local
Is the Teacher Shortage Aff ecting
Local Day Schools?
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
A n Aug. 11 ABC News headline
read, “US has 300,000 teacher,
school staff vacancies.” A
July headline from Th e Philadelphia
Inquirer called Pennsylvania’s teacher
shortage a “crisis” that will require
“thousands of educators by 2025.”
But the same problem is not quite
hitting Philadelphia-area Jewish day
schools. Institutions like the Jack M. Barrack
Hebrew Academy (6-12) in Bryn Mawr,
the Perelman Jewish Day School (pre-K-5)
in Montgomery County and the Kellman
Brown Academy (pre-K-8) in Voorhees,
New Jersey, are, for the most part, fully
staff ed for the 2022-’23 school year.

Some local schools, like Kellman
Brown, which had to fi ll 11 vacancies,
did a lot of work over the summer to be
ready by the end of it. Others, though,
like the Abrams Hebrew Academy
(pre-K-8) in Yardley, barely saw any
turnover. Abrams needed to replace
just two teachers.

Administrators said they felt lucky
that they did not have to deal with the
teacher shortage to the same degree as
other schools. But they also said that
teachers feel seen at their institutions.

“Th ey have say in curriculum; they
have say in discipline; they have say in
everything,” said Rabbi Ira Budow, the
head of school at Abrams. “I welcome
their opinions.”
“Perelman is just an incredible place to
be. Teachers recognize that,” added Mitchell
Daar, Perelman’s new head of school who
took over on July 1. “Th ey are valued and
a strong part of the community.”
While Budow only had two vacan-
cies to fi ll, Daar had six. But his team
saw 10 or more applicants for the aver-
age position and fi nished its hiring
process between the end of July and
beginning of August. Certain candi-
dates were not qualifi ed for interviews,
he said, but most were.

Barrack Head of School Marshall
Lesack described “a bit of a challenged
environment when you’re looking for
certain people or positions.” Unlike at
Perelman, Barrack saw slightly fewer
8 candidates than in years past. Luckily
for Lesack and the administration,
though, the “vast majority” of staff
members are back for 2022-’23, and the
new staff ers are qualifi ed.

“If you’re able to bring in somebody
great, it doesn’t matter if it’s one person
who applied or 10 people who applied,”
he said.

But for Rachel Zivic, the head of school
at Kellman Brown, fi nding great candi-
dates has required her to work almost
every day this summer. Most of her
staff is returning, but KBA has grown
by about 60 students over the past two
years. To keep up with that growth, Zivic
needed to fi nd 11 new teachers.

She reached out to camp directors,
alumni and current staff members, all
to network her way to a full team. KBA
interviewed “quite a few teachers,” Zivic
said, and, by the middle of August, it
had no more openings. Th e head of
school took just three days off during
the almost summer-long process.

“Making sure we have enough staff
and an excellent staff is the biggest pri-
ority,” she said.

Besie Katz, the head of school at
the Politz Hebrew Academy (K-8) in
Philadelphia, faced a similar challenge.

She described it as an entire season of
“recruiting, replacing, reevaluating and
rescheduling.” But she also reached
mid-August with close to a full roster,
with just one opening remaining.

For Katz, the biggest diff erence
between this summer and a normal
hiring season has been the smaller
candidate pool. Th is allowed certain
candidates into the process who would
not have been considered in the past.

One told Katz that she had been a
student, and so how hard could teach-
ing be? Another did not speak English.

A third said she was a waitress who
liked to read books.

“Th is year, I had people who weren’t
connected to the profession,” Katz said.

Of course, those candidates did not
end up landing positions. Politz’s seven
new teachers are very much “connected
to the profession.”
“Our children will be in good hands,”
Katz said.

Administrators are hoping that the
AUGUST 18, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
The Abrams Hebrew Academy in Yardley
Courtesy of the Abrams Hebrew Academy
Abrams Hebrew Academy students enjoy a school activity.

Courtesy of the Abrams Hebrew Academy
summer proves more stressful than
the actual year. For the fi rst time since
2019-’20, there are minimal COVID
concerns going into September.

Local day schools are no longer requir-
ing masks and social distancing. Th ey also
are no longer limiting activities. Students
will need to stay home if they test positive
for COVID; but in pre-COVID times we
just called that a sick day.

Daar mentioned that he has a med-
ical advisory team that he will consult
on an as-needed basis. But right now,
there is no need.

“We’re looking forward to running
a school that programmatically resem-
bles what it was like prior to the pan-
demic,” he said. JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com



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