Catholic School?

In discussing marketing initiatives, we've learned that a larger than you'd think number of Jewish families send their kids to Catholic schools. Catholic sponsored schools are less expensive (they generally receive funds from the local Archdiocese) and in some cases, are fairly gentle in the fervor of their religious presentation. They are respectful to other cultures and religious traditions. The thought arose as to why these families were not attending Jewish private school and what we could do to attract them to our school.

We haven't come to any conclusions, but my own view is that these families probably are not a target audience for a Jewish day school. Jewish day schools probably cost 40% more, and if a Jewish family is prepared to send their child to a Catholic school, the "Jewish" part of our program is probably not something that is compelling to them. These families could have chosen to send their children to public school or a secular independent school but made a specific choice (motivated by perhaps financial concerns, since a secular independent school is much more costly than a Catholic school) to send their children to a non-Jewish religious school. That choice, in my view, speaks volumes about their beliefs about the importance of Jewish education.

Hiatus.

I don't know if anyone is still checking this, but I've been on a bit of a hiatus as we enter summer. We're still working at Kadima, but things are bit slower now.

So be patient. Regular entries will resume soon.

A Couple of Great Days.

Last Sunday, we celebrated my son's Bar Mitzvah, and it was a wonderful day for our family. My son led the entire service, read all of the Torah portions, and led the entire community in the Hallel. It was a great advertisement for Kadima, and how a Jewish private school education--along with participation in synagogue and Camp Ramah--can help create a Jewish neshama. We were all extremely proud of Avi.

Yesterday, I started the morning by attending a celebration at Kadima wherein we dedicated the school's Torah in memory of Annalee Kaplan. The Kaplan family was there, and they saw our elementary school doven their morning prayers and sing with gusto; more importantly, they saw how their gift to the school will help our students continue their love of Torah and Jewish life. Perhaps even more importantly, the kids saw the importance of tzedakah, and how by giving charity and performing acts of kindness we can honor those whom we love.

Last evening, I attend Kadima's graduation of our eighth graders. Some of these students have been with us for a decade, and one family has put four kids in the school, and for the first time in 17 years will not be a Kadima family. The graduates were terrific; they clearly are close with each other and understand the importance of community.

And of course, on Monday, we had an Executive Committee meeting, followed by a four hour Board meeting.

It's been an exhausting, but uplifting, few days.

Proposed Board Slate.

Under the school's Bylaws, the Board elects the Board based upon a slate prepared by the Nominating Committee. Pam Teitelbaum chaired the Nominating Committee this year, her Committee has proposed the following slate, to be voted upon by the Board at its meeting on June 14.

The Officers of the School (most are serving the second year of a two year term)
Jack Sholkoff, President
Mark Teitelbaum, Executive Vice President
Brett Grauman, Vice-President, Finance
Rabbi Jay Strear, Vice President
Richard Spencer, Vice President of Trustees (to stand for election on June 14)
Pam Teitelbaum, Vice-President
Richard Abronson, Secretary
Shawn Evenhaim, Immediate Past President

The following are proposed to serve two year terms on the Board.

Suzy Bookbinder, Raz Bronstein, Eli Shetrit, Ester Vered, Katie Krause, Mike Resnick, Bronwyn Spencer, Natalie Spiewak

The following are proposed to serve a one year term on the Board.

Jackie Feldman, Rich Ross, Lina Soifer, Rabbi Richard Camras, Dave Leon, Gary Raikin.

This is a great group of people to lead Kadima into the future.

Hiatus.

I simply have not had time to sit down and blog. My son's Bar Mitzvah is this weekend and that is the focus of everything right now.

There is much to write about, though. Both of our new principals start soon, and have already made rounds meeting families. We're also preparing for culmination, a new "rising up" ceremony that each elementary school child will experience at the end of the year, as well as graduation. And we're working on the budget, we have to elect next year's board, begin strategic thinking for next year, and work, as always, on fundraising issues. So there's a lot going on.

But until this Sunday, my focus is on my son and his big day.

Blog Comes Back.

I think that this was longest silence between posts. I've been busy practicing law and focusing upon my son's upcoming Bar Mitzvah, which leaves little time for blogging.

But we've been having lots of interesting discussions at Kadima, and are moving forward toward next year.

On Friday, June 4, Kristi Combs, are new General Studies principal, will meet our parents. Tonight, both Kristi and Michal, our new Judaic Studies principal, met many elementary school families at our open house.

There is lots of energy, lots of vision, and lots of action at Kadima.

I'll try to write more substantively, soon.

A Shining Moment.

Yesterday, we had our Family Adventure day, and it was terrific. Thanks to so many people, including, but not limited to, Franci Levine-Grater, our Director of Development, Bill Cohen, our Head of School, and Jay Strear, our Vice President, Advancement, for making the day a wonderful one. We had many volunteers who made the day a success, too.

While we will look at the numbers from the event over the next day or two, the real benefit of this type of event is that people spend the day together enjoying and becoming part of, our community. Whether it was enjoying a massive volleyball game, flying on the zip line, or experiencing the foam cannon (the latter really should be rented for a Board meeting), people had a great time and felt part of a great community.

We have our challenges at Kadima, but for one brief shining moment, that was largely forgotten, as we came together and enjoyed a beautiful and wonderful day.