The four heads of our Jewish day schools come together for another amazing video! Watch now to see the special project they've been cooking up. The collaboration continues!

Provided by New Jersey Jewish News (NJJN)

Following rules, seeking approval, and mastering specific content are far less important in the classroom than collaboration and creative thinking. To succeed in contemporary society, today’s students need a skill set different from the ones in traditional classrooms, which are inspired by the needs of the industrial age, according to Mike Anderson, keynote speaker at the 2019 Quest for Teaching Excellence Conference for Greater MetroWest day school educators on Nov. 5.

The event was organized by Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ’s Day School Initiative. Over 450 teachers from all four area day schools — Golda Och Academy in West Orange, Gottesman RTW Academy in Randolph, Jewish Educational Center schools in Elizabeth, and the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston — gathered for the fourth biannual day of learning.

Provided by Jewish Link of New Jersey (JLNJ)

The fourth bi-annual Quest Conference for Day School Teachers, attended by 450 local day school educators, was hosted last week at Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School (JKHA/RKYHS) in Livingston. This year’s theme was “The World in Our Jewish Day Schools: How the Social, Cultural and Political Climates Impact Our Work.”

Funded through the Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ and Day School Council, the Quest Conference was spearheaded by Jerry Gottesman, z”l, and his wife, Paula, who was honored in celebration of her 85th birthday.

The conference was attended by every teacher from all four Greater MetroWest day schools, including JKHA/RKYHS, Golda Och Academy in West Orange, Bruriah School for Girls/Jewish Educational Center (JEC) in Elizabeth and Gottesman RTW Academy (GRTWA) in Randolph. Held biannually, it just celebrated its eighth anniversary with an overarching program goal of building academic excellence with affordable schools so that all the children appreciate their value in the Jewish community.

The keynote address, “The World Is Changing—So Should School,” was presented by Mike Anderson from New Hampshire, who started his career working as an elementary school teacher for 15 years. Noting how the world of work is changing, he revealed that his mother worked one job until retirement, while he is on his second career in addition to having penned several books on education. His assumption is that, the way things are going, his kids will need seven jobs throughout their work life.

We invest in STUDENTS, by investing in our TEACHERS! Learn how in this video from the Quest for Teaching Excellence Conference.

Provided by New Jersey Jewish News

JEWISH FEDERATION of Greater MetroWest NJ held its third biannual Quest for Teaching Excellence Conference on Nov. 7. 

The conference, a community collaboration promoting professional development, brought together more than 450 teachers and staff from the region’s Jewish day schools: Gottesman RTW Academy (GRTWA) in Randolph, Golda Och Academy (GOA) in West Orange, Jewish Educational Center (JEC) in Elizabeth, and Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School (JKHA-RKYHS) in Livingston.

At the conference, the Greater MetroWest Day School Initiative (DSI) launched two projects:

The Jerry Gottesman Fund for the Pursuit of Teaching Excellence: a $250,000 endowment of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest NJ (JCF) created in memory of the day school benefactor and leader, who died Sept. 10 while in Israel with family. Gottesman, with his wife, Paula, was the initiative’s lead benefactor for more than a decade and first envisioned the partnership of the denominationally diverse schools. 

Donors representing the four schools made gifts in his memory to the JCF to establish the fund, and matching funds came through the Paula and Jerry Gottesman Family Supporting Foundation. The new fund will provide an award every other year to honor one educator from each of the schools.

(Courtesy of JFGMW) Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ held its third bi-annual Quest for Teaching Excellence Conference on November 7. The conference is a community collaboration promoting professional development that brought together more than 450 teachers and staff from the four Greater MetroWest Jewish day schools—The Gottesman RTW Academy (GRTWA) in Randolph, the Golda Och Academy (GOA) in West Orange, the Jewish Educational Center (JEC) in Elizabeth,and the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School (JKHA/RKYHS) in Livingston. As in the past, the conference was hosted at JKHA/RKYHS.

The conference is part of the Greater MetroWest NJ Day School Initiative, Federation’s ambitious and multi-faceted investment to enhance academic excellence for every educator and every student, and to make the day school experience more affordable for families. It provides a day of workshops for teachers from early childhood through high school and this year’s theme was “How Social and Emotional Intelligence Impact Teaching and Ourselves.” In her keynote address, Dr. Robin Stern, the associate director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, talked about how emotions matter and how teachers can help develop their students’ emotional intelligence.

Close to 100 Jewish day school lay and professional leaders and donors from across Greater MetroWest gathered on November 17 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our community’s unique day school collaboration and to welcome leaders of the new national day school organization, Prizmah, which developed from the merger of five individual organizations.

The event, held at the Golda Och Academy Upper School, marked a decade of extensive, integrated work among the diverse Jewish day schools. Coordinated by Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation of Greater MetroWest NJ, the collaborative efforts include marketing, teacher professional development, and tuition grants, all with the goal of enhancing excellence, affordability, and long-term sustainability. The collaboration began with three schools in 2006, and now includes four schools: Golda Och Academy in West Orange, Gottesman RTW Academy in Randolph, the Jewish Educational Center (JEC) in Elizabeth, and Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy/Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston.

Last Sunday I travelled to New York’s Upper West Side with fellow day school leaders, parents, alumni, teachers, and students to represent our community and our Jewish Day Schools at the Columbus Ave. Street Fair. Our location could not have been more ideal at 75th and Columbus, and the weather held up nicely despite the forecast for rain.

We coordinated our booth to be next to a Kosher food truck selling bbq fresh from West Orange, and together we distributed “Make the Smart Move” balloons and cool swag to our New York City neighbors. The real treat was meeting young families who were interested in learning more about us.

Who are you? What school are you here from? Where are you located?

Paula Gottesman could not have been happier. The philanthropist supporting the Jewish community of Greater  MetroWest’s Vision 2025 education innovation talked about the “profound influence” teachers have on their students and how glad she was to see instructors from three different schools working together to improve that influence.

She was the donor behind the November 6 ‘Quest for Teaching Excellence’ Conference, a joint professional development day hosted by the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, and including teachers from the Golda Och Academy and Gottesman RTW Academy.

“The thing I’m most excited about is the collaboration and assistance between the schools, instead of rivalry,” said Gottesman, who attended the program. “Now everyone has benefited from it. I’m so pleased by the way the schools have bought into the opportunities offered to them. The quality just goes up for everyone.”