Schechter Stories: Fall/Winter 2022-2023

Excellent schools seek to know their students deeply.

Naturally, this is true of Schechter. Where we diverge, however, is our definition of “know” and the unparalleled, unwavering standards we have set for ourselves to know – really know – each student.

It is our stated mission to guarantee that together, we create a Jewish educational experience in which each student will be known, belong, be engaged, be inspired and be prepared. These concepts – lovingly known as the Schechter Be’s – do not just live on a wall, but are, instead, dynamic and indivisible processes that animate everything we do in practice.

Each of our 430 students has a different pathway to becoming their best selves. There is no one-size-fits-all at Schechter and we like it that way. Our student body is a beautiful and multi-faceted kaleidoscope of personalities, strengths, challenges and opinions. All of our students live out their Jewish identity and backgrounds in distinct ways. They are unmistakably, indelibly individual from their learning styles to their social and emotional needs, growth and goals. Reaching and teaching each student in a way that is personalized for that student is the task to which Schechter’s faculty is committed.

Each “Be” is an idea which is realized through concrete action. There are many examples and evidence of the Schechter Be’s at work, but it is only through the school’s singular devotion to an exemplary and intentional program, both in Jewish and secular learning, and dependable, institutional support for every member of the community, that Schechter is able to deliver this mission.

To understand how each path is paved and how the Schechter Be’s become lived realities, requires taking a step back and examining the conditions that are put in place fi rst and before and from the beginning.

Schechter has many goals that are educational, social, emotional and spiritual all at once. Separate one of these interdependent levers from the other, and the ability to identify and nurture each student’s pathway holistically and successfully is diminished, if not impossible. As a Jewish day school, we add another ingredient to this already rich and complex formula, namely each student’s spiritual exploration. In fact, we place such value and emphasis on understanding each student through these many lenses that we use the term “Schechter experience” to describe our work and to transcend the notion that education is purely academic.

Sharon Greenholt, Director of Student Experience for Pre-Kindergarten-Grade 5, is in constant motion. She goes from morning drop-off at the curb to one classroom after another, from visiting tables in the lunchroom to helping students bundle up for outdoor recess, from conferencing with teachers to connecting with parents, from giving out endless high fives in the hallways to sitting on the floor “criss-cross applesauce” with students during Shabbat Shira singalongs, and she does all of that with a brisk cheerfulness and her trademark undivided attention. Sharon quickly gets to the heart of what it means to know students and why Schechter is specially poised as a Jewish day school to do this work.

“Schools used to be institutions for establishing order and hierarchy,” Sharon says, “but they have shifted away from this concept of having students sit and be lectured. School is participatory and students have agency over their own learning and how they access curriculum.” She characterizes the Schechter Be’s as social/emotional values themselves, developed specifically to create a grand outline that buttresses and guides life at Schechter. “Our uniqueness comes through in our mission statement which refers to a climate for what we do,” Sharon adds.

At every grade level, faculty participate in weekly student experience meetings in which they talk through each student individually. This time is essential and is built into the master schedule to guarantee that teachers have a standing touchpoint each week. “We talk about each student’s pathway as a person and a learner. Might one teacher be observing particular behaviors, and what can we put in place to support the student or might one teacher have noticed that a student needs enrichment or modifications or would benefit from a particular hevruta (partnership)? Collaboration among teachers is also social/emotional in nature, so we are all practicing and learning at the same time. What we do is a team sport.”

Sharon adds that as a Jewish day school, “all of this work is inseparable from the beautiful Jewish spiritual connection which interlocks with social/ emotional learning at a completely different level to support the academic piece. On Monday mornings, the entire Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 3 community comes together for Havdalah which launches our collective week from a place of being together.” Students and teachers sing and sway arm in arm before the fi rst bell rings. “When fi ft h-graders learn to lead tefi llot,” Sharon continues, “it is an individual goal for which they are responsible, but they belong to a larger group and their participation is essential to the group experience.” Havdalah and tefi llot are just two of many interactive “anchors” in the schedule that impart Jewish practice while also integrating the Schechter Be’s.

In a school with 430 students, there is an equal number of pathways. With her characteristic zeal and unconditionally accepting nature, Penina Magid, Director of Arts, Innovation and Enrichment, takes the concept of individuality one step further. Penina’s purview spans creative arts, electives, afterschool and enrichment, touching on the whole Schechter experience. The concept of choice underpins enrichment classes after school as students delve into chess, sports, robotics, arts, movement and other opportunities, but Penina points to a much more expansive view of self-expression from the moment the bell rings in the morning.

“We believe in exceptions at Schechter. There are schools in which they say, ‘We can’t do that. It would be an exception,’ but if there are 10 students, there are 10 different exceptions and there are 10 different things happening. At Schechter, we must know how every kid is an exception,” she says. She stresses that the toolbox of a master teacher must include the ability to maintain the larger group structure in a classroom while understanding each student’s unique way of thinking, learning and creating.

Penina explains that “[t]eachers not only have to be flexible about each student’s pathway, but also pay close attention. It’s more than being supportive. It’s about understanding that a student doesn’t fit into a box.” Honoring each student’s singular way of creating and learning is the opposite of viewing adaptations from a deficit perspective, namely that a student needs help or lacks skill. Penina views skillbuilding as an essential pitstop along the way to self-expression, but the skill s themselves are not the ultimate goal, in and of themselves.

“Our work is to design and continually assess what skill s we offer everyone and what choices there are for kids who are interested and want to go further in a particular area. It is less important that theater happens after school than the fact that we are a school that offers theater,” Penina shares. A major contributor to students’ sense of belonging and inspiration is Schechter’s “no cuts” philosophy. Penina explains that “[w]e have music as part of everyone’s weekly schedule, and also regular, studio and jazz bands that are good for different levels. We don’t do cuts in music, sports or theater. If you want to be part of something, you can be. We’ll fi nd the correct level for you and give you the support you need, but you have a right to be here.” She continues noting, “There are expectations at different levels, but everyone belongs the way they are, at the level they are, doing what they enjoy. If you like playing music, there should be a place for you to play music that we offer in our school. If you like doing theater, there should be a place for you to do theater that is part of our school.”

The first weeks of school and the fall, in general, are a time of beginning each year. Rabbi Ravid Tilles, Director of Jewish Life and Learning, points to the beautiful synergy between Judaism's ancient lunar calendar and the rhythms of a modern Jewish day school. “We think about the midah (behavior; norm) of ‘seder,’ namely putting yourself in order in September and October which aligns with the month of Tishrei. We are preparing for the year ahead, so we reflect and identify the ways in which we want to put our best selves forward. We master our schedules, set goals for ourselves and adapt to classroom routines. Older students make sure they are set up on SchechterHub, for example, which is the portal for everything including assignments. As we get into winter, we focus on resilience when it’s frigid outside and dark at 4:00 in the afternoon. This idea of fortitude is central to the Hanukkah story.”

Much of this self-reflection and focus on preparedness is done through the student’s small-group advisory and one-on-one monthly meetings between each student and advisor pair. Rabbi Tilles and Millie Kateman, Director of Middle School Experience and Grade 6 Head Advisor and Math Teacher, are frequent thought partners and the main architects behind the Middle Division (Grades 6-8) havurah program. Each havurah fuctions as a small group or “home base” for roughly a dozen grade-level peers who develop a close bond with their faculty advisor and each other.

As the Grade 6 Math Teacher, Millie teaches roughly 40 students each year, some of whom are abstract thinkers ready to engage in high school math while others need more concrete teacher support to move forward. “When I first started teaching, I would have said that my primary goal was to make sure students understood and could use the quadratic equation. That’s an important goal, but we also need kids to get out of the car in the morning or get off the bus and say, ‘I’m here! I love this place!’ I put myself on arrival duty every day because I want to see their faces before they walk in the building.”

Weekly meetings among the havurah leaders themselves serve as models for the student experience as faculty members participate in an open circle with prompts. “We know how it feels to sit in a circle and share, and what it should look like when we do it with students,” explains Millie. “Havurah is a highly intentional weekly period that gives students the space and time to be known and heard. It’s not a homeroom in which we have a fi xed agenda. It’s much more student-driven and organic than that. In order to create a system in which kids are really able to add their own voices and decide what they need socially and emotionally, it takes a lot of hard work by the teachers who are advisors. We build this conscious understanding that ‘I want to know you and I want you to know me, and I want to figure out how we can have this relationship so that, if there is a time that you need to talk to an adult, you have somebody.’”

Middle Division students have regular one-onone check-ins with their havurah advisor during which the conversation can flow from how a student is feeling about academic subjects to how to handle a bump in the road with a friend. Mill ie describes the unique view during these tête-àtêtes. “If you’re standing at one end of the hallway, you will see a teacher sitt ing outside a classroom and meeting with just one student. It’s neat and quite lovely to look all the way down the hall and see pair after pair.”

Colleague David Srebnick agrees. As the Grade 8 Head Advisor and Math Teacher, David says that the most important topic during faculty members’ weekly grade-level meetings is drill ing down into each student in the grade through different lenses. “It’s valuable because we get information about the students in different contexts every single week. I only see students in math, so it helps me understand someone better to learn how he or she is shining someplace else.”

David goes on to describe how teachers leverage small class sizes to benefit students. “There is time that I am spending teaching the whole class or starting the class off on something. Then, there’s time when they’re working individually and I walk around, checking in with each student. Sometimes the questions they ask are easy, but sometimes, I sit down and explain the problem in a different way. I can specifically ask, ‘Would a picture help? Show me where you’re stuck, so I can talk about it with you in a different way.’ This class is not about turning everyone into the proverbial rocket scientist. This class is about taking you from where you are, to some place where you know more.”

Establishing a sense of safety and belonging in the classroom is non-negotiable. “We celebrate mistakes,” explains David. “There is research that shows that your brain is most active when you’re doing math if you make a mistake. I tell the kids that if I give them math problems that they can do immediately, and they just ratt le off the answers, they have learned nothing. You can practice, you get better at something, but it’s only when I give you something you don’t immediately know how to do, that real learning takes place. In fact, when somebody points out a mistake on the board that I’ve made, that’s a compliment. It means they’re paying attention and engaged with the material.”

Quirky real life math conundrums and David’s legendary abstruse POTWs (Problems of the Week) are just the sort of demanding puzzles that regularly await students. He adapted Three Act Problems from a TED Talk by Dan Meyer, a well-known educator focused on reforming how students are taught to think about math. David lays out the approach. “ACT I is a teaser at the beginning that piques interest. Act II provides students with the information that they need to solve the problem. Ultimately, Act III is a short video that shows the solution to the problem. For example, in 2012, Apple was close to sell ing its bill ionth app, and the person who bought it would win a $10,000 gift card. How do you calculate when to buy if you want to win the prize? The kids never ask, ‘When am I going to use this?’ They work on the problem, come up with an answer and then I say, ‘Yeah…but which time zone?’ It’s a lot of fun and shows the kids that there are many ways to get a solution.”

Long before students are talking to their havurah advisors about high school on the horizon, they are navigating preschool, kindergarten and the newness of school itself. In her role as Grade 1 General Studies Teacher, Marla Quinn’s time is split between her own class of 14 students and supervising faculty members as Team Lead for Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 1. Schechter’s unique organizational structure is designed to maximize direct engagement among supervisors and faculty members. Instead of campus principals who typically oversee dozens of teachers while also scheduling fire drills, being available to parents, hiring faculty and managing day-to-day operations, Schechter deploys a system of distributed leadership. Team Leads supervise 10-12 faculty members which allows for ample time to observe, coach, brainstorm, meet one-on-one and in small groups every week.

Marla explains that “we are all responsible for each other’s students. In our meetings, we are very focused on children. Sometimes, we bring a case study to our groups in which we might conceptualize how to provide enrichment for a student in a way that another teacher could also use.” A throughline among faculty members in their work, is the importance of interacting with students in different contexts beyond the direct classroom in order to get to the heart and soul of what engages, inspires or stresses them. “I am in other teachers’ classrooms every day which means the kids see me as another adult who interacts with them and is responsible for them.”

In addition, the multiple What I Need (WIN) blocks each week provide grade-level faculty members the opportunity to mix their classes, regroup students from different sections for enrichment or remediation, and to create a variety of hevruta in which two students are paired with a text, problem or special project. Richly social/ emotional in nature, the uniquely Jewish concept of hevruta-style learning is infused throughout all subject areas at Schechter. Sharon Greenholt reflects on the key skills that develop from pairs of students’ having to rely respectfully and actively on a fellow classmate during hevruta learning. “Students must learn that we know who you are, but you are also part of a larger classroom in which you must all belong and engage with each other. How do you work with someone who has hearing differences or finds one subject easy or another hard?”

“We really ‘get’ every kid here as a whole child,” Marla adds. “I know who hates macaroni and cheese, who is excited to go to the library with their grandmother this weekend, whose confidence could use the boost of being line leader for the week and who should have math enrichment during WIN Block.” If a student needs extra time to shore up early literacy skills or to join a book club of similar readers, WIN block is a consistent and flexible scheduling period during which they can meet with Schechter’s reading or support specialists. Likewise, students ready to leap into more complicated math or number concept theories meet with Schechter’s STEM educator, Claire Caine. For example, accelerated students in Grade 2 and 3 examined the Collatz Conjecture and coded solutions in Scratch to look for patterns in the results. WIN blocks are also dedicated to Hebrew language instruction allowing native speakers and Hebrew novices alike to be in highly tailored learning groups.

Schechter’s Pre-Kindergarten-Grade 3 Physical Education Teacher, James Wheeler, known as Coach James, recognizes that physical education class is an opportunity for social/emotional learning. He describes this time “[as] so much more than shooting hoops and playing dodgeball. It’s really important to me to facilitate an environment in which there is no stigma around failure. Kids must feel a rock-solid sense of support and safety to be able to be challenged and challenge themselves.” He jokingly characterizes students’ personalities as “dialed up to 11” during gym. “I get ‘all of them’ for the full 40 minutes which I love because it shows they’re comfortable in the environment and it helps me get to know them better, and it helps them get to know themselves better. Not only are we trying to work on tactical and technical skill development, but this is also a setting in which we practice our social and emotional skills. How do you be a good leader, how do you be a good teammate, how do we resolve conflict for ourselves, how do we celebrate, how do we encourage?”

Each person is equipped with a key value in the class whether it is being the most adept in a clutch game or the most supportive when a classmate needs consoling or cheering. Coach James views physical education as powerful preparation for knowing how to behave in a variety of settings and situations. “In no other lesson on a kid’s schedule are you going to get this real-time, organic mixing and learning how to integrate with people. Physical education lives in this unique social construct which I am super interested in and passionate about. One of the goals is to build skill s so that you're a better sibling at home, you’re a better friend in the classroom, and a better teammate for your club sport.”

The concept of creating a classroom community informs every aspect of Michelle Folickman’s approach as a Grade 4 General Studies Teacher, Learning Specialist and Grades 4-5 Community Coordinator. She uses the very visual and colorful metaphor of a house to describe how she teaches. “Every piece of content that I give my students is like a house with multiple different windows and doors. It is my job to know each student and make the content, or the house, as accessible to every single student as possible. Picture a boarded-up house and the content is on the top floor. I could just make one door and I could teach in one way. I could shove everybody through that door and hope for the best. Some would fall, some wouldn’t make it and some would get to the content on the top. Or, I can take a bunch of different shape cutters and make different doors and windows and ramps, fi refighter poles and rope ladders, and I can have many ways that they can get in. Which house is more engaging? The one with the single door or the one with the fi refighter pole and the heart-shaped window and the square-shaped door?”

Michelle and her colleague, Gali Offenbacher, Grade 5 Hebrew Teacher, emphasize to students that they do not know everything. Gali sees herself “םייניעה הבוגב (at eye level)” with her students. “I am not coming to the class as if I know everything or I am smarter, but to teach them the things I already know and to help them to know it also. I look them in the eyes to see what is the best way for them to learn: alone, in hevruta, in a group, by reading, by writing, by playing some Hebrew games, computers?”

Michelle agrees, adding that her goal is not to proffer “magical knowledge” that she possesses and simply imparts to the class.

A student’s pathway to the Schechter Be’s is not solely the goal of the teacher. To that end, Michelle stresses, “Most important to me is teaching the kids how to fi nd the rope ladder or slide down the fi repole or scooch up the ramp. I tell the kids all the time that not doing something is not an option. Doing it in a different way is an option and I am here to get to that place with them. I need my students to leave my classroom knowing themselves: how they learn best, what does and does not work. This is how they are prepared to be good self-advocates, so that they can enter the world as confident individuals able to be their best selves, get what they need without being afraid of challenges, and make a real, true difference.”

On the first day of school, Michelle Folickman introduces the concept of a classroom microsociety in which every person belongs and has a job that is necessary for the society to function. In a prominent place on the wall hangs the Midrash of a group of people who are traveling in a boat together when one person begins to drill a hole beneath himself. His companions immediately question his actions to which he responds, “What concern is it of yours? Am I not drilling under my own place?” The others in the boat exclaim,“But you will flood the boat for us all!”

Michelle’s voice fi ll s with ardor. “I tell my students that if you are sabotaging the boat, the rest of us are going down with you. You, as an individual, have an impact beyond yourself.” The duties of the classroom microsociety reinforce accountability while serving as a powerful representation of life beyond Schechter. Students quickly learn that belonging is a two-way street. “If you forget to do your Book Club reading,” says Michelle, “your whole group suffers. We talk a lot about our ripple effect on the classroom. After the fi rst round, kids might forget their own homework, but nobody forgets their Book Club assignment because the rest of their group is let down and they see that.”

As with any society, there are obligations and privileges. Each week, students write Smart Goals for themselves which they record in an old-fashioned paper checkbook register in order to earn the maximum weekly virtual “salary” of $100.00. Michelle asks herself how she can build a ramp or pulley or rope ladder to help students reach a Smart Goal such as practicing math facts for 15 minutes every night. If students meet their goals four out of five days, they earn $80.00, but if students are earning $100.00 every week, then the Smart Goals are not appropriately challenging. Conversely, if a student gets below $80.00 on a specific goal, Michelle says, “then it’s a great idea to repeat that goal the next week because goals often require more than a week to accomplish.”

Students are responsible for paying $50.00 in virtual rent each week in order to utilize the resources of the classroom community which leaves a potential net of $50.00. Other expenses occur, however, such as a $10.00 charge for forgett ing class materials or a pencil. Michelle points out to her students that she cannot show up to work unprepared because she would be unable to perform well for them. Twice a year, comes the much-awaited Economy Day, an afternoon during which students can purchase special activities such as a craft project or playing an improv game with their savings.

“I don’t allow kids to tell me they forgot their homework because their parents didn't put it in their backpack. I will always help them to reframe it. Maybe you fi nished your homework and left it on the dinner table. Your parents are not in this classroom, so whose responsibility is it? It’s really fun to watch their att itude shift. After a few weeks, the kids will say, ‘Michelle, I forgot to do X and my plan is Y.’ As we create the next generation of leaders, our kids need to understand that they’re not just at school because it’s babysitt ing and their parents send them here. They must engage with their own learning and responsibilities.”

In the Early Childhood Program, Gan Shelanu, the concept of a classroom community naturally includes the teachers and faculty, but also the parents in a more immediate way as some of the students are too young even to speak. We often say that we “do life together” at Schechter for, after all, choosing a school for a student means choosing a school community, and even more specifically, a Jewish community, for the whole family. Director Debbie Moukit explains that Hebrew and the Jewish calendar overall ground the curriculum as well as the preschool’s social fabric, with many opportunities for families to connect through holiday programs at school or through the Parent Association.

“We have so many Israeli families, some of whom have just arrived here,” she says. “The students are immersed in a Hebrew language experience every day, many of our teachers are native speakers and the parents often gather after drop-off which means that this has really become a home for them. The shared language of Hebrew and the rhythms of the Jewish year have made it easier for us to know these very young students and their families.” Opportunities such as Havdalah, special Shabbat and other holiday celebrations are especially helpful in bringing Israeli families into the Schechter fold while reinforcing a sense of belonging.

When we talk about Jewish identity at Schechter, we transpose the question into a play on words that best describes our approach and our championing of individual inspiration, engagement and meaning: it is not how Jewish are you, but how are you Jewish? Rabbi Ravid Tilles is proud of the evolution of tefi llot and Jewish student life at Schechter. “We work very hard to make sure kids have a sense of the matbe’ah tefi llah which probably translates best as the ‘mold,’ basically core tefi llah. Our ultimate goal is that kids be prepared to participate in any synagogue in the world, while making sure that their prayer experience at Schechter celebrates self-expression.”

Pantomimes, hand motions and special choreography during tefi llah have caught on among the students. Each grade, in essence, develops a specific, trademarked experience together that is blended with core tefi llot. “There is incredible creativity and joy, but the kids are also laser-focused on traditional davening when they should be. On Friday mornings during Ruach Minyan for Grades 4-8, Rabbi Tilles beams when he describes the kids. “I believe you can only begin to get creative in prayer when you not only have the core of the matbe’ah tefi llah, but also

When Rabbi Tilles recounts his daily, innumerable conversations with students, he describes the content as elucidating without being outright direct. He has a fondness for the sometimes roundabout way in which students approach him. “Never does a kid come up to me and say, ‘Can we talk Jewish life? Can we talk Jewish identity?’ Instead,” Rabbi Tilles says, “kids’ eyes light up at different moments or during different lessons. They might ask questions with a particular tone. Sometimes the tone is genuine curiosity, sometimes the tone is cynicism. Sometimes, the tone is, ‘I really want to do this the right way.’ Kids don’t generally say, ‘Rabbi Tilles, do you really think that because I'm trying to figure out what I think.’ They give me one sentence and it tells me a whole story.”

Like her colleagues, Rabbi Rebecca Weinstein, Mashgicha Ruchanit, is eager for students to engage in Jewish life on their own terms. “Teaching at Schechter is not about indoctrinating our children with Jewish tenets. As a rabbi and as an educator, I think about which texts resonate with our students in different ways. Halakhah has become synonymous with ‘law,’ but it really means ‘path’ or ‘way.’ I’m not a GPS or Google Maps who says, ‘This is what the text says. Go in that direction. Do this with the text.’ I am a guide who can help students decode the text and make informed choices so they can have conversations with their peers or faculty or parents.”

Rabbi Rebecca, as she is known at school, views relationship-building as truly pastoral. “It is my job to understand that each child’s pathway is going to be a little different and to know each child deeply and meaningfully, so I can help them think through their journey.” She is clear that if she does not take the time to connect with students on a social/emotional level, she will fall short on academic and spiritual levels. Grit, a healthy dose of sticktoititveness and a visceral sense of trust are the essential underpinnings of studying texts in Hebrew and Aramaic, as well as pondering Jewish identity. Rabbi Rebecca views the Schechter Be’s as essential for puzzling through hard work and big topics. She notes that “because we have built, and constantly reinforce, an atmosphere of safety and belonging, and because we really get to know each other, students have a natural willingness to ask for help and accept challenges or express themselves Jewishly.”

One way Rabbi Rebecca inspires honesty in her students is by modeling openness and transparency herself. “Yes, I’m a rabbi and I love tefillah, but it is important to show kids that, even as a rabbi, I can have a hard time engaging with a prayer. Maybe I’m distracted or sleep-deprived.” When Rabbi Rebecca’s students make the connection that she sometimes has to grapple with her feelings about spirituality – ‘Oh, she’s human, too!’ – they are more inspired to work through their own relationship with prayer or Jewish identity or a challenging pasuk. “Schechter allows me to meet the kids where they are. How are we going to make a change to tefi llah today so it reflects what we’re experiencing? Maybe we throw in a meditation or do the Barkhu to a different tune to help wake us up.”

Rabbi Rebecca seconds Rabbi Tilles’ notion of developing a sense of comfort during prayer which then leads to being engaged and inspired. “Every year, I think about how I can make our kids feel comfortable leaning into being the shaliach tzibor (messenger or leader) of the community during tefi llah. What does this role mean? What are the things we need to do to make sure everyone is having a really good experience? I turn to the kids who really enjoy leading tefi llah and enlist them to inspire their peers.” Rabbi Rebecca recounts the story of a student who transferred to Schechter and loves leading tefi llah. “She told me, ‘I really want to do this, but I have no idea what the words mean yet.’ I was thrilled that she felt so at home, and inspired and excited about something that could have seemed so daunting.”

We turn and return often to our mantra at Schechter that “there is no limit to better.” Success is not elusive; it is just ongoing and kinetic. The Schechter Be’s are carefully monitored levers that are constantly moving, cogs that must whirl and interlock at all times to keep this incredible “machine” called Schechter running well for all its users.

For a student to be engaged, he must be inspired. For a student to be prepared, she must be known. For a student to belong, they must be engaged. For a student to be known, she must belong. For a student to be inspired, he must be prepared.

And so it goes, with no Schechter Be more or less critical than another. Knowing if a student prefers to paint with watercolors rather than acrylics is just as important as knowing that a student is ready to move up a level in Hebrew. Having a Gender and Sexuality Alliance for Middle School students is just as important as having circle time in Pre-Kindergarten. Inspiring students to connect the Parashat HaShavuah (Torah portion of the week) to their own lives is just as important as inspiring students to play with someone different at recess.

So, again, we go back to the beginning. Organization and planning are sacred to ensure that faculty members have consistent time to meet with each other and with students. The intentionality behind knowing each student with subtlety and appreciation is continually reinforced. Along with each student, every teacher has his or her own pathway, philosophies and style, all of which are indivisible, and which pave the way for each teacher to serve each student. To that end, we are bound as a learning community by collaboration, introspection and tenacity through mutual respect and devotion.

Michelle Folickman responds to the question of how she feels supported as a teacher by saying, “Schechter gives me everything. Schechter gives me the trust. I often joke that I will go to our fabulous, educational leadership team and say, ‘Hear me out. I have a crazy idea!’ I always have unconditional support and not just support. In the same way I support and challenge my students, I am supported and challenged here. I have teammates to bounce ideas off of, people who are constantly encouraging me to think more and do more and be better. I feel very lucky to work here.”

Every day, faculty and staff members wear lanyards that were designed intentionally with the Schechter Be’s rather than the school’s name or logo or panther mascot, all of which would be perfectly reasonable options. Instead, these words are a uniform of sorts and, as such, are constant and close reminders to every adult of the institutional mission that we must all experience collectively and deliver reciprocally to each other and to each child in the school. In turn, these words are the promises that we wear prominently, facing outward to our students, and the words mean: this is what you deserve, this is what you will have here, this is what we do at Schechter.