Effective Reconstructionist Education and Managing Schools
In the best of times, it can be challenging for congregations to make good decisions about school budgets. In times of economic hardship, it becomes even more important to address school budgets with great care. Rabbi Erin Hirsh will discuss best practices in school budgeting, the roles of education directors, treasurers, education committees and boards and the relationship between synagogue and school budgets as well as considering sample budgets. New, exciting, and innovative experiential learning programs are cropping up across the Jewish world; some are happening within our own Reconstructionist movement. This session will focus on exciting experiential youth education programs that combine the best of camp experiential learning and non-traditional congregational schools.
Expected Preparation (Reading and Audio):
http://jrf.org/pearl/2011/School-Budgeting/2
http://jrf.org/pearl/2010/Experiential-Education
To listen to the audio recording of this call, click here: http://jrf.org/node/3336
Rabbi Erin Hirsh is JRF Director of Education. A 2000 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she spent ten years working as an Education Director in the Reconstructionist movement at congregations Kehilat HaNahar and Mishkan Shalom. She also served as a consultant to Reconstructionist congregations during that time. Rabbi Erin has taught in a variety of supplementary school settings, including Reform and Reconstructionist congregations. She is the author of Etz Hayim We, a series of text study curricula based on the megillot. Rabbi Erin has also helped write the curricula for Camp JRF for the past five years. She and her partner, Ezra Sherman, are blessed with a daughter, Zoe.
Lori Rubin has been the Educational Director at Or Hadash, A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, since 2000. She was a founding member of RENA, the Reconstructionist Educators of North America, and served as its co-chair, JRF Liaison, and youth and camping Board representative. For the past three summers, she has been the Rosh Hinuh, Director of Education, at Camp JRF. Since 2010, Lori has also served as the JRF Pearl Coordinator. In September 2011, Lori became the Program Director of Family Engagement at Jewish Learning Venture in addition to her work at Or Hadash, Camp JRF, and JRF. She looks forward to continuing to consult with those interested in Reconstructionist Education in formal and informal ways.