Welcome!
ברוכים הבאים
B’ruchim HaBaim
Once again, another year has begun. All of us at Agnon – board members, staff and teachers – are excited about the new year ahead of us. Here’s to a wonderful 5769-70 (otherwise known as 2009-2010)!
A school is so much more than the mere sum of its parts. This year at Agnon, you’ll see grade-level Shabbat dinners – because we know that while we may teach and learn about Shabbat in the classroom, we celebrate this weekly gift by experiencing it with our family and friends. You’ll also see “milestone” events – science camp for 6th grade; Washington, D.C. for 7th and our life-transforming Israel experience for 8th grade – because all learning is not accomplished within the four walls of a classroom.
And parents will participate in their share of evening programs – our justly celebrated “integrated curricular nights” – that will give them a glimpse of how one learns at Agnon, by taking in concepts and ideas through multiple lenses. Seeing a topic from the perspective of art, music, science, Jewish history and social studies brings it alive – and moves the accumulation of facts toward the development of wisdom. It’s that simple – and that profound.
There is both a ‘why’ and a ‘how’ to all this. We choose to blend formal and non-formal educational methods because we want to take the best practices which will provide the most meaningful experiences for our students. We choose to integrate our curricula and to create a pluralist Jewish educational community because we believe that now, more than ever, we need to connect our various worlds – that sectioning off our learning is just as limiting as dividing our community.
How we accomplish all this – and how we’re able to dream about the next phase of education and of this school in particular – is due to the many, many donors who give of themselves, their time and their dollars, not to receive acknowledgment or praise. They give because they too believe in the mission and the mandate of a school that reaches out to the broadest spectrum of the Jewish community; a school that does not ask parents to choose between academic excellence in general studies “or” in Jewish studies. They believe in offering our students and our community the best and brightest future we can provide. To everyone who has so willingly contributed – to our parents, our Board members, our generous supporters throughout the community – thank you.
Welcome – once again – to Agnon.
Jerry D. Isaak-Shapiro
Head of School
