What a Day!

Last Sunday, the Board of Trustees met for about six hours. We discussed what the Board does, how it does it, and where we are now as a school. We discussed some brutal facts and how we plan to move the school forward. We heard presentations from our Head of School--who was simply excellent--and Rabbi Jay Strear, our VP of Advancement. I also spoke about process and where we are from a lay perspective.

Rabbi Strear presented five recommendations from the Executive Committee for the Board of Trustees to examine, discuss, and then approve or reject. The Board, I am happy to say, unanimously approved all five recommendations. And I am also very proud to report that the Board asked lots of questions and did not simply rubber stamp the findings and recommendations of the Executive Committee.

I want to publish the recommendations, but am having trouble inputting them into the blog. Instead, I will summarize the first three--which are the key ones--below. The last two relate two Board responsibilities.

The Big Three are as follows:

Unity

The first recommendation directs the Head of School to implement a single, consistent and unified program throughout the school, from ECC to 8th Grade. We cannot, the Board determined, have a school that offers one type of program in nursery school, one type of program in elementary school, and one type of program in middle school.

Rigor and Critical Thinking

The second recommendation directs the Head of School to implement an educational program characterized, in all respects, by academic rigor and critical thinking. This will be a Solomon Schechter program; a program that emphasizes knowledge and commitment as well as rigor and critical thinking in all areas, both secular and Jewish studies.

Accountability

The third recommendation directs the Head of School to prepare metrics to determine if the program is meeting its stated goals. We recognize that we cannot simply say that we produce academic success for our students; we have to demonstrate it through clear and unequivocal metrics.

Unity, Commitment, Rigor, Critical Thinking, and Accountability.

We now have a vision: an educational program that is rigorous and triggers critical thinking; a program that embraces community and demands commitment from all of us.

This will form the pathway to Kadima's future success.