Community Day School begins new era of outreach

The New Orleans Jewish Day School officially became the Community Day School in brief ceremonies at the Metairie Goldring-Woldenberg Campus it calls home. A crowd of 100 students, parents, teachers and community leaders gathered to listen to remarks by head of school Bob Berk and Jefferson Parish president John Young. Berk explained that Young was committed to being at three other events that evening, but made plans to be at the renaming because of his commitment to education. Young spoke briefly to the crowd and thanked the school for allowing him to be a part of the celebration.

Jefferson Parish president John Young (left inset) with singing group Pey Dalid at the Community Day School event (Photo: Alan Smason).

The new logo for Community Day School shows a spreading tree with the words “Learn. Love. Live.” underneath. Berk explained that the logo had no religious significance, but was intended to be symbolic of growth, the primary reason behind the name change. “When you think of trees, you think of growth. You think of kids playing and climbing in a tree. It works in a lot of different ways,” he said.

Berk, now in his fourth year as head of school, reflected that the name change was more than cosmetic. “The board had been thinking about this for a while, but in the spring we embarked on a significant process,” he continued. “How do we do a better job of reaching out to the Jewish community and the outside community?”

Berk contends the name change will say to parents that the school’s assets will now be defined by its outreach to both the Greater New Orleans community in general as well as the Jewish community more specifically. “This is really just about saying if you have a family in the area, then this school can be part of your family. We want people to be part of our community and the more kids that will join us, the stronger we will be.”

Board president Dashka Roth agreed. “I think that it shows who we are,” she said. “Some people will know it now as Community Day School and it will speak to what we stand for: educating our community’s children and that they don’t have to necessarily be Jewish.”

Berk emphasized the curriculum will not change. Hebrew as a foreign language will still be taught, beginning in kindergarten. Tefilah (prayer) will continue to be a part of the school day. Older students will learn from the Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers).

Berk believes teaching Hebrew at such an early age is a big plus for the school and one of the main reasons parents outside of the Jewish community may be interested in enrolling their children. “Foreign language helps kids to develop their brains,” he said citing “many, many” studies that support that contention.

Neither Roth nor Berk wanted to give out current enrollment figures. Berk said he would like to see as many as 12-15 children in each of the school’s six grades after this initiative is finished. “70 to 90 kids is our goal and we think we can get there,” he quipped. Roth concured. “If we have 70 to 90 students, that would be a critical mass,” she agreed.

“Our changing our name is about making sure that the school stays as a fixture of the Jewish community for years to come,” Berk continued. “The demographics just don’t work for the Jewish Day School. There aren’t enough Jews to make us financially viable.”

Berk said a huge marketing campaign is about to be unveiled. “We’ve got a lot in the works,” he explained, making specific mentions to playground advertising, streetcar signs, and billboards. “A blitz is coming up in the next month or two,” he boasted.

Berk said the focus of the campaign will be to reach two targets. “The Jewish community. That’s our number one target,” he said. “The number two target are those that would want a choice for another independent school.”

Berk believes the Community Day School is in very rarefied educational air. “I would be willing to put up any amount of there are few elementary schools that have the facility, the curriculum or academic excellence we have,” the administrator said. “How many independent schools have their own laptops?” he questioned. “How many schools have their own pool? We’re proud of it.”

Starting this year, the Community Day School began collecting vouchers in a new program administered by the state of Louisiana. Roth stated that five kindergarten students have begun using them this year and that more students will be using the program next year in kindergarten as students advance. “It helps us with diversity, which we really value,” she stated. “And it helps us financially.”

As board president, Roth also felt it important to stress the school is still accepting donations from all quarters. “We certainly would happily accept any donation from people who believe in Jewish education and want to see this school survive,” she noted.

If the drive to gain more student enrollment is successful, Roth stated for the record that Community Day School will increase the size of its staff to accommodate those new students.

“We have, I believe, the most vibrant, exciting and wonderful Jewish community (here) in New Orleans and probably anywhere else in the country,” she concluded.  “Part of the reason we have this kind of Jewish community has to do with the synagogues we have, the rabbis we have and the Jewish organizations we have. This community day school is one of those organizations.”

The celebration continued for an hour with a dairy meal provided by the school and entertainment by singing musical group Pey Dalid.