Whirlwind.

Updated--October 20, 2009.

The last several days have been a bit of a whirlwind.

Last week, we learned that our principal, Yuri Hronsky, had accepted a position as Head of School at Heschel West Day School, beginning next year. Yuri is an integral part of our administration, serving as the principal of the school, and having previously ran the middle school. As you might expect, for a school like Kadima that has been through much change lately, the announcement that Yuri is leaving was disappointing to many of us. We had hoped that he would be part of our team for some time. But it is not uncommon for people to move on when opportunity knocks.

But just as opportunity knocked for Yuri, so it has for Kadima. Bill Cohen, our head of school, will be searching for the best principal we can find. It really is a chance for us to continue our effort to move forward and place in that position a strong academic leader for the school.

Change is hard. It is much easier to be just keep things the way they are. But it remains fundamental to Kadima's future success. Yet, the leadership recognizes that only through conducting our own critical thinking and analysis (we don't just want our school to teach these values, we have to exercise them ourselves), can we continue to work to make Kadima a unique place, where academic values permeate both general and Judaic studies, a place where kids learn to question and analyze, to live and to love, all guided by the wisdom of Torah.