Hemda and Shakked Parhi, with their children. The Parhis are educational envoys from Israel working at Bi-Cultural Day School in Stamford this year.

It’s that time of year again – time to check in with Connecticut’s Jewish day schools to see what’s new and exciting in their classrooms this year.

Bi-Cultural Day School
2186 High Ridge Rd., Stamford
(203) 329-2186
www.bcds.org
Pre-K – 8th grade
Jacqueline Herman, Principal

Enrollment 2011: 360

New this year: Chinese and Spanish language; new staff to enhance technology instruction; Jewish studies program in grades 6,7 and 8, with choice of a text-based or experiential learning program based on each family’s personal choice, goals and interests; Jewish studies elective in upper grades in such subjects as modern Jewish philosophers, Holocaust studies and Hebrew literary magazine; student council in the upper grades; in-house staff developer for ongoing teacher enrichment. Bi-Cultural also welcomed Hemda and Shakked Parhi who will serve as educational envoys from Israel for the next few years (see “Israel in Stamford,” Ledger, Aug. 26, 2011)

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Carmel Academy
270 Lake Av., Greenwich
(203) 863-9663
www.wfha.org
Nora Anderson, Head of School
K -8th grade

Enrollment 2011: 229

Rabbi Seth Braunstein is Carmel’s new director of Religious Experience – a brand new position. Braunstein received rabbinic ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in June 2006. He has traveled extensively, working for many Jewish communities around the world. Some of his experiences include: the educational directorship for YUSSR (Yeshiva and University students for the spiritual survival of Russian Jewry) in Belarus; coordinating a communal educational empowerment program in Perth, Australia; and directing an outdoor adventure leadership training program at Camp Moshava. He has also led a teaching seminar in Austria for the Ronald Lauder Foundation. In Israel, he led an inter-denominational teen program for the Abraham Joshua Heschel School. Braunstein has worked with a variety of special needs groups in both the Jewish community and the greater world, such as Yachad, the Council for the Jewish Disabled, and has participated in an inter-denominational rabbinical mission to El Salvador with the American Jewish World Service (AJWS). He served as the rabbinic associate and family educator at the Hebrew Institute of White Plains (N.Y.) and as the director of Havayah and Moreshet at Hebrew College in Boston. He currently directs the Szarvas Fellowships program in Hungary, an international Jewish summer-camp program of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

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Students at Ezra Academy, Woodbridge

Ezra Academy
75 Rimmon Rd., Woodbridge
(203) 389-5500
www.ezraacademy.net
Richard Gusenburg, Head of School, interim
K – 8th grade

Enrollment 2011: 143

The school theme for 2011-2012 is “Ozen Kashevet:  Attentiveness/Being a Good Listener”

“We are a small and intimate community.  That is a tremendous strength in a very impersonal world,” says interim Head of School Richard Gusenburg. “We have all the latest tools such as e-mail, Facebook and Twitter, yet we find that these forms of communication, although fast, are not always the best way to help someone understand our ideas and feelings.  That’s why as a community, we are going to devote ourselves to improving deep and meaningful communication during this school year.
Ozen Kashevet is a concept that goes beyond just “hearing” to actively listening. As the year goes on, we will explore this concept of communication and we will work to improve our attentiveness and listening with all of our audiences.  We hope that all of our parents will join us in this effort which will, I am sure, pay off in a strong and positive school culture.
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Day schools welcome new directors

Rabbi Elliot Goldberg

Rabbi Elliot Goldberg
Head of School
Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford, West Hartford

Rabbi Elliot Goldberg has dedicated his professional life to Jewish day-school education, earning a masters’ degree in Jewish education along with his rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and graduated from JTS’s Day School Leadership Training Institute.
Goldberg worked at the Milken Community High School in Los Angeles and at the Solomon Schechter Day School in Bergen County, N.J. Prior to SSDS, Rabbi Goldberg served as an administrator and faculty member of the Chicagoland Jewish High School in Deerfield, Ill., which he co-founded in 2001. During his tenure at CJHS, Rabbi Goldberg helped increase enrollment from 26 students to 162, and was awarded the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education.
Rabbi Goldberg is married to Rabbi Sheryl Katzman. They have three daughters, Michal and Hadas, who will enter 2nd grade at SSDS, and Liora, who will enter Schechter’s Early Childhood 2 program.

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Richard Gusenburg
Interim Head of School
Ezra Academy, Woodbridge

A veteran educator, Richard Gusenburg has taught in Connecticut public schools for nearly 40 years. A Greater New Haven native, he holds an undergraduate degree in history and political science and a master’s degree in elementary education, both from UConn. He earned a sixth-year certificate in school administration.
He taught for several years in Glastonbury elementary schools before spending 34 years in Regional School District 15 (Middlebury and Southbury). While there, he served as teacher, administrator, and principal in three different schools.
After retiring, Gusenburg took several interim positions, most recently as a principal in Branford. When Ezra Academy was looking for an interim head of school, a board member approached him.
Over the next year and during Ezra’s search process, Gusenburg will serve as educational leader and oversee the school’s business operations.

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Yonatan Yussman

Rabbi Yonatan Yussman
Head of School
Jewish High School of Connecticut, Bridgeport

Rabbi Yonatan Yussman comes to JHSC from the Adelson Educational Campus in Las Vegas, Nev., an independent K-12 day school where he has served as head of Jewish studies since 2007.A graduate of Boston University with a BA in psychology, Yussman received his master’s degree in Jewish education from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and his rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Daniel Landes, Rosh Yeshiva (head of school) of the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. While in Israel, he also served in the Israel Defense Forces.Yussman holds a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While in Las Vegas, Yussman founded and directed the Florence Melton Adult Mini School and he continues to serve as teacher and mentor for graduates of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.

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Jacqueline Herman

Jacqueline Herman
Interim Principal
Bi-Cultural Day School, Stamford

Jacqueline Herman most recently served as Bi-Cultural’s director of secular studies. A native of New Rochelle, N.Y., she earned a BA in education from Indiana University, a master’s degree in educational administration from Concordia University in Chicago, and a master’s degree in education with a focus on reading from the College of New Rochelle. She has teaching licenses in special education and elementary education.
After teaching for many years in the City School District of New Rochelle, N.Y., Herman  became a facilitator at a magnet school in the district, which marked the beginning of her administrative path. She served as assistant principal at an elementary school, then as principal of an 800-student K-8 school.
Along the way, she had two sets of twins. In 2007, when her first children were students at Bi-Cultural and Herman was on maternity leave with her second children, she was asked to fill in as a teacher at the school. She has been on the Bi-Cultural faculty ever since.
An ardent volunteer from high school on, Herman was inspired to become an educator after working with at-risk children. “I really saw the impact a teacher and positive role model could have on a child’s life,” she says. She combines her passion for teaching with a love of administration, honed in leadership positions through high school and college. She sees herself as a hands-on educational administrator, always drawn back to the classroom, and offering model lessons for teachers whenever appropriate. Herman prides herself on creating one-on-one connections with students and their families.
Comments? Email cindym@jewishledger.com.