New Jersey Jewish News
Monmouth County Feature Story

Seminars offer principals time to go back to school

by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth

An April seminar on mental health issues in the classroom is the latest effort by the Commission on Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County to fill a gap in the lifelong training of the county’s religious-school principals.

The April 5 seminar is intended to teach principals to recognize children who are confronting personal and family issues, such as the breakup of their families, depression, and learning disabilities.

Religious-school principals traditionally have not been the focus of this kind of in-service training, according to Dina Maiben, commission chair and director of religious education at Temple Shaari Emeth in Manalapan.

“Over the years, there have been many resource seminars for teachers of religious education, but the principals have often been left out of the mix. There has not been much ongoing, day-to-day training for Hebrew school principals,” Maiben said. “One of our primary tasks has been to present seminars that deal specifically with their roles and responsibilities.”

As a result, the commission, which has been chaired by Maiben, a Lakewood resident, since its inception five years ago, has offered the principals seminars several times each year. Subjects have included medical problems that affect their students, legal issues dealing with teacher contracts and insurance policies, security concerns, applications of Megan’s Law, and the availability of resources at the Center for Holocaust Studies at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.

At one seminar, representatives of United Jewish Communities in New York offered the results of a national Jewish population study and discussed the impact of the results on Jewish education. The study indicated that several mega-trends had emerged within the sphere of Jewish education, according to Maiben. Interfaith marriage, the degree of affiliation with synagogues and Jewish day schools, and the amount of hours of instruction at synagogue schools all had varying degrees of impact on the Jewish educational process.

“We found that these national trends were reflected in Monmouth County,” Maiben said. “This information helps us track enrollment in Jewish preschools; knowing these numbers means we can adjust and plan programs for the future and budget accordingly.”

The commission, which is composed of 13 religious school directors in the county, usually meets four times each year. It evolved from a strategic plan developed by the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County that recognized the need for community education, a pooling of resources, and support for the educational process, Maiben said.

Unlike large cities, such as Baltimore, New York, and Philadelphia, which have central agencies for Jewish education that develop programming for their constituents, Monmouth County relies on the commission to perform the task, Maiben said.

In addition to the seminars, the commission offer a series of in-service programs for principals. One such program focused on theoretical and practical approaches to the management and supervision of teachers at different career stages, said Maiben.

“The in-service programs provide a chance for educators to get together with their colleagues, who are just as passionate about education as I am,” she said. “We can all learn together. The workshops and seminars are also a way to acknowledge the powerful, positive things they do for children. That connection with the children is priceless.”

The commission’s first project five years ago was the creation of a teacher recruitment and training program, which was funded by an $8,000 federation grant. The program offered basic teaching skills to those interested in providing Jewish education. The program has been offered on three additional occasions and will be presented again next year, Maiben said.

The commission is still reaping the benefits of the recruitment program.

“Sometimes synagogues run low on teachers, particularly when a congregation experiences substantial growth,” said Maiben. “This program still enables us to find interested individuals who can be prepared and trained to meet this escalating need before it becomes insurmountable.”

The commission is recognized by a $4,000 line item on the federation’s annual budget, according to Ann Goldman, federation director of planning and allocations, who also helps coordinate staff activities for the commission. The commission has a resource center with laminating and die cut machines, among other tools for use by teachers and principals in the area.

The commission expects many positive results to emerge from the mental health seminar. The one-day seminar, which will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 5, at the federation’s Manalapan office. It will be led by Bert Goldberg, executive director of the Association of Jewish Family Services in East Brunswick.

“School directors are not always specifically trained to handle difficult behavior or recognize different types of problems,” Goldman said. “Sometimes they are not aware that a problem exists. But our religious schools are dedicated to educating kids with special needs. This seminar will steer the principals to appropriate resources that they can then share with teachers. In the end, the public will be the beneficiary of this special program.”

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