Inclusivity is messy

Two years ago, when I voted for a new Wornick policy of broad inclusivity and, with the Board, directed the Head of School to invest resources in educating children with learning challenges, I had no idea that I would be the parent of one of those children. The Board made the investment because it was mission centric in multiple ways.

• First – our mission is to educate Jewish children.  Not just the well-behaved, easy to teach, mainstream ones.
• Second – our mission is about creating engaged leaders – and leaders must be able to lead many types of people, not just people like themselves. 
• Finally, as long as the child and their classmates can learn at Wornick and, in the school’s judgment, is not a danger to other children, it is morally right.

As Dr. Gereboff wrote in her Monday memo this week, the school follows a process to support children with challenges and sometimes the unfortunate result is that a child cannot be at Wornick (permanently or temporarily, depending on the issues). But most of the time, the school is achieving its policy goal of broad inclusivity.

But it is messy.  Learning to control one’s yetzer hara is not easy.

When I am called by the school or told a story by a parent of how my child misbehaved, I am mortified. My children know the rules of the school and our home – and they know, without a doubt, that there are serious consequences for breaking those rules. In fact, the only thing that makes my child more upset about being sent to the office is when the office decides to call us. 

And yet, there are amazing benefits to this messy inclusivity. Dr. Wendy Mogel points out in Blessing of a Skinned Knee:

“A difficult child gives the rest of the children a chance to build up their conflict-resolution muscles, to learn how to manage with a distraction, to grow strong as an inclusive group.”

Our children are adapting to different learning styles and personalities – skills that will help them thrive in life.  They are simultaneously frustrated by and appreciative of their classmates. Many of the children with learning issues are extremely gifted.  At Nueva, they refer to the phenomenon as "twice gifted" - and it's very common among gifted children to have behavior challenges. As part of our community, the children with challenges are enriching our classrooms. Our children are learning more than the academic standards, they are learning about community life. Wornick is not a sterile and controlled environment – it is vibrant and distracting.  At times, the vibrancy and occasional chaos is uncomfortable –for the parents and the kids.

To live the value of inclusivity, as parents we have to face our discomfort with the messiness, the noise, the chaos, bumps and bruises it brings. Every parent with a struggling child is struggling with them – trying to understand the underlying cause; collaborating with the school to find a path so that the child struggles less; investing in expensive testing and therapy to help their child succeed.  I feel embarrassed when my child acts out and defensive when he is criticized. In his case, his reflexive reaction to feeling frustrated, threatened or wronged is impulsive and physical, but not a choice (its a reflex) and not malicious - he takes no pleasure in the reaction. So, we're working on three fronts - literally trying to reprogram the reflex while desensitizing him to feeling frustrated, threatened or wronged while managing the environment to minimize the opportunities for him to be actually frustrated, threatened (i.e. blamed for something he didn't do) or wronged. All three take time and require a village to help - teachers, therapists, parents and friends. And we celebrate progress because it is hard earned. I imagine that every family with similiar challenges appreciates support and an offer to help.

Wornick is a supportive community for all our families – a community that doesn’t tolerate the vilification of children or dramatization of their struggles. We are a community that practices hesed – the value of mercy and a helping hand. Inclusivity is messy, but the lessons of living with it are invaluable.

State of the School 2011-2012

What should we expect in the new report cards?  How are the school's funds used?  How is the school evolving its program and delivering an extraordinary education?  What will tuition be?

All these questions and more were answered Wednesday, January 11, by Wornick Head of School, Dr. Barbara Gereboff, Wornick Treasurer, Madeline Benson and Wornick Board President, Joelle Kaufman. 

To ensure everyone can participate in the information exchange, please review this updated presentation on the State of the School 2011-2012.  It has been updated since the meeting to incorporate the questions and requests of the attendees.  We hope you find it both informative and compelling.

Shabbat Shalom,

Joelle

Why Hebrew?

Current and prospective parents ask the question. Family members ask the question. Isn’t it more advantageous to study Spanish or Chinese?  Sure, a Jewish child must read Hebrew for their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, but what is the likelihood that our children will speak Hebrew regularly as adults (unless of course, you are one of our Israeli families)?

Bilingualism is a source of long-term advantages and apparently helps stave off dementia in senior citizens. In fact, this week, Newsweek magazine cited the robust study of a second language as the best way to Buff Your Brain (page 3). Children who immerse themselves in another language develop pathways in the brain that not only support multiple languages, but also support logic, composition and mathematics.

Hebrew is hard. It has a different alphabet, archaic grammar, alien pronunciations, and little opportunity to overhear it conversationally around Foster City. The brain is a muscle and asking it to repeatedly do something hard improves its strength. And once strong, that strength is easily applied to other pursuits.

Our alumni report that their immersion in Hebrew makes it straightforward to learn additional languages in high school and college.  There is plenty of time to learn Spanish or Chinese (or both) if that’s your interest. My husband followed 9 years of Hebrew in Day School with fluency in Spanish, then Portuguese and now Mandarin (not fluent in that last one, yet).  One of our graduates, a Chinese-language major who became fluent in Italian in high school, credits his K-8 Wornick education as the foundation for his academic interests and successes.

For Jewish children, studying the language of our heritage is a gateway to the values of our people, to connection with Israel and to developing secure identities to guide them through the very adult choices that present themselves in high school and college. Children who are immersed in Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Wornick are learning about Israel in every subject and learning to respect and understand diversity of opinion, culture and religion. In a “flat world” connected by technology and trade, multi-culturalism and multi-linguism are key competitive advantages.

Why Hebrew? Because the effort of learning Hebrew creates the advantages that make our children successful in the future.

Open Letter to the Wornick Community

Recently, there has been mention in the press regarding litigation brought by two former employees against the school.  Some of you also received an anonymous mailing, which included false claims about Dr. Gereboff.  The plaintiffs deny complicity in the mailings. 

The Board of Trustees fully supports Dr. Gereboff and is impressed by her leadership, vision and execution of her responsibilities at Wornick. We feel lucky to have her as our Head of School.  

We are not going to respond to the anonymous communications, just as we avoided airing our position in the recent articles in the local press. The legal system is the proper place for resolution of these disputes, and is the only forum that protects the school, Dr. Gereboff and the Trustees. We condemn the use of anonymous, hurtful and false communications sent by someone who is unwilling to be held accountable for their actions.  

On behalf of the Board of Trustees and Dr. Barbara Gereboff, I thank you for the genuine support and commitment to our school.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees,

Michael Farbstein
Employment Counsel, representing Ronald C Wornick Jewish Day School, Dr. Barbara Gereboff and Wornick Board of Trustees

What does it mean to be righteous?

What does it mean to be righteous?

What does it mean to be righteous in our generation?

In this coming week’s torah portion, Parashat Noach, the text opens with the idea that Noah was righteous and perfect in his generation.

I was thinking about this description of Noah and wondering why he was singled out.  Maybe Noah was singled out because he was doing what god asked him to do? Or maybe he was singled out as an example?

Rashi, the 11th century commentator from Provence, offers up the idea as to why or what it means that Noah was righteous and perfect in his generation:

• On one hand being, for Rashi, righteous could be a good thing; a model for others to follow,
• Or, on the other hand, Rashi says this could be to his discredit as he is standing out as a leader, yet no one seeks to follow his example.

I ask again, what does it mean to be righteous in our generation?

Another example, something maybe we can relate to:  Imagine, walking down the hall at our school and stopping in front of a classroom.  You witness the following.  The teacher is teaching. The students are standing on their chairs, there are some throwing papers, talking, screaming, and some are looking out the window. And, then there are two students telling the other students to sit down and listen to the teacher. To the observer, this class is out of control and that the two students and the teacher are failing to engage ….

If we look at this story through Rashi’s question:  What does it mean to be righteous?, maybe the kids were trying to be dugmaot (examples) for the other students like Noah was for the rest of the wicked world with the hope that they would follow suit.  Or perhaps, their righteous behavior is not setting an effective tone such that others will follow along.

Recently, I did some searching online and came across an interesting statement,

Wornick delivers academic excellence through its innovative and challenging K-8 education curricula steeped in critical thinking, creative and collaborative problem solving, public speaking, and community service. Wornick students become engaged leaders committed to a life of Jewish ethics and values, life-long learning and personal excellence, with deep connections to Israel and the Hebrew language.

When I think about this statement, it makes me feel like we are trying to model and instill righteousness right here at Wornick.  We are trying to follow Rashi – create righteousness through community service, be engaged citizens, help in repairing the world, committed to learning and striving for personal excellence.

It starts with us as a board, for our students, with the hope that it will ripple outward to the entire community. By modeling good deeds and righteous acts, we hope that others will follow us.  I think that for Rashi, he understood that Noah was unique in his generation because he set the stage for how others should live their lives, so that others would follow him.  May we all, us as a board, our students, and our community, be fortuneate to rise up like Noah, living lives of righteousness, fulfilling the ideals of our mission, so that we can inspire others to do the same.

- Amy Sosnick, Trustee