Columbia Jewish Community School

Year in Review: 2009-10

Between the pattern of High Holidays in the fall, and record amounts of snowfall in the winter, this has certainly proven to be an “interesting” year for CJCS.  In many respects, it has been business as usual….but of course, at CJCS, that means plenty of creative activity!

First, for those who are not aware, here are some CJCS “basics”: We currently have 280 students at CJCS ranging from Pre-K through 12^th grades. As our school has grown, we have enjoyed bulging numbers in some grades; our current 6^th Grade and 2^nd Grade both have nearly 40 students and most grades have two class sections. The bulk of activity takes place on Sunday mornings at the Oakland Mills High School, but we also have a very popular teen class that meets on Thursday nights.  

Any assessments of our year must begin with the quality of our staff. This year, like most, we have enjoyed a good mix of both veteran teachers who have been at CJCS for multiple years and a handful of teachers who are in their first year with us (and no significant teaching vacancies). We also enjoy critical assistance from a phenomenal group of nearly two dozen teens that serve as Student Aides and perform a huge variety of critical tasks. Our staff team has been very capably led by Ahuva Radzyner, now completing her second year as the CJCS principal, and we look forward to the continuity that she has brought to this role. And of course, CJCS continues to benefit from the dependable oversight of our long-time director, Jerry Kiewe.

Similarly, CJCS has benefitted from the “behind the scenes” support of its board of directors, which also continues to be a good mix of both veterans and newer additions. Though there is occasional concern when longtime veterans depart, we always seem to manage to find reliable new members. (And for those who may be interested, we are always happy to welcome new appointees to our CJCS board!)

Meanwhile here is a short list of some of the highlights and achievements that have occurred at CJCS this past year:

Excellent attendance at monthly L’Dor Va’Dor services! This year we also scheduled some of these for early Friday nights and based upon positive results, will continue to do so in the year ahead. Considerable time and attention was also devoted to delineating assignments of prayers to classes for these services, with good results;

Continued use of the CJCSings CDs which provide an easy means for students and parents alike to familiarize themselves with prayers and tunes that are used in services at CJC;

The operation of our Resource Room, so very capably facilitated by Janet King, has been nothing short of AMAZING this year. Managing a caseload of 20-30 students, the Resource Room has been instrumental in helping students to overcome particular challenges to the learning process. We are rightfully proud of the level of support that we provide;  

We have had the usual array of field trips - to “Jewish Baltimore”, to the local Matzah factory, our annual trip to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, with more to come; in a few weeks our youngest grades will be going to the Zoo and our 3^rd grade will be having its “Pet Day” program;

Special programs this year included Opening Day, our annual Chanukah program, “Journey Through the Haggadah,” and Tzedakah Fair, and we still have our Red Cross Blood Drive and end-of-year celebration ahead. These are some of our most “visible” activities, which are sometimes taken for granted, but all went very well this year. As always, much thanks for this goes to our many ever-reliable and capable parent volunteers – especially Marcy Quill, who took the initiative on our Chanukah program, and Mary Berkman and Laura Lehman, our amazing Volunteer Coordinators;

Continued implementation of the “Book Discussion” program for our 4^th – 7^th grades, in which both students and their parents are encouraged to read a designated Jewish book together and then participate in a guided discussion;

The continued involvement of Rabbi Starr and Cantor Morrison, who make periodic visits to our classrooms and lead services on Sunday mornings, helps our students to make positive connections with our clergy;

Periodic storytelling sessions, so capably delivered by Marc Young, our “in-house” Jewish storyteller, help “bring to life” some of the Biblical texts and add an important dimension to our teachings;

Faculty meetings have been held periodically throughout the year and these have been well-attended and are much appreciated by our teachers;

Similarly, a program that we initiated several years ago now requires 8^th graders who wish to serve as Student Aides to participate in a one-year “Student Aide Training” program before they can become full-fledged Student Aides. This has noticeably upgraded the quality of service provided by our aides;

Dependable delivery of communications to parents; CJCS sends a comprehensive school-wide email communication each week and individual teachers send weekly email communications of their own;

Our Thursday evening teen program continues to provide our teens with an opportunity to discuss issues relevant to their changing lives and they definitely cherish the time that they spend with their peers;

Often taken for granted – which is probably the highest compliment it can be paid – is the continued operation of our ever-popular Snack Shack which provides pizza snacks and drinks during our mid-morning break;

The continued strong presence of the CJCS Library, which offers an ever-increasing selection of Jewish book opportunities for students and parents alike;  

Our CJCS Shuk, where the “Shuk stickers” that our students are awarded for completing homework, attending CJC services, etc. can be redeemed for prizes.

Continuation of our “Fun Club” program, which offers extended activity for our youngest students;

We continue to do a good job of recruiting new families each to our school, and by extension, to the synagogue. At our most recent Open House, 12 new families came to get a first-hand look at our school, and our track record of retaining families is excellent.

There were, as always a few activities that we will try to better address in the year ahead:

Our Student Council got a late start this year, then just as it was getting traction, got subsumed by the snowfall, and was thus not especially active this year.

Our Jewish Service Learning programs, taught by Bracha Poliakoff, are very high quality but have not yet attracted a large number of students. We see a future opportunity to turn that around with our large incoming 7^th grade class.

Getting word out to the larger community has not been our strong point; happily, we have been able to rely on word of mouth to promote CJCS but we are left to wonder how many more families might benefit if only they knew about us?

The above are only the most significant highlights. Week in and week out, our teachers deliver many excellent lessons in their individual classrooms, our specialists help to provide alternative Jewish learning opportunities, and our aides demonstrate a commitment to lifelong involvement at CJCS. Each helps to leave indelible imprints on the Jewish identity of our students that we hope and expect will have lasting impact.