Jewish educators enjoy
Chaye Kohl
Special To The Jewish State
The air was electric with the exchange of ideas and people networking when the Boston Sheraton hosted the PEJE (Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education) Assembly April 6-8. More than 1,300 Jewish day school leaders attended the PEJE Assembly for Jewish Day School Education, representing 265 schools and 140 non-school based organizations from 38 of the
There were also Jewish education representatives from
The conference, titled Linked for Learning: Positioned for Growth, began with pre-conference workshops. Most participants arrived for the Opening Plenary at 1 p.m., where they were greeted by an overflow crowd and addressed by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Elkin, Executive Director, and Ms. Amy Katz, Associate Director of PEJE.
Attendees, all affiliated with Jewish educational institutions, included, but were not limited to: heads of school; principals; directors of admission; directors of development; deans of admission; alumni program directors; board presidents and officers; directors of JCCs (Jewish Community Centers) as well as PEJE partners -- the donors who make the work of PEJE possible.
During each of the eight session slots there were 10-14 concurrent sessions from which participants could choose. Some sessions presented were: strategies for moving schools to the next level financially and educationally; guidelines for working with boards; plans for preventing student attrition; guidelines to attracting more students; information on mentoring faculty to assure retention of talent; and much more. At each session the participants filled notebooks with new ideas, collected handouts, and curriculum outlines.
At The LINC -- a vendor fair -- representatives were available for conferencing and coaching, and promotional materials were shared by vendors and PEJE partners; the fair ran all three days.
Educational leaders, who work long hours, often in isolation from colleagues in the field, look to PEJE to provide the chance for them to meet and schmooze with old friends in the education field, as well as meet professionals they had not met before. The conversations that buzzed between sessions and during cocktail hour or at meals were of paramount importance. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses were exchanged, with promises to keep the conversations going even after attendees returned to their homes.
PEJE, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, provides resources and facilitates partnerships that are beneficial to Jewish day schools. It connects Jewish day schools to agencies and ideas, encouraging best practices used by independent schools -- practices that can benefit Jewish day schools. Among the services PEJE provides are one-on-one coaching for board members as well as school administrators. Two of their most popular initiatives are: The Day School Peer Yardstick, which provides survey tools and comparative evaluations for schools seeking to improve; The Day School Match Program, which provides matching funds for gifts made by first time donors to day schools.
The earnest conversations, the brain trust, the wealth of experience found in any session made the conference the most exciting place for Jewish educators as they mingled, shared stories, and came up with new strategies. The World Cafe, a group that facilitates a moderated set of directed conversations, ran a three-hour morning session for PEJE participants. Participants were seated at tables of five, and using focused questions they searched for new ways to deal with the issues of leadership in Jewish education and the affordability of Jewish education. Ideas were harvested and posted on "story boards" in the main meeting area. The session also included poetry generated on the spot by a Jam poet.
Monday evening’s Gala Dinner featured Natan Sharansky as speaker. A short video gave an overview of his early life as a Soviet refusenik and his subsequent work in the Israeli government; this was used as an introduction. Sharansky received a standing ovation as he came to the podium. As he spoke, Sharansky emphasized the need for Jewish day school leaders to connect Jewish children to their Jewish identities and heritage. Using his experience in the Soviet prison system, and emphasizing what gave him courage to persevere, Sharansky said: "If you do not have a connection, an identity, you have nothing to live for."
He urged Jewish educators to influence those parents who do not want to give their children a Jewish day school education: "If we want our children to be productive citizens of the free world, we must strengthen their Jewish Identity."
[Author’s note: As a teenager, I was part of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry. When I marched, demonstrated, took part in candlelight vigils at the Soviet Embassy, and stuffed envelopes for the cause of freedom for Soviet Jews, I never imagined I would one day be privileged to sit in a room full of Jewish educators listening to one of the most famous refuseniks, who has become a seminal figure in
Early evening on April 8, educators and lay people, recharged and energized, departed
This reporter, boarding Amtrak for the return trip to
Chaye Kohl, her head teeming with new ideas about Jewish education, can be reached at: chayekohl@aol.com