Help Wanted

SOMMER, ALLISON KAPLAN

Help Wanted ALLISON KAPLAN SOMMER A NATIONAL J E W I SH P E R S O N N E L CRISIS HAS FORCED DRASTIC A C T I O N — F R O M HIRING N O N - J E W I S H DAYSCHOOL DIRECTORS TO ' P O A C H I N G '...

...Even if we had an 80 percent failure rate, we'd still have 600 young teens thinking about going into the field every year—at no cost to recruittnent...
...There are many, many jobs out there for someone with my qualifications," he said...
...And hundreds are exiting the Jewish communal world before they do have a chance to move up...
...and to creating a sense of belonging...
...and not get home until after 10 p.m...
...Because she wants to make a living wage...
...For such a comprehensive plan to be put into place, Shevitz says, it will take an active interest by a few of the Jewish mega-donors...
...I've been at our JCC for longer than many of the board members and many of them don't know me...
...In this climate of desperation, some Jewish agencies have even attempted to "poach" second-year students—a la the NBA—coaxing them to abandon their srudies and take positions IN the Jewish communal field without completing their degrees...
...In the educational realm, for example, teachers are being hired without proper qualifications...
...Clear, Cogent Solution' But all is not doom and gloom...
...Nursery school leads to religious school, which leads to joining the temple...
...For Cheryl Karp, who has been director of the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Center Nursery School on Long Island for nine years, finding teachers to work for $12,000 with no medical benefits is getting harder, too...
...There are task forces, keynote convention addresses, and researchers racing against the clock to figure out why the Jewish community is in such a predicament— and how to correct it...
...If we want people to go into our business, we've got to show them the proper financial respect that they deserve...
...For the first time this year," she says, "I went to our board armed with information from the crisis committee and told them, 'Help...
...While rhe interest and investment in Jewish education grew exponentially, and adult Jewish education programs at Federations and JCCs expanded, the number of young people interested in Jewish education as a career dramatically decreased—leaving a tremendous gap between demand and supply...
...A few candidates have even been interviewed—but no one with an advanced degree in Jewish education and enough curriculum development expertise to lead the pilot school, founded in 2000 to serve St Louis's 54,000 Jews...
...When he decided last year that he wanted to leave New York and work in a local federation in the field, he knew he could take his pick...
...have changed the face of Jewish education as we know it," said Margolis...
...When that isn't enough, many make tough compromises...
...Across North America, experts—such as Steven Solender, former president and chief executive officer of United Jewish Communities—say there is a personnel "crisis" playing out in Jewish comE munities...
...Absolutely...
...But Daniel Margolis, head of the Bureau of Jewish Education in Boston, feels a crucial way to implement change is to start at a local level...
...But today, we have a staffing crisis in public education, so the public schools are raising the ante and are actively recruiting teachers away from us...
...It's a tough choice and we need people who have both...
...He holds a master's degree in social work from Yeshiva University and a lengthy New York resume including stints in the national Hillel and United Jewish Community offices...
...Today that pile has dwindled to nothing, prompting her to create her own national recruitment crisis team...
...Everyone in my field loves what they do, but they feel both underpaid and undervalued," she said...
...He says if people think of it as a crisis, they will panic and stab for quick fixes...
...Is this how we reward people who choose Jewish education as a career...
...No one is immune," said Flexner...
...In addition to training talented Jewish educators, many of whom have since gone on to become principals in Jewish schools and congregational schools, the BJE began a decade ago to transform many part-time, high-turnover, low-prestige jobs into much more desirable full-time positions with benefits...
...Jewish educators and spiritual leaders could also play a major part...
...We do have the time in this situation," Powell said...
...Why would a young Jew go to work in a field of 'rotten rabbis' and 'awful shuls...
...We've gotten very few resumes, and those we've received just aren't qualified enough," says Jeffrey Lasday, executive vice president of the St...
...In the corporate world, they recognize...
...You can make more as a waitress in Starbucks than educating the next generation of American Jews...
...The Jewish community has not thought about employee issues," said Shifra Bronznick, a management consultant who is piloting a project to research why women are absent from the top ranks of the Jewish professional world...
...A recent project involves the creation "Renaissance educator," a staff person at a synagogue who performs many complementary jobs—youth work, family work, and adult education—that were typically performed by a variety of part-time people...
...The first wave of official reports and studies on the shortage came out in the mid-1980s, prompting the formation in 1987 of a special commission by the Council of Jewish Federations (CJF) to examine the situation over the next decade in the United States and Canada...
...Dual-career families and an emphasis on quality of life have left fewer people willing to hopscotch around the country to climb a career ladder—especially if the position is in a smaller town...
...They are leaving because the salary is low, the job demands are high, and this does not result in any kind of quality of life," he said...
...Some schools are tapping non-Jews to temporarily fill vacancies...
...There are a variety of innovative programs on the national level already under way to recruit and train young people to go into Jewish education, such as JESNA's Jewish Education Corps where college students work with local congregational schools and receive training and mentoring...
...There are approximately 20 national academic programs that give a master's in Jewish education or communal work...
...Burning Out Fast With such a shortage, it's no wonder many organizations are playing musical chairs to make up for the lack of professional staff...
...Margolis says that when parents complain about rabbis and synagogues during dinner table conversations, they are sending a message their kids internalize...
...Louis Central Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE...
...I have had to turn children away from our school, not because of lack of space, but because of lack of staff," Karp says...
...The search continues, but it might be a long wait...
...In the case of Jewish preschools, a predominately female field, Meskin says the pool of Jewish women willing to earn substandard wages has disappeared...
...People are leaving day schools to go back to the public schools...
...The community has been searching for two years—advertising the position, posting it on the Internet, and networking with national Jewish education organizations...
...It's a long-term challenge and therefore needs long-term strategic thinking with a clear, cogent solution...
...If you are paying a starting teacher $28,000 and he could walk down the street to the public school and earn $36,000 and fall union-negotiated benefits, well, that's a major gap...
...And when qualified candidates finally are located, they are often not interested in taking the job because of the You can make more as a waitress In Starbucks than educating the next generation of American, Jews...
...Today, the nurturing-type person who would have given teaching and Jewish education a shot is heading into other fields," says Meskin...
...In the New York City public schools, the starting salary for teachers with master's degrees is $36,000, with full benefits...
...That means most Jewish kids are going to eliminate becoming garbage collectors and professional wrestlers pretty early on...
...These girls attended the same day schools, the same college, and they are practically the same age," Meskin says...
...But other experts say some of the biggest changes that need to take place don't carry a high price tag...
...Often it comes down to a choice between a knowledgeable person who has a good feel for the Jewish communal world and "a person who brings enormous professional competencies and success, but doesn't speak the language," said Edell...
...We knew it would be a challenge, but I don't think we thought it would take this long...
...The No...
...Let's say we made it incumbent on every rabbi to tap a high school kid who shows enthusiasm for Jewish life each year," said Margolis...
...We've got the facilities—the schools, the classrooms, and the students—but what we don't have are enough teachers or principals...
...1 Issue "The personnel crisis is the number one issue on the agenda of most of the knowledgeable lay and professional leadership in the Jewish world," says Steve Rod, vice president for professional development at the JCC Association...
...The bottom line, say experts, is that it must become a priority...
...Everywhere you look, you have this explosion of schools and supplementary schools across the country with an increasing number of students," says Lasday...
...Yet, for all the communal alarm, experts say the situation has gotten this bad only because the Jewish community has for decades failed to take a growing problem seriously...
...He says the situation is the most extreme in Young Leadership Divisions (YLD), where low-paid younger people are placed...
...The younger workers need to feel they are cared about and that they are a valuable part of the team...
...When he worked in YLD, he would typically start work at 8:30 a.m...
...She has two grown daughters: One is an investment banker...
...Part of the reason for the downturn, say experts, is that young people, in general, are not as interested in going into the "helping professions" as a whole, including education and nonprofit work...
...When a Jewish cultural revival began sweeping college campuses and Jewish communities in the mid-1990s, bringing with it the growth of synagogues, cultural programs, and especially day schools, the "developing crisis" became even more acute...
...Jewish centers, youth movements, and big organizations are having trouble...
...THE JEWISH COMMUNITY High School in St...
...Why...
...that their most important assets are employees...
...Hoffman, the Baltimore fund-raiser, agrees that there needs to be more attention focused on those already in the field...
...Since this hits the Jewish sector especially hard, the few who do go into Jewish studies or education are often inundated with job offers...
...My teachers are threatening to leave.'" This time, Karp was able to get a raise...
...The shortage of Jewish educators, for everything from pre-schools and after-school Hebrew schools to day schools, is especially serious...
...Louis can't find a director, and it's not for lack of trying...
...Bruce Powell, head of school at the New Community Jewish High School in Los Angeles and president of Jewish School Management, a consulting company for Jewish schools, believes the community is faced with a tough challenge—but not a crisis...
...In a few instances, non-Jews have been brought in as directors or principals of Jewish schools...
...According to Shevitz of Hornstein, the solutions right now are piecemeal at best because everyone in day schools, JCCs, and synagogues is looking at his or her own sector...
...he staffed evening events...
...Michael Hoffman, 30, a senior campaign associate at the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, has had the luxury of being able to be choosy...
...To make matters worse, the monetary gap between Jewish and public schools is widening— especially when it comes to benefits...
...The situation hits Meskin personally as well as professionally...
...Jewish Federations, Jewish Community Centers, and Jewish agencies are wondering who will fill long-vacant executive positions, while Jewish day schools and synagogue supplementary schools, desperate for educators, are snatching students from the handful of Jewish professional schools—before they've even graduated...
...As a result, more agencies are forced to make do with the local pool...
...There are not enough people who are talking about it across the board," she said, adding that over the long term, high school students must be recruited early, provided with continuing professional education, and given incentives for staying in the field...
...Despite sweeping changes recommended by CJF, there was little follow-through, according to Solender—who blamed lack of funding...
...And the reason is clear: We have not as a community been promoting careers in Jewish communal life and now we are paying the price...
...A survey Meskin's organization conducted this year in New York City showed that veteran early childhood educators (some with 20-plus years in the system), who hold master's degrees and teach fulltime, earned on average $25,900 annually...
...S H E R Y L M E S K IN salary...
...There's no mentoring going on and there's no appreciation for those in the lower ranks," he said...
...What Karp knows is that losing teachers is the first step toward losing Jews...
...So far, the major academic training grounds for Jewish professionals turn out only a fraction of the candidates needed to fill jobs in Federations and JCC positions across the country, and enrollment is decreasing...
...For example: changing attitudes and behavior among Jewish parents...
...Our graduates have always been heavily sought after," said Shevitz...
...And of approximately 27,000 educational positions in North America—including Jewish schools as well as JCCs and Jewish agencies—there may be as many as 3,000 teaching vacancies a year, according to Paul Flexner, associate vice president for human resources development of the Jewish Education Service of North America (JESNA...
...Camps are having trouble...
...As a result, Boston now boasts a significant number of supplementary school principals, full-time family educators, and full-time youth directors where none existed before, according to Margolis...
...Yet, one can afford anything she wants and the other can't...
...They shuffle staff members and redefine job descriptions...
...Still, do we have more to do...
...Part of the problem is that over the past decade, the number of graduates with degrees in Jewish education has remained constant or slighdy decreased, while the number of Jewish schools has dramatically increased...
...Rod of the JCC Association says that while there are many talented individuals in that pool, they often don't want to move up if it requires relocating—"not even for a better job...
...the other followed in her mother's footsteps and is an assistant director of early childhood education (she married a Jewish educator, as well...
...The Jewish world has taken some of this for granted...
...Many of my friends had Federations bidding against one another to hire them...
...It never became a front-burner issue on the Jewish community agenda and it got put off," said David E. Edell, president of DRG Inc., an executive recruitment firm in New York that searches for candidates to fill the top positions of many local and national Jewish agencies...
...In the meantime, the school carries on, making do with a part-time director and help from agency staff...
...But critics contend that even all of these initiatives are not enough...
...I get grown men—the presidents of boards of their synagogues—literally in tears, pleading with me to get them staff," said Meskin...
...There is a lot of burnout happening very, very quickly...
...The problem is so pronounced that Sheryl Meslcin, | - director of the early childhood department of the New York Board of Jewish Education, is afraid to answer her I ' phone when a new school year approaches...
...We believe that the things we're doing in Boston...
...She knows that on the other end of the line will be desperate directors of synagogues and JCCs begging her to find them job candidates for preschools...
...But what's different now is they're being sought after while they're still in school...
...Help Wanted ALLISON KAPLAN SOMMER A NATIONAL J E W I SH P E R S O N N E L CRISIS HAS FORCED DRASTIC A C T I O N — F R O M HIRING N O N - J E W I S H DAYSCHOOL DIRECTORS TO ' P O A C H I N G ' GRADUATE S T U D E N T S BEFORE THEY GET THEIR DEGREES...
...We've got good research that indicates kids make up their mind about career choice early, often in the middle grades of elementary school," said Margolis...
...It's a real battle though," she said...
...And he did this four times a week...
...Yet, only five years ago, Meskin had a stack of resumes on her desk to pass on to synagogues and JCCs...
...Hoffman, of the Baltimore Federation, says many of his classmates and colleagues simply quit the development field...
...This year, to take just one example, 12 students graduated from Brandeis University's Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service, down from 18 a few years ago, according to Director Susan Shevitz...
...Twenty years ago, the day schools were a place where public school teachers came because the atmosphere was nicer, and the salary differential was not so great," said Flexner of JESNA...
...Consider the words of Ruth Ann Ornstein, who has served as the youth director for the Greater New Haven JCC for 13 years, and also works as a family educator for a nearby synagogue...
...From 1946 to 1990, there were six non- Orthodox Jewish high schools in America...
...Jewish educators say there are 200 to 250 openings for senior administrators in the approximately 3,000 congregational and day schools in North America...
...in the next decade, 11 more were built, and by 2005 there will be an estimated 17 more, according to research by the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE...
...Why not...
...And perhaps most importantly, Jewish community leaders should recognize those working in the field...
...In contrast, starting salaries for para-professional jobs such as occupational therapy and speech therapy, which are increasingly attracting young Jewish women who would otherwise have worked in the Jewish world, are between $35,000 and $50,000...

Vol. 26 • October 2001 • No. 5


 
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