accessible to families that are juggling important financial priorities, the program ensures that for families earning up to $350,000, K–12 tuition will not exceed $15,000 per year per child or 15 percent of the family’s adjusted gross income, whichever is lower. This initiative is aimed at aiding families that don’t qualify for traditional financial aid and as a result, are priced out of giving their children a day-school education.

“Our Jewish day school partners have been doing an incredible job making sure students stay connected and continue receiving exemplary academic instruction in these unprecedented times,” says Connie Kanter, CEO of the Samis Foundation, an organization that provides grants to support K–12 Jewish education in Washington state and initiatives in Israel. Samis supports scholarships, tech education, special needs and professional development for seven Jewish day schools in the Seattle area. The foundation has put a particular emphasis on supporting the schools’ technology needs for the past decade. “We hope other educators in the public and private sectors can benefit from our schools’ models.”

Similarly, at Seattle Hebrew Academy (seattlehebrewacademy.org), every year students partner with Jewish Family Service (jfsseattle.org) to combat food insecurity by participating in multiple food drives as part of the school’s mission to prepare future generations to lead lives of service and fulfill mitzvot (commandments) in Seattle, Israel and worldwide. Sharing in this mission is Torah Day School of Seattle (tdsseattle.org) and Derech Emunah (derechemunah.com), where students provide service to the community by hosting blood and bone marrow drives.

Increasing access

The schools, which already participated in a tech cohort Community of Practice led by Dr. David Wicks, Seattle Pacific University’s chair of Digital Education Leadership, also made sure they had the right tools to conduct classes, including Zoom, Edpuzzle, Google Meet, Kahoot!, Camtasia, Screencast-O-Matic and Seesaw. Since traditional teaching won’t work on these platforms, NYHS Head of School Jason Feld says they’ve encouraged teachers to come up with exciting new methods. “The charge to the faculty was to be brave in experimentation and to really let learning objectives drive the technology, not the other way around.” Teachers at NYHS have drawn on what they learned during Seattle’s 2019 “Snowmaggedon,” such as using flipped instruction, a blended learning strategy that allows the students to see the material before the class and then dive deeply into it with their classmates during school hours. “That experience really did serve us quite well in preparation for this year,” says Feld.

To increase accessibility and participation in high-quality experiential Jewish education for youth in Washington state, the Samis Foundation launched its Day School Affordability Initiative in 2022.

The opportunity to immerse themselves in their unique Jewish heritage, traditions and community, and emerge with an education that instills the value of giving back from both a local and global perspective, should be available to every student. Ultimately, this is what the Day School Affordability grant program is all about. While it will take a generation for today’s students to grow up and embody the principles of leadership, communal responsibility, charitable giving and the importance of doing acts of kindness in the world, that feels like an outcome well worth waiting for.

To learn more about sending your child to Jewish day school and to find out if your family is eligible to receive a Day School Affordability Initiative grant, visit the Samis Foundation website at samisfoundation.org.

While schools and families are taking this tough situation one day at a time, 10 years from now, some are optimistic that students will look back at this moment with reflection. “I hope that they will remember this as a time of personal growth, and as a time where a lot of what we talk about in our dayto-day learning of grit, resilience, kindness and community was tested in a real way during this crisis,” says Feld. “My hope is that instead of feeling isolated, they will have some meaningful memories.”

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