We have been fortunate to have had Rabbi Lisa Levenberg on staff this year as our interim Rabbi. She has helped us identify a number of areas of growth and reimagination, as well as leading our community in weekly services, festival celebrations, teaching Middle School Beit Midrash, and preparing lower school classes for their milestone achievements. Her objective observations and willingness to roll up her sleeves and jump right into the rollercoaster on any given day at Yavneh have been invaluable to helping us build a strong leadership team for our coming school year.
We are pleased to announce that we are building a stellar educational oversight team from within our current staff – dedicated educators who have the institutional knowledge, the relationships, the creativity, and most importantly, the deep desire to ensure our community thrives through cohesive academics in all subject and content areas.
Jamie Zimmer will be taking on the position of Director of Jewish Life and Learning while continuing to teach Middle School Jewish Studies. Jamie will be overseeing Jewish Studies curriculum development, festival celebrations, weekly t’fillah, and ensuring joyful Jewish engagement throughout our school. She will maintain close contact with our South Bay community Rabbis as well as strong relationships with our local synagogues and community centers.
Elena Kohn will continue to be a classroom teacher, while also assuming oversight of our K-5 literacy program, vertically aligning our scope and sequence for the lower school.
Vanina Sandel will assume oversight for our K-5 science program, through STEAM classes and different integrated science activities within the general studies curriculum.
Danielle Sapiens, will continue as our K-8 Math Director and middle school math teacher.
Jenessa Schwartz will continue to teach our Middle School Language Arts program and be our school liaison with the Pedagogy of Partnership. Jenessa will also assume the role of Middle School co-ordinator and will continue to staff and facilitate our Student Council.
Zack Sleep will continue to be a classroom teacher while helping Yavneh create a vertically aligned curriculum that will span from grades K-8 in all subject areas. This work has already begun and we will continue this work in the fall when we return from summer vacation. Zack will also be a pedagogical leader in all things related to social studies for our K-5 program.
This faculty leadership team will support and guide the efforts of our principal, Doug Hinko, as they take Yavneh into its 41st year, and beyond.
With dedication to our guiding principles of relevance, partnership, diverse learning, and Judaism, we are looking forward to a very bright future ahead.
L’Shalom,
Cindy & Doug
