Song is giving me all the feels

SO GREAT!

Having video issues. I will be on a different device shortly

Sandi Bettan. Midway Jewish Center ECC

Sheryn Cohen Manalapan NJ

Stephanie Siordia - JCC of Metro Detroit, Special Needs Department

Preschool Director

Sarah Williams- Director at Becker School in Houston, TX

Lisa Plotkin - EC PD Facilitator - Richmond, VA

Laura Krautheim: Director, Rabbi Steven Foster ELC at Temple Emanuel - Denver, CO

Sarah Koffler, GatherRound Consulting, Scotch Plains, NJ

Hello! Alana Levitt. Director at Kehillat Israel ECC in Pacific Palisades, CA

Lisa Lasovsky, Preschool Director, B’nai Shalom Day, Greensboro, NC

Cheri Szereszewski, Miles Nadal JCC, Toronto Canada

Lisa Cooper, ELC Director, Staenberg Omaha JCC

Kathy Pomer, GatherRound Consulting, Bryans Road, Maryland

Alyse Eisenberg-Family Engagement Specialist/Pedagogista JCC Dallas

Jessica Robins- Educator for Early Childhood Excellence, Jewish Education Center of Cleveland

Hang Dang, EC Director at SPHDS in Sunnyvale, CA.

Woot to some time in El Paso! (Highly underrated city)

Example: Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal/Central Synagogue in NYC/there are always bagels on the 9th floor after the Wednesday morning adult ed class

Jennifer Ross, Temple Israel, Memphis, TNBagels??? We have NO good bagels in Memphis!

Lynn Kaminnski, Shalom Corner ELC, Westwood, MA

Debbie Howard - Gan Israel Preschool Director, Fairfax, VA.

We are the oldest and first (and currently only) reform synogogue in Memphis

Jessica Robins, Cleveland, although we are a mid-size Jewish community, we have 11 thriving Jewish early childhood programs

Wendy Yesharim, ECLC JCC Irvine- Our school in fully inclusive and we have a large population of non jewish families

Kate Warach, I'm in Chicago, but sticking with the El Paso theme, the B'nai Zion parking lot is a great place to learn how to drive

You can usually find parking right around the corner.

Sheila Purdin, Temple Sinai, Denver, Colorado, it is always sunny and the schedule is planned most people plan their winter schedules around skiing and/or the Broncos.

Jocelyn Dorfman, Congregation Beth Emeth in Herndon VA, to unlock the playground door, you turn the key to the left instead of the right

Amy Damast, Temple Sinai, Summit NJ - our parent committee is very active, extremely strategic, and simply wonderful at connecting new families to our early childhood program

Jenna Turner, JUF Chicago, The 6th floor is known for their tuna at lunch meetings you need a special pass to get to the bathroom!

Liz Sherman BJE Wilmette IL

Alexa Cohen and Sarra Johnson, Bridgeport, CT. Here at B'Nai Israel you get a cake on your birthday!

There is "secret" adult bathroom in the admin area at the back end of the hallway :)

I used to work in a place where the womens room on the fifth floor was huge and super warm on cold days

Alana Levitt - free hot lunch! and at KI we love a punny holiday-themed t-shirt

We are still trying to figure out who we are as a school and a part of the larger community; opened last year, only half of the population is Jewish.

Mel Hume, Primary Director, Luria Academy of Brooklyn, we are an ongoing school and one building is around the corner from the other.

Anna Hartman, Jewish United Fund, Chicago. The tuna is terrific!!!

Its true!

I don't work in a school these days, but when anyone comes to work in my home (babysitter, dog-sitter, handy-man) I let them know they are free to eat anything they find in our kitchen and that all toiletries in any bathroom are up for grabs!

Agreed!

The building is a bit of a puzzle, but if you keep walking straight, you will eventually end up where you started.

+1 for secret bathrooms

Laura Krautheim, Rabbi Steven Foster ELC at Temple Emanuel Denver CO. Our building takes up a whole city block and we always have to make special notes of our main entrance

Oh wow, this feels like getting a new boss or board chair

Yes, Anna, great comparison

"what is the story I'm telling myself?" Brene Brown

What do new people need to know when they join our schools/communities?

www.menti.com and use the code 3559 8303

What is your favorite swag item?

Favorite swag: high quality coffee mugs

shirts or sweatshirts

my teachers love the sweatshirts

a nice zip-up hoodie

travel mugs

I would’ve loved rain gear for swag.

Fleece jacket

Soft shirt or sweatshirt

I had a teacher tear up when I had tote bags for them on the first day of staff orientation -- they never got swag from my predecessor

Fleece picnic blanket

Love that, Alana!

I had returning teachers write down something that they thought was really important about the school for new teachers

Great idea! Thank you.

Assumed: Everyone is Jewish.

Truth: Only 60% of school is.

60% of our school is not Jewish!

As a new director, there was a lot of assumption that I would do everything the previous director did (when in fact we are very different)

Assumptions that all of our families are financially stable

YES!!!

Create an advice jar with all of their best advice

One class makes a welcome sign for the new staff (or student)

invite them to eat lunch together

Asking them to join them when they gather informally each morning.

we send a welcome email introducing new staff to all existing staff

we attach a picture also :)

Introducing parents to the new teacher - and saying how happy we all are that they joined our team

Our current shared meaningful experience is new staff commiserating with everyone that walks into the computer lab about the food handler training we had to take

We have some teacher "clubs" that formed based on teachers' interests

We started some book clubs on topics related to education and educators signed up for topics they felt connected to

Schoolwide shabbat

we took a huge sheet of butcher paper to make a timeline of our program. Teachers who had been there a long time felt like their experience was honored, newer staff felt like they had a lot to say about the school history as well. we ended with what we wanted the year ahead to be like

We had a potluck lunch that one of the teachers organized.

Pi day (with pies)

Spent a day bonding and having fun at a camp

As I told one of our non-Jewish teachers, "Jews like to feed people"

There was a lot of bonding when we were the only ones in the building.

Meet with new teachers every month or 6 weeks, let them know what is coming up and answering any questions that they may have.

Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthalrosenthalr@censyn.org212-838-5122 x4031

Thank you so much. This was incredibly helpful.

Thank you!

Thank you, Rabbi!

Thank you so much.

Thank you!

www.jparadigm.org/upcoming-webinars

Thank you!

Rebecca, wow!! Thank you so much!!

Thank you so very much!