Rabbi Yitzchok Newman, the venerable dean of the Hebrew Academy of Huntington Beach, CA has been at his post for many decades and is still effectively creative as the day he started. Rabbi Boruch Kaplan is the dynamic principal of the Western Connecticut Hebrew Academy and Rabbi Yehoshua Lustig is the principal of the upper division at Oholei Torah.
Chabad schools run the gamut, from chadorim which don’t offer Limudei chol to Hebrew day schools, so that their schools are each of a different character and the principalship is varied as the schools they lead.
The commonalities are obvious, yet the differences of these schools shape their leadership and the to interface with school leaders from similar institutions is acutely felt.
The Kinus HaMechanchim presented the opportunity for principals from mosdos with similar objectives to “talk shop,” with similar leadership.
Rabbi Lustig led a large group of principals of chadorim. Rabbi Kaplan led a smaller group of day school principals and Rabbi Newman led of group of CEOs, heads of schools “where the buck stops.”
The issues raised went to the core of what the mosdos are about and the discussions were lively and dynamic. Rabbi Newman made a PowerPoint presentation about things like budgets, fundraising and teachers’ salary scales while the day schools discussed enrollment policies coordinating curricula and the chadorim discussed curricula and classroom management issues. They all talked about the recruitment and training of teachers as well as the retention of seasoned faculty members.
The atmosphere at the 22nd Kinus HaMechanchim was of course the catalyst for the discussions, and Rabbi Nochem Kaplan, director of the Merkos Chinuch Office, said at the conclusion of the meetings: “It’s too soon to herald the creation of a new Igud of Menahalim, but all the participants agreed to meet a number of times during the course of the year to follow up with a broad plan of cooperative activities.”
