OVERVIEW

Temple Israel of Westport offers the incredible opportunity to be part of the leadership team within a vibrant and growing Jewish community. We are likely the fastest-growing congregation in the Reform movement, having expanded more than 50% from 700 families to nearly 1100 families in just the past five years. Our Kesher (Hebrew school) program has doubled in size to 530 students and our Early Childhood Center has tripled to 150 students. This is a time of tremendous opportunity, abundance, vitality and creativity for our congregation. Here you can play a key role in defining the shape of Reform Judaism in the 21st century. Here you will join a senior staff and clergy team that is ready to welcome you and create a genuine partnership. Here the opportunities for creativity and innovation are limited only by your imagination. Here our staff team works in partnership with an extraordinary, thoughtful, caring, and supportive Board of Trustees and lay leadership. Here we have proudly established a broad Zionist tent in which there is room for all those who love and support Israel, ranging from those who are fiercely pro-Israel no matter what to those who love Israel but bring serious questions about its policies and actions.

KESHER STATISTICS

• Kesher population: 530 learners K-12 and their families
• Kesher budget: $650,000+
• Teaching staff: 50+ teachers (hourly)

ROLE

• Our Director of Education will have primary responsibility for all K-12 learning and programming, including our Kesher supplemental education program, family programs, teen programs, and a range of informal engagement experiences.
• Our Director of Education will be a key member of Temple Israel’s senior staff team.
• Our Director of Education will supervise our Kesher staff team, including our Director of Experiential Education, Youth Engagement Specialist, Kesher Office Manager and over 50 teachers.
• Our Director of Education will collaborate closely with our clergy team, our Executive Director, our Director of Program and Member Engagement, our Early Childhood Director, and lay leadership.

CORE SKILLS

• Focus on Relationships: In a world that is increasingly digital, we offer the opposite: an in-person, brick-and-mortar Jewish home where we know your name, your face, your family, your story. We seek an educational leader who loves building relationships with our congregants of all ages.
• Leadership: We seek an educational leader who is excited to lead our congregation in shaping the very best of Jewish education in the 21st century. We seek an educational leader who will supervise our full-time staff and part-time teachers and lead them toward excellence.
• Joy: We seek an educational leader who delights in the ongoing miracle of Jewish life, finding humor, playfulness, and joy in this sacred work.
• Teammate: We seek an educational leader who will partner with us in creativity, experimentation and innovation. Our ideal teammate joins our culture of an “abundance mindset,” trusting that there are sufficient resources, opportunities, and success for everyone, fostering an optimistic, collaborative, and grateful outlook.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Supervision experience- Experience supervising and mentoring a team of full-time staff and/or part-time teachers, supporting their professional growth and investing in their success.
• Leadership experience- Demonstrated experience and success in an educational leadership role, managing a team of colleagues and a multi-faceted educational experience for school-age children and their families.
• Team experience- Successful track record of partnership and teamwork with professional colleagues and lay leaders within a large and complex organization.

Core Kesher Program

Our Kesher program currently meets on Sundays (two sessions: 9:00-10:45am and 11:00am-12:45pm), Mondays (4:00-6:00pm) and Tuesdays (4:00pm-8:00pm) One of our most significant innovations has been to separate Hebrew learning from Judaics. Judaics takes place in-person during the days and times listed above. Hebrew learning generally takes place in small homogenous groups on zoom, 30 minutes per week, starting in 3rd grade.

Teen Program

Teens can choose from one or more of the four “tracks” below:

• Madrichim- teen classroom leaders who assist our teachers.
• Tuesday Night Our “formal” education program meets on a weekly or bi-weekly basis depending on grade. This includes Confirmation class.
• BBYO We are proud of our robust chapter
• Teen Social Justice Trips We have developed a culture of annual teen social justice trips including RAC L’taken, Civil Rights Journey, Immigrant Rights Experience.

Informal & Holiday Programs

In addition, we run informal youth programs events on weekends (Sunday afternoons, Saturday havdalah), family and grade-level Shabbatot once a month, High Holy Day programming on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, holiday programming on Chanukah and Purim, and assorted other special programs for the K-12 age group and their families.