EXECUTIVE'S CORNER
Lawrence M. Ziffer, Executive Vice President

It is difficult to believe that we’re already at the end of another school year. Across our community, families are celebrating the advancement and graduation of students from grade to grade and, in some instances, from school to school. Faculties and school administrators are reflecting upon the year just ended, with new professional development programs, new curricula, new efforts to engage families and new facility enhancements. All of these accomplishments will be carried forward into 5768/2007-08. And so the Jewish cycle of life, as reflected in our Jewish educational calendar, goes on.

Here at the CJE we are also reflecting on a year of experiments, accomplishments, new initiatives, adjusted priorities, budget realities and our commitment to continuing quality improvement. Many of our achievements are related to the guidance of our officers and board, as reflected in our tribute to CJE outgoing president, Annette Saxon. Along the way, we have also collected valuable insights from our constituencies about their challenges. These become our challenges as we work to fulfill the expectations that accompany our description as the community’s central Jewish education resource and service agency.

We are particularly excited about the study conducted on our behalf by JESNA (Jewish Education Service of North America). Having completed scores of key-informant interviews and focus group meetings, JESNA has provided us with an outline for future growth and responsiveness. The study includes a review of “best practices” in a number of comparable central agencies in other communities. The achievements and resources of other communities will be a wonderful resource for future planning at CJE.

And future planning is our next big challenge. As Eve Kresin Steinberg assumes the presidency of CJE for the next two years, she has clearly indicated her intention to conduct a strategic planning review utilizing the findings of the JESNA study and dovetailing with The Associated’s Visioning Process. We already know that we will be devoting considerable effort to The Associated’s target areas, which include outreach to families with young children, Jewish engagement of teens, and strengthening our community’s connection to Israel.

There is great excitement in the air with the beginning of The Associated/Weinberg Foundation grant for day schools. We look forward to working with all of our local day schools to assist them in complying with their requirements to access these critical resources. We also look forward to working with our congregational school colleagues to continue our discussion about the financial challenges they face. We are particularly pleased to continue our special relationship with the Charles Crane Family Foundation, which provides critical financial support for professional development, educator benefits and many of our innovative educational initiatives.

TRIBUTE TO OUTGOING PRESIDENT: ANNETTE G SAXON

One of the hallmarks of Annette’s presidency has been her infectious enthusiasm! Annette brought this quality to every meeting, whether she was the convener or an attendee, and this inspired people to become more involved. Gifts to THE ASSOCIATED were larger and closed earlier, board meeting attendance has been at an all-time high, and we have had fun along the way!

Annette’s training and experience in marketing resulted in a new emphasis on developing the image of CJE. After all, how can we provide quality services if educators, parents or community members are unaware of the resources available through CJE? A new brochure, an attractive new website, WYPR interview, and feature articles in the Owings Mills Times, Maryland Family, The Jewish Times and even the Baltimore Sun were great ways to spread the word about CJE.

Under Annette’s watchful eye, many other exciting initiatives were started. One important example was the creation of the new position of day school liaison. This position, funded by the Charles Crane Family Foundation, was particularly timely since it coincided with the announcement of a generous $16 million gift from The Weinberg Foundation and The Associated to provide supplemental funding for day schools over the next five years. During Annette’s presidency, CJE saw an increase from several outside funding sources like these.

Some other areas of visible achievement: Students “became the voices” of Holocaust survivors in a program funded by the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Fund for the Enrichment of Jewish Education. Local educators traveled to Ashkelon and implemented programs with their partner schools with funds provided by the Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership Committee. The Charles Crane Family Foundation provided a two-year commitment of $100,000 for special education enhancement grants, raising the bar of school capacity for meeting special education service needs. Other achievements included increased funds for teens traveling to Israel and the opportunity to work with THE ASSOCIATED’s Center for Funds and Foundations to develop fundable projects for donors who want to “follow their philanthropic dollars.”

CJE’s commitment to learning and teaching, most central to the agency’s mission, found new and creative outlets. There was a new kind of excitement as adults jumped into studying Jewish ideas through our “Power of an Hour” campaign, our Jewish Speed Learning program and our special website, www.jewishlearningconnection.org, which connects people to all of the adult study possibilities in Baltimore. More educators than ever benefited from the HaMoreh mentorship program, attended our new annual day school teachers’ conference, and participated in our fascinating theme-based Rimon professional development workshop series. Young children and their caregivers joined us weekly for Toddler Tales in a format that included story telling and crafts around Jewish topics and holiday themes. In all of this work, Annette never tired of challenging us to make sure that our programs, services and messages about the importance of Jewish education were reaching the maximum number of participants.

All on the CJE Board know that Annette is a stalwart and enthusiastic partner in conveying the importance of the work of CJE to The Associated (and making sure that The Associated’s message is transmitted effectively and passionately to the CJE leadership). In advocating for Jewish education in the community, Annette’s spirit never flagged. We wish Annette much hatzlacha (success) as she continues in her leadership role as a future 2009 Campaign Chair of the Women’s Department at the Associated. We appreciate all of the time and effort that Annette dedicated to her role as president during these past two years and for many prior years as an active board member, devoting her attention to the enhancement of Jewish education in Baltimore.

BECOMING THE VOICES: A NEW GENERATION SPEAKS FOR HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

In the innovative Becoming the Voices program, groups of students from Jewish and non-Jewish schools spend time with a Holocaust survivor and a professional storyteller, learning the details of the survivor’s story to share with others. This CJE program is possible with support from the Baltimore Jewish Council (BJC) and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Fund for the Enrichment of Jewish Education of THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore.

This year’s community-wide Yom HaShoah event, coordinated by the BJC, recognized Becoming the Voices and two other unique education programs in the Baltimore area—programs that bring to life the stories of those who perished and of those who survived during the tragedy we call the Shoah. One of our groups, a cluster of eighth graders from St. Mark’s School and Krieger-Schechter Middle School, shared a dramatic presentation of a survivor’s story as a part of their participation in the project.

 “These kids have clearly been transformed by this process,” says Caron Blau Rothstein, CJE’s director of special projects who coordinates the program. “I really believe they will take this experience with them the rest of their lives… And it gives the survivors hope that their stories will continue to be told after they’re gone. It gives them some kind of hope that the lessons are not going to die with them.”

Krieger-Schechter’s Devin Krol wishes everyone could have the experience she did through Becoming the Voices. “It was just a great learning experience, and I think everyone should have this learning opportunity,” she says enthusiastically. “I was really lucky to be chosen for it.”

CJE is delighted to announce that through the continued generosity of the Blaustein Fund, Becoming the Voices will continue into the 2007-2008 school year with plans to develop a written curriculum so that other communities can take advantage of our experiences.

SUMMER READING CLUB

Calling all kids ages 4–10!

Summer is here and with it comes lots of free time for children. An annual program of the CJE is The Summer Reading Club. Open to all youngsters in the Baltimore community, CJE’s Summer Reading Club offers incentives and prizes to those who sign up to read a minimum number of books on the annual topic. This year, in celebration of 40 years since Jerusalem’s reunification, and 60 years of the State of Israel, participants will be reading books from CJE’s Sifria (Lending Library) about our homeland and its capital city. CJE maintains a collection of fiction publications, as well as biographies and history books that relate directly to this theme.

The Summer Reading Club will run June 18-August 17 with participants (and their families for the younger ones) reading eight or more books. This year, we also invite participants to use the resources of CJE’s crafts room to create descriptive pieces about the books they read.

STAR CJE STAFFER

STAR: Skills to Achieve Results is a workshop series focused on integrating management skills with Jewish learning, providing STAR fellows with the tools to succeed and to ultimately remain in the field. STAR participants were nominated by their organization and selected as fellows to increase their knowledge and network with each other. This series is an initiative in continuing professional education of the Darrell D. Friedman Institute for Professional Development at the Weinberg Center. We are so proud of our latest CJE STAR Fellow, Shayna Levine-Hefetz, Director of Special Education Services. We look forward to learning from Shayna’s experiences and know we will all benefit from her participation. Kol HaKavod Shayna!

INNOVATIVE ECE CONFERENCE

This year’s Early Childhood Educators’ Conference on March 14 was unprecedented in participation and presentation. Seventeen teachers from area preschools designed 12 classrooms representing ideal environments in which young children can learn. The topics represented were Math and Numbers, Science and Nature, Experiential Art, Music, Israel, Jewish Integration, Family Involvement and Language and Literacy. Three-hundred and sixty teachers visited the rooms, took copious notes on what to adopt and adapt for their school classrooms and engaged in meaningful conversations and text study as they considered the values of these environments for children. Nancy Bossov, a leading Jewish early childhood education expert, was the keynote speaker. Teachers are already anticipating next year’s conference and are planning showcase rooms as of this publication.

For more information about future professional development opportunities for early childhood educators, please contact DJ Schneider Jensen at 410 735-5021 or djensen@cjebaltimore.org

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This year’s professional development theme was G-d and Spirituality, which carried through our Rimon Series, Yom Iyun and Early Childhood Education Conference. Many times children have questions about G-d, and teachers are unsure of how to answer them. We wanted to give teachers the opportunity to consider how G-d enters their lives and to contemplate their own relationship with G-d. In turn, this personal exploration better enables them to do the same for their students, creating an environment in their classrooms and schools that invites spiritual exploration. Rabbi Lawrence Kushner helped provide inspiration in this journey as the keynote speaker at CJE’s Yom Iyun in January.

Looking ahead to the coming program year, professional development will focus on Connections. It will include spiritual aspects—connections between people and G-d and connections between individuals and the community through mitzvot. It will include relational aspects—connections between teachers and parents, teachers and students, students and students, teachers and teachers. It will also include scientific aspects, such as what brain research has to say about the way children learn. It will also include specific pedagogy that teachers can use to help foster these connections. The possibilities are endless, and we are eagerly assembling next year’s Rimon schedule of presenters, so stay tuned.

Next year’s Yom Iyun will be Sunday, November 4, 2007. The day will focus on connections between teachers and students, with well-known educator and author Lori Palatnik as the keynote speaker.

For more information about any of CJE’s professional development programming, please contact Monica Gwon at 410-735-5014 or mgwon@cjebaltimore.org.

SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES: IDENTIFYING AND MEETING CRITICAL NEEDS

CJE’s special education services staff is working hard to enhance services to children with special needs, their teachers and families. Here are some of this year’s highlights:

SEEP
Special Education Enhancement Project (SEEP) grants, made possible through the generosity of the Charles Crane Family Foundation, funded $100,000 worth of projects in schools to increase the capacity to effectively integrate and serve students with a variety of special needs.

SEEP grants are being successfully  implemented at nine area Jewish day schools, early childhood  centers and religious schools. Temple Isaiah Religious School Director,  Marge Gold, reports that the SEEP grants have enabled the synagogue to fully  include every child with special needs enrolled in their religious school and  preschool. The students receiving inclusion support are more comfortable with their peers and participating in synagogue life. Mrs. Faye Friedman, Interim  Administrator of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Academy, summed up her school’s success with the adaptive technology  they implemented  “if they could see just one little seven-year-old  boy for whom writing is a major challenge using the Alpha Smart (purchased with a SEEP grant) to take his spelling test, they would know they got their money’s worth!”

STARS
The new STARS Program (Students Testing Assistance, Referrals and Support) will launch in June. Also made possible by the Charles Crane Family Foundation, the goal of this program is to provide support to families and schools as they pursue assessments for students with suspected disabilities, as well as provide funding to ensure that families with financial need can have access to assessments that the school system does not provide.

Yad B’Yad: When Yellow and Blue Make Green – Learning Disabilities and Giftedness
More than 150 Jewish educators, professionals and parents representing day, congregational and preschools from across the Jewish ideological spectrum attended this year’s Yad b’Yad three-part workshop series. Participants left each session thirsty for more knowledge about these important topics—so much so that we can’t keep the 50 new books on these topics on our resource center shelves! Our goal for the workshop was to help participants adapt their teaching methods for use in an inclusive Jewish classroom. In addition, we continue to maintain our listserv that enables workshop participants to connect between sessions. Registered participants received a complimentary copy of the professionally published Let’s Talk and Listen Today! Calendar of Daily Activities for Teaching Listening and Language Skills, coauthored by our presenter, Dr. Jean Blosser, Ed.D.

PEN Project
This year, the PEN Project (Partnership for Educational Needs) expanded to include a self-contained general studies Gold Class for middle school boys with learning disabilities and Asperger’s Syndrome and an Academic Support Initiative providing inclusion facilitation for general studies for middle school girls. Both programs are housed in area Jewish day schools. The PEN Project continues to work toward ensuring that culturally appropriate educational options are available to children with disabilities in the Jewish community, with the hope that the initiative’s impact will continue to grow.

WELCOME GILA HAOR

We are pleased to welcome Gila Haor to our staff as Coordinator of the STARS program and a Community Wide Reading Initiative that will launch in the fall. Gila received her Masters Degree in Special Education from Johns Hopkins University and has also been trained in both Orton Gillingham and Schools Attuned-All Kinds of Minds (with Dr. Mel Levine). Building on her various special education and administrative experiences in public and private schools, Gila is committed to ensuring that CJE Special Education Services continues to meet the needs of our community.

YEAR IN PHOTOS

WHAT’S NEW IN ADULT ED

CJE is bringing two new adult education initiatives to Baltimore during 2007-08, a program for parents of young Jewish children and a Jewish book project open to the whole community.

The first program, Ikkarim, is a 19-week adult learning program for parents of Jewish children, newborn to age 5. By focusing on parents of young children, Ikkarim targets a population whose needs have not been met in traditional adult education formats.

By engaging parents of young children in a structured adult Jewish learning program with their peers, Ikkarim helps parents answer the question of what it means to raise Jewish children, encouraging them to make Jewish choices in educating their youngsters. Other goals of Ikkarim include building community and adult Jewish literacy and deepening engagement in Jewish life for the adult participants. We will pilot Ikkarim with Baltimore Hebrew Congregation as our inaugural site in October 2007.

The essence of the second initiative, On the Same Page, is for adults to read the same book at the same time and participate in local events designed around the theme of the book chosen. On the Same Page builds on the popularity of Jewish book clubs and offers an opportunity for adults who wish to enter discussions about Jewish culture, history, family relationships, politics and modern Jewish life. We expect to pilot On The Same Page in the spring of 2008.

CALENDAR AT A GLANCE

HOLIDAYS Jewish holidays start at sunset the evening before

COMMUNITY

PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

RESOURCE CENTER HOURS
June & July — M, Tu, Th (9am–5pm) | W (9am–7pm) | F (9am–4pm)
August — (same as above) & Sunday (10am–12pm)