I used to feel such anticipation before the annual city-wide professional development day for teachers sponsored by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Mercaz/Board of Jewish Education.
Of course, this day provided the opportunity to learn from noted Jewish and non-Jewish intellectuals and educators, as well as a forum for discovery and the discussion of new approaches to student engagement. But best of all was the energy that filled the room from the diversity of the Jewish day school educators who attended. Men in kippot srugot (crocheted kippot) sat next to women in jeans, while observant women with a variety of head coverings mingled with men with uncovered heads.
There was unity in our diversity.
On those annual PD days, one could see the multiple faces of our community and the broad agreement among very diverse polities on the seminal role of Jewish education.
This idyllic portrait of Jewish education will soon be a memory.
In an entirely unanticipated move earlier this month, the federation eviscerated the Mercaz, the communal co-ordinating agency and clearing house that has served our community for almost 60 years — most of those years under its previous moniker, the Board of Jewish Education.
What the Mercaz lacked in coercive power was compensated for by the creativity of its leadership. They pioneered and co-ordinated events that showcased Jewish education’s best product – our students and their many talents. The showcases included events such as the Chidon Hatanach (Bible Contest), Zimriya, Rikudiya and creative writing contests. In short, the Mercaz ensured a celebration of our children’s intellectual, artistic and physical talents in ways that rose above communal segmentation.
The Mercaz also constantly strove to improve teacher training, curriculum delivery and professional knowledge to ensure that Jewish day and supplementary teachers could deliver Jewish studies in a vital manner that engages students.
This is the bedrock of Jewish survival in the Diaspora.
As if this were not enough, the Mercaz was also in charge of teacher training and categorization, which determines the salaries of a large number of Jewish day and supplementary school teachers.
Against these facts, the decision to eviscerate the Mercaz was both poorly planned and organizationally imprudent.
The federation informed the community in its news release that their decision was the result of ongoing discussions and had nothing to do with the economy. The federation emphasizes this: that what they called “restructuring” and what I consider to be the destruction of the vital underpinning of Jewish continuity in our community was carefully planned and had nothing to do with the horrible state of the economy.
The claim that the schools themselves will somehow take on extracurricular activities is belied by the educators interviewed in The CJN’s story about the cuts. All of them seemed surprised by the downloading of services. It seems that federation planners overlooked consulting with these key stakeholders.
What the federation hails as “capacity building” is simply duplicating services without offering a central planning agency. Indeed, “capacity building” only fuels an institutional desire, if not also a need, to expand to incorporate the service delivery that has been newly delegated to them.
Federation president David Koschitzsky explained: “Our new approach demonstrates confidence in Toronto’s excellent day schools. Our modern, dynamic educators have reached the point where they do not need us to deliver services.”
This is news to me.
I have considerable experience in education. I’ve won three teaching awards, earned a doctorate related to pedagogy, and written a textbook and curriculum. When the day comes that I don’t need professional development, it will be time for me to quit the profession. Even experienced teachers – in both day and supplementary schools – constantly need the tools to help place before our students a vision of why being Jewish is relevant. We are the classroom defenders and champions of Jewish continuity!
But why should federation ask the stakeholders in the classes when it apparently did not ask the main funders of education either – that is, the parents of children in the schools? Surely parents paying thousands of dollars for their children’s’ education are also concerned about the standards and quality of the education in the various schools that were supported by the staff of the Mercaz.
No one at federation has spoken about the future of the Board of License beyond vague statements that perhaps York University’s Faculty of Jewish Education might get involved in this and some other functions of the former Mercaz.
The Board of License is responsible for evaluating most Jewish studies teachers’ credentials. It attempts to ensure professional standards and establish remuneration categories for teachers. Teachers go to the board to obtain their teacher category when they graduate from teacher training or arrive in Toronto. Many return frequently to be re-categorized after taking professional development courses often under Mercaz auspices.
I am a member of the board. We spent almost a year completely updating teacher categories to reflect important changes in teacher training both here and in Israel. Who will do this in September?
Every significant academic study has linked Jewish education with Jewish continuity. In a world where Googling competes with and threatens the authority of traditional modes of educational delivery, we must package Jewish education in as many wrappings as possible to maximize “buy-in” among students and parents alike. Federation’s concern for Jewish continuity should translate into policies that strengthen Jewish education. The Mercaz decision weakens education in our community.
Administrators struggling with declining enrolment, diminishing budgets, differentiating their programs from others, and the challenges of running their own institutions lack the time and vision to plan for the whole community.
Teachers “in the trenches” who spend hours marking and planning also lack the time and expertise for central educational planning.
We need the Mercaz. It may have to be streamlined, but not eviscerated. Jewish continuity deserves better.
Jack Lipinsky teaches at United Synagogue Day School and the University of Toronto and is the author of Facing History and Ourselves.
