The Dean's Blog

Virtual MHA Updates

2008-07-08T12:23:00.003-05:00

Just a few updates on the growing presence of the Academy in cyberspace:

This blog currently has 81 subscribers and gets an average of 8 hits per day. A subscription simply means that you receive an email with each post soon after it goes up. If you, or someone you know, is not yet subscribed, simply type the email address in the box on the lower right hand side of the blog entitled "subscribe via email."
Our MHA / FYOS Alumni Group on Facebook currently has 98 members.
The YouTube video about our community made by students in our Boys High School has been watched 500 times at last check.

Spread the word and let's keep them all growing...

Please Read This

2008-07-08T11:10:00.003-05:00

Today's Commercial Appeal ran an abbreviated story from the Associated Press on new rather sobering statistics regarding college drinking. The full version of the article can be found on the website of the Associated Press. The story makes reference to drinking games such as "beer pong," which is but one of many forms of alcohol related entertainment wildly popular on college campuses today. If you are not familiar with drinking games - and you have an adolescent child - please take a moment to educate yourself by reading this rather extensive Wikipedia article dedicated to the subject. If you're wondering just how prevalent these games are, do a Google Search for"drinking games" and browse through any of the 1,500,000 results.

One fact which was not emphasized in this article is that most students who develop drinking problems in college acquired their taste for alcohol in high school. This recent study published in Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2008, 3:6, sought to determine the relationship between parental supervision and college drinking. What it found, though, was that while parental supervision can be an important preventative factor in college age drinking, the most significant factor in determining whether a student will become a heavy drinker in college is whether or not they were drinking in high school. Here is an excerpt from their conclusions:

Research shows that college students who report that their parents have permissive attitudes about underage drinking and substance use are more likely to engage in these behaviors [57]. This is contrary to the belief that college binge drinkers are the ones who were prohibited drink in high school. In a blog on the Wall Street Journal website that was focused on an article about college parental notification guidelines of alcohol and drug use, comments such as this were posted,

"The only reason for college binge drinking is prohibition. Kids that binge drink in college are the same ones that were raised by 'responsible' parents who did not let their kids try a drop of alchohol (sic) at home.

Once kids get to college and away from parents' relatively frequent control they go on a rampage. Binge drinking can easily be resolved in late teenagehood by educating kids how to drink, what it means to drink a lot, and what hangover is [58]."

However, our study has shown that binge drinking in high school predicts college binge drinking. In addition, the CASA survey found that 70% of college students reported that their parents' concerns or expectations either somewhat or very much influenced whether or how much they drank, smoked, or used other drugs, and that parental attitudes were significantly related to the likelihood to binge drink, use marijuana, and smoke tobacco.

Did you know that if your high school age child drinks even somewhat regularly, there is a 1 in 4 chance that he or she will develop an alcohol dependency? If he or she is is under 15, the chances rise to almost 1 in 2. But, if they start to drink only after the age of 21, their chances fall to a mere 1 in 10. Here are a few more research based facts about underage drinking from a website called in the know zone:

A national survey reveals that 42% of college students reported binge drinking.
Over 60% of all injuries, vandalism, and problems with the police reported on college campuses are in frequent (weekly) binge drinkers.
By the time they graduate from high school, two-thirds of youth are regular drinkers, and two-fifths are frequent binge drinkers.
Binge drinking during high school, especially among males, is a strong predictor of binge drinking during college (among those who make it to college.)
Eight young people a day die in alcohol-related crashes.
Alcohol kills more teenagers than all other drugs combined. It is a factor in the three leading causes of death among 15-24 year olds: accidents, homicides, and suicides.
Youth who drink are 7.5 times more likely to use other illicit drugs and 50 times more likely to use cocaine than young people who never drink.
One in eight college students reports injuries resulting from alcohol use.
Half of all binge drinkers miss at least one class per quarter or semester due to drinking.
More than one-third of binge drinkers report falling behind in their schoolwork due to drinking.
Alcohol is a factor in 40% of all academic problems.
Students with GPAs of D or F drink three times as much as those who earn A's.

Thankfully, underage drinking is not a widespread problem in our community. However, it does exist in certain circles and often with parental consent. The information above should be enough to motivate us all to rethink such policies and to work hard at eliminating underage drinking completely.

Tax Holiday

2008-07-08T11:02:00.002-05:00

If you still have school shopping to do, don't forget about the upcoming Tennessee Tax Holiday. Friday August 1st through Sunday August 3rd all school supplies, clothing, and computers will be tax free. For more info visit http://tn.gov/revenue/salestaxholiday.

A Summer of Growth for the Academy

2008-07-01T22:49:00.008-05:00

One of my first blog posts a little over a year ago (it's hard to believe that I've been blogging for over a year already!) referred readers to a post by a Mississippi teacher who noted that the quality of a school can often be judged by the manner in which its faculty and leadership spend their summers.

While downtime and pure relaxation is of the utmost importance, the summer also provides invaluable opportunities for teachers and administrators to pursue avenues of professional growth so that they return in the fall not only refreshed and re-energized, but equipped with new tools and excited by new knowledge with which they have been empowered through their summer learning experiences.

I noted then that a summer filled with faculty pursuing professional development opportunities as described by that educational blogger provided "portrait of educational excellence to which we can all aspire." I am proud to say that a year later we are well on our way. Here's just a taste of the growth opportunities our faculty and administration have been and will be pursuing this summer:

Our entire administrative team spent a day and half with Professor Scott Goldberg learning how to lead our faculty through our multi-year school-wide Differentiated Instruction initiative.

Rabbi Greenblatt and I attended the ASCD National Summer Conference to learn even more about the principles of Differentiated Instruction and currliculum building.

Erica Stoltz, my new assistant, attended ISM's Summer Workshop entitled "The Vital Role of the Head's Administrative Assistant."

Mrs. Gersten will soon be heading up to Cambridge, MA for the Harvard Principal Center's Summer Institute.

While Mrs. Gersten is in Cambridge, Rabbi Gersten will be in New York recieving training in the important work of the David Project, which equips students with the knowledge and skills to become active advocates for Israel on college campuses and beyond.

Mrs. Ashly Hood, our newly hired high school English and Spanish teacher, will be attending a workshop in the TPRS method of foreign language instruction (better known in our school, as the Mrs. Mansberg Method of Spanish instruction).

Mrs. Rachel Goldberg, our new 2nd Grade Judaic Studies will be attending training in the Tal Am curriculum and methodology in Jerusalem, taught by none other than our own Mrs. Yehudit Soleman, our new 3rd Grade Judaic Studies teacher and our faculty mentor for the Tal Am program.

Mrs. Charna Schubert, our new Early Childhood Director, will be attending classes on Early Childhood Directorship, through the Ready, Set, Grow Program at the University of Memphis.

Melissa and I, along with representatives of our lay leadership, will be attending Yeshiva University's ChampionsGate National Leadership Conference later this month.

And all of this is in addition to all of the work our administrators, and many of our teachers, are putting in on a daily basis to ensure that this coming school year represents an exciting and exhilarating step forward on our journey toward excellence.

I, for one, can't wait...

Social Promotion

2008-06-05T10:09:00.003-05:00

Please note the new poll asking your opinion on the promotion of students who have not achieved grade level mastery of the curriculum. Please give add your vote to the poll and use the "comments" option below to elaborate on your position.

Color War & Controversy

2008-06-05T10:00:00.003-05:00

I have been told that the topics covered on my blog have been too value neutral and could use a little dose of controversy (more like my newsletter messages, I am told). So, I figured I'd use our recent very successful Color War to raise a rather controversial issue. As a former Camp Director, I remember wistfully thinking year in and year out "if only we could have Color War every day..." After all, during Color War kids daven like never before, they participate in every activity, they discipline themselves, they give a maximal effort, exemplify leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship, and that's only the beginning. Here in school, while on a lesser scale, it was no different. Our students rose to the occasion in the most impressive fashion.

So, what's controversial about that? Well, have you ever considered what motivates kids to perform during Color War? What prize, what reward, what incentive do they receive to give it their best? None. Sure, they get points or lose points but the objective is simply to win is known as intrinsic motivation as opposed to extrinsic motivation. Some, such as the noted author Alfie Kohn have argued that intrinsic motivation is far more effective in producing meaningful and long lasting results than any means of extrinsic motivation could ever be. Perhaps, then, Color War should be a clarion call for us as parents and us as educators to think, and perhaps rethink, the means we use to motivate our children and our students to perform at their best.

The Dominion of Choice

2008-06-04T10:06:00.005-05:00

There is no better way to capture the power and inspiration of Linda Hooper's message to our school community at the recent Scholarship Banquet and to our high school students the morning after, than to share the poem with which she closes each and every lecture she gives on the story of her students and the now famous Paper Clips Project in Whitwell, Tennessee:

I came into this world without being asked

And when the time for dying comes

I shall not be consulted

But between the boundaries of birth and death

Lies the Dominion of Choice

To be a doer or a dreamer

To be a lifter or a leaner

To speak out or remain silent

To extend a hand of friendship

Or to look the other way

To feel the suffering of others

Or to be callous and insensitive

These are the choices

It is in the choosing

That my measure as a person

Is Determined

-Gertrude Hildreth Housman

World's Fair

2008-06-04T09:44:00.003-05:00

The sights, sounds, and tastes of countries from around the world came together in this year's World's Fair. It was a school wide multi-cultural multi-sensory learning experience provided by the talented young men and women in our 7th grade under the able leadership of this year's MHA / FYOS Teacher of the Year, Ms. Whitney Huey. Well done!

MHA Meets YouTube

2008-05-18T22:34:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Matt, our Director of Technology, the video sensation created by three of our CYHSB students for the recent community fair sponsored by YU's Center for the Jewish Future is now available on YouTube. Entitled "The Top Twelve Reasons to Move to Memphis," the goal was to give prospective young families a little - rather genuine - taste of that which makes the Memphis Orthodox Community so special. You can access part one of the video by clicking here. Please help us continue building the buzz about our community by passing the link on to anyone and everyone you think might be interested.

Linda Hooper of “Paper Clips” Fame to Speak at MHA / FYOS Banquet

2008-05-16T16:11:00.005-05:00

We are proud to announce that Linda Hooper will be our featured speaker at the upcoming Annual Banquet honoring Rabbi and Mrs. Benjamin Wolmark as well as the memory of Mrs. Rose Margolin. Mrs. Hooper is the Principal at the Public Middle School in Whitwell, Tennessee where she was the inspirational force behind the Paper Clips Project, whose story gained worldwide acclaim when it was captured in the Emmy Award Nominated documentary, Paper Clips in 2004. This will be the first time Mrs. Hooper will be speaking in Memphis and we're honored to have her.

The banquet takes place on Monday, May 26th, 2008 at the Baron Hirsch Synagogue with hors d’oevres at 5:30pm. Reservations are required and may be made by calling the school office at 682-2400 or by emailing plevine@mhafyos.org.

Join us for what promises to be an evening of education, inspiration, and enjoyment for all.

Exceeding Expectations

2008-05-15T10:21:00.006-05:00

I am rather confident that none of those who assembled to watch the red-wigged, face painted clown play "It's the Rabbi's Birthday" on her yellow kazoo while decking me out in the latest of birthday hat fashions - an assembly which included our entire office staff, my wife, my assistant, our board president, and Rabbi Ronald Schwartzberg, Director of Jewish Career Guidance and Placement at Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future - believed that I would actually post pictures of the Josh Kahane sponsored spectacle on my blog. Well, here at the Academy we're all about exceeding expectations and doing that which few imagined possible...

Reaccreditation and High Commendations

2008-05-15T08:16:00.002-05:00

A year long intensive process of reflection, collaboration, and evaluation spearheaded by Mrs. Sandy Gersten culminated yesterday not only in a recommendation by our Quality Assurance Review Team that we be reaccredited by the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges (SACS), but with highest of praise from the four person team who spent the last forty-eight hours roaming our halls, visiting our classrooms, speaking with our students, faculty, parents, and board members, and sifting through stacks upon stacks of instructional, curricular, administrative, and governance documents in an effort to assess the quality of our educational program.

In their report to our stakeholders before departing yesterday afternoon, they lauded us with the following five commendations:

The school under its current administration is dedicated to the families and community and to meeting the needs of its students.
Teachers integrate higher-order thinking skills daily in their lessons.
The students are respectful and an atmosphere of respect prevails throughout the school.
Parents and stakeholders display a strong sense of support for the school.
The SOIN system provides a comprehensive online student management system and effective communication with parents and students.

Every QAR team is required by SACS to provide recommendations for improvement as well. Perhaps most encouraging about the team's report was the fact that the four recommendations they made were all items that we had already identified and which we have already begun to address. They were:

Maintain efforts to fully integrate the present vision into all facets of school life.
Identify and implement a full scope and sequence to vertically align the curricula in all subject areas.
Use needs assessments to create a structured professional development plan.
Reorganize the present governance entity into a smaller Board of Trustees and institute an active parent / teacher advisory board.

As important as it is to focus on our weaknesses and to constantly commit ourselves to improvement, it is equally important for us to celebrate our successes - and this is a success worth celebrating. On behalf of the extended school community I once again thank Mrs. Gersten for her tireless efforts in this and in so many other endeavors. I thank Mrs. Carol Straughn for her meticulous collection and organization of our materials; the committee heads for their leadership and high quality work; as well as all of the faculty members, board members, and community members who helped make this process the success that it was.

Let this be a springboard for us to many more successes and even greater heights in the months and years to come.

Yom Ha-Atzma'ut

2008-05-08T18:53:00.003-05:00

From passports and rice cakes to banners and rain drops, it was quite a day and quite a celebration...

Blog Updates

2008-05-05T18:29:00.002-05:00

Have a look at the two newest elements of my blog: the survey and the list of job contacts.

The survey I'll use to gather some informal data on issues relating to education, Jewish education, Memphis, and just about anything else that's on my mind.

The job contact list can be found under the MHA / FYOS Links section, and is something we put together to assist those families looking at our community to network with professionals in their respective fields. Please share the link with anyone and everyone to whom it may be of help.

A Time to Share

2008-05-05T11:03:00.007-05:00

For a decade or more, our high school boys have been on the receiving end of programs in Holocaust education. In History class, in Jewish History class, each and every Yom Ha-Sho'ah, and undoubtedly at a variety of other times throughout the year, they hear stories and accounts of what it was like to be a Jew in Europe during World War II. And so it should be. There is much to learn and, as we all know, the downloading process from those who witnessed the events is a race against the clock.

But, we decided that for our boys high school this year we wanted to do something a little different. Instead of receiving, we wanted them to experience the act of giving. Instead of continuing to transmit the history and lessons of our people only within the context of our own community, we wanted them to feel the importance and the power of sharing the messages of Yom Ha-Sho'ah with the larger community within which we live. So, under the leadership of Mrs. Kutliroff, our boys spent their Yom Ha-Shoah in the classrooms of White Station Middle School, running Holocaust workshops with small groups of students, culminating with a presentation by descendants of survivors who shared their own family history with their new "students" and friends.

The reviews from both the givers and the receivers suggest that this may well have been a program which neither side will ever forget.

Jewish Week Features MHA Program

2008-05-05T08:54:00.003-05:00

Gary Rosenblatt, the Editor in Chief of the New York Jewish Week, dedicated his Yom Ha-Shoah editorial to a description of an innovative new program in Holocaust education called Names, Not Numbers. It's a program in which a professional filmmaker and a professional journalist team up with professional educators to teach high school students how to take an oral history and how to transform it into a video documentary. Equipped with those skills, two students are then paired with a local Holocaust Survivor or WWII veteran and set out to make a documentary based on their life story. The program has been run, to date, in four schools across the country to wide acclaim and with great success.

We are proud to announce that due to a generous grant from the Bornblum Foundation, the program will be coming to our high schools next year. Stay tuned for more...

MHA Runs Away with Memphis in May

2008-04-10T18:10:00.003-05:00

Anyone associated with the MHA over the past decade, knows that the Lower School's art program is unsurpassed. Very soon, the rest of Memphis will know it as well. It gives us great pride to announce that three of our students won top prizes in the annual Memphis in May art contest. One of them, selected out of hundreds of entries, received the grand prize and her design will be featured on all of the Memphis in May promotional materials displayed throughout the city over the next month and a half. Congratulations to them and a heartfelt todah rabbah to Mrs. Judy Levin for all that she has given our students and our school over her years of dedicated service.

Calling All Alumni!

2008-04-08T13:45:00.003-05:00

In an effort to reconnect with our alumni all over the globe, I have created a Facebook group called MHA / FYOS Alumni. If you are an alum or attended either the Academy or the Yeshiva of the South for some period of time, click here to access the group and sign up. Please encourage every alum you know to do the same! We'll use the group to share memories of the past, connect alumni to our present, and get their input about our future.

A Comedy of Errors & A Mexican Explosion

2008-04-04T09:57:00.009-05:00

Our high schools were at their best this past week. It began with the boys' production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. While I love our boys dearly, the truth is that I wondered whether they'd be able to match the girls' production of Antigone just a few weeks ago. Yet, with only three weeks preparation, they rose to the occasion in the most magnificent way. Without a doubt, a lion's share of the credit goes to Dr. Kutliroff for adapting the play and bringing it to life in a way that had our audience rolling in laughter much as audiences did in England four hundred years ago. But it was our boys who pulled it all off in the end, from the set design to the lighting, and from the food concessions to the incredible acting. And, once again, perhaps the most remarkable element of what was a remarkable night, was the knowledge that in just about any other school and in just about any other town, many of the boys who were up there on stage would never have received the opportunity, the encouragement, nor the confidence to perform as they did. Yet, here in Memphis they have the opportunity to shine.

Not to be outdone by the boys across the field, the Girls High School had a production of their own on Wednesday. While it lacked the glitter of our major theatrical performances, it had two rather unique features of its own. First of all, the entire play was performed in Spanish. Second of all, the entire script was written by our girls. Here too, we must give credit to our wonderful Spanish teacher, Mrs. Barbara Mansberg, and to our estudiantes talentosas in her class. Of course, the performance had a distinctly Jewish spin to it as it was followed by a full meal for the girls high school and for the girls in our current 8th grade. The menu featured Spanish punch, Spanish rice, and an entrée lovingly called the Mexican Explosion.

Memphis #1 in Affordable Housing

2008-03-19T17:32:00.002-05:00

Anyone living in our community knows that one of its many attractions is the value of its real estate market. Despite the burst of the mortgage bubble, the cost of a decent house in the major Orthodox communities of the New York / New Jersey area remains well out of reach for many young families. New York transplant communities in South Florida are not far behind. In LA and other big cities on the West Coast, things are even worse. Even in the growing Orthodox communities of the South and Midwest, housing prices don't compare to those of Memphis. We all know it - but now we have the data to prove it. According to Money Magazine and CNN.com, a study conducted by an organization called OnBoard asked real estate buyers in major metro areas across the country to determine how far their income gets them in their local real estate market. The city which they determined gets the most house for their money was none other than our own Memphis, TN. Have a look at the list and then pass it on to everyone you know who doesn't yet live in the most affordable housing market in America.

Career Day

2008-03-12T08:51:00.003-05:00

When I grow up, I want to be a...

A Family Simchah

2008-03-11T14:15:00.007-05:00

The traditional MHA / FYOS Adar festivities kick off with the High School Boys dancing from their wing down to the elementary school wing and into each and every lower school classroom. There they gather up their younger schoolmates to repetitious renditions of "mi-she-nichnas adar" and march with them over to the gym where a band and a mechitza await. It struck me though, as I watched 12th graders walk hand in hand with 2nd graders, and as I saw 16 year olds dance with 3 year olds on their shoulders, that this was not a school celebration. It was a family simchah.

Stunning

2008-03-11T13:57:00.003-05:00

When I was first introduced to our school at about this time last year, the Boys and Girls High School plays were repeatedly mentioned as one of the highlights of the school year. While I was taken by the notion that with only35 students in each high school, just about everyone plays an integral part in such productions, I admit that I also figured the quality one could expect from such theatrical productions would similarly reflect the fact that these were schools of only 35 kids. Under the masterful direction of Dr. Jerry Kutliroff, however, the recent production of Antigone by our Girls High School proved me utterly wrong. It was nothing short of stunning.

Onion Powered iPods & Sanitary Dog Smooches

2008-02-12T15:12:00.000-06:00

Did you ever wonder whether an onion and an electrolyte liquid might provide enough energy to run your iPod? Did you ever wonder whether it was safer to kiss a dog than a human? Did you ever wonder what type of music might best make your flowers grow or how color affects your sense of taste?

Well, our students did. These were amongst the ninety projects reflecting a breathtaking combination of creativity, ingenuity, wit, and the scientific method, submitted by our students in 4th through 8th grade for this year's annual Science Fair.

Each and every project began with a "problem" which our students set out to explore through a developmentally appropriate experiment of their design, aided and guided by Mrs. Dana Parker, our Lower School Science teacher, and Mrs. Linda George, our Middle School Science Teacher. The boards which our students presented noted the student's original hypothesis as to what he or she expected the results of the experiment to be, followed by a description of the materials and procedure used in its execution, the data collected, and the conclusions drawn. From basic taste tests to complex DNA extraction, and from tests of the local environment to a test of the hallowed "5 Second Rule," the projects demonstrated the value of applied science at its best.

Special thanks to all of our "celebrity" judges who gave of their time to evaluate our students' work, to our science teachers, and to Mrs. Gersten for organizing the event. It is the students themselves, though, who deserve the greatest commendation for a job very well done.

Congratulations!

2008-02-07T16:47:00.000-06:00

In keeping with our policy of not naming students on the blog, let me just congratulate that anonymous 12th grade girl who, in this week's Model UN - which featured teams from 43 schools and over 450 students - was awarded "Best Delegate for the International Court of Justice." Well done! Looks like there's a bright career in litigation shining on the horizon...