NOJDS opens doors for 2012-13 school year
As the 8 o’clock hour approached last Monday morning, Bob Berk, PhD., the head of school for the New Orleans Jewish Day School (NOJDS), girded for the first rush of cars that would deliver his new and old charges for yet another school year. He put on his broadest smile and opened doors for the young students who were to be part of the 16th historic year of operations for NOJDS. Parents greeted him with a sigh of relief and a knowing look that, after seeing him at the helm again, all was going to be right with the world now that school was open for the new calendar year.
Bob Berk, head of school for the New Orleans Jewish Day School, greets a student arrival to the campus. (Photo courtesy Laren Ungar)
Contacted by telephone and through an email interview, Berk reflected on the challenges of the coming school year and in particular about the nine new students and four new teachers joining his faculty this year. “We’re very excited about the coming school year for a variety of reasons,” he responded. “First, we have some terrific new families and teachers that have only added to the strength of this community. Second, we love educating students in a thoughtful manner (and), third, last year’s students scored amazingly well on our standardized tests. We’re very proud of the entire school’s performance.”
All new students were given small bouquets of flowers to welcome them on the first day of classes and, unlike most other days, the entire school enjoyed lunch and recess together. Teachers reinforced the Birkat Hamazon(grace after meals) that returning students knew well and helped teach the prayers to new students.
Students ushered in by parents for the first day of class at the New Orleans Jewish Day School. (Photo courtesy of Lauren Ungar)
Berk reiterated the importance of his work and that of the faculty in fostering a Jewish identity for students. “We know from research that Jewish day school education is the strongest predictor of connection to Judaism and the Jewish community as an adult,” Berk continued “We’re proud to do our part in strengthening Jewish communities of today and tomorrow.”
Students on the first day of class at the New Orleans Jewish Day School (Photo courtesy Lauren Ungar).
Throughout the day, students began their lessons, learning about each other in the classrooms, playing games and working together to create classroom rules and jobs with their teachers. Berk was on top of it all, making sure the transition from summer break to the start of school was smooth. At the end of the day, parents, students and faculty were very happy with the start of the new school program.
CCJN: What new programs, if any, are you instituting?
Berk: Stay tuned for mid-September.
CCJN: What is being done to attract new students, particularly in the older classes?
Berk: We have begun a new marketing campaign aimed at reaching out to more in the Jewish community and the greater New Orleans community as a whole. We know that what we do at NOJDS would appeal to more in the community if they only knew the details of a NOJDS education.
CCJN: How do you measure the quantitative results of your success?
Berk: Like other schools, we use standardized tests as one measure of student learning. We are incredibly proud of our results. We also look at the schools that our kids attend in sixth grade and how they do in high school and college. while not quantitative, we are also very interested in our students’ Jewish literary and connection to the Jewish community. This is harder to measure, but at the heart of what we do for this community.
CCJN: How is the financial support for your school coming along?
Berk: We are incredibly grateful for all the support that we have received from the community – most especially the increase in support from the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans (JFGNO) and Jewish Endowment Foundation of Louisiana (JEF). Their added dollars have been instrumental in allowing us to continue at a level of excellence that they community expects.
CCJN: Where is there room for more support? From institutions like JEF and JFGNO or individuals?
Berk: The greatest support that we get is through word of mouth. We encourage everybody to come and take a tour and meet our families and teachers.
(Editor’s note: NOJDS marketing associate and assistant teacher Lauren Ungar contributed to this story.)
