Welcome back! I hope your Passover and break were relaxing and filled with friends and family.

MJDS staff learned together on Monday in our return from Spring break. We focused on school culture and were fortunate to collaborate with a phenomenal leader in the field, Tamra Nast. Tamra had visited our school in the Fall to both establish a baseline of our school culture and help us identify areas of opportunity as we moved forward. On Monday, Tamra led an all-staff morning session on Control vs. Compassion. She shared compelling research-based evidence about the long-term positive impact of intrinsic motivation as opposed to the short-term and largely ineffective extrinsic (carrot/stick) motivation we often use to affect student behavior. We then spent the rest of the day working with Tamra in smaller grade level meetings to discuss specific strategies for fostering a consistent and sustainable culture of empathy and compassion at MJDS. I was blown away by how our entire staff engaged with honesty, transparency and deep love for our students. We are fostering a community of trust, evident in each classroom, office and common space at school. It is the key to a healthy and successful school culture. As someone who has worked in several schools and visited dozens more, MJDS is is among the best at living our core values every day and engaging each student as an individual with unlimited potential. I invite you to click HERE to read about how the key to learning in school is all about building trusting relationships between adults and students. It is what we do, everyday, at MJDS.

As a reminder, please join us on Tuesday, April 17th from 7-8:30pm at MJDS to discuss how to help your child deal with anxiety. Dr. Michael Mazius will share research, strategies and engage in a Q&A with the audience. The entire community is welcome to join.