Zooming Out and Zooming In
I want to invite you to join me for a moment on a hot air balloon rising over our community. As we get higher and higher we can see across the entire neighborhood, city, and region. We start to notice things we never saw before: the proximity of familiar places to each other; the flow of the rivers and the beauty of the trees; the roads and electric grid deepening our connections and reach.
At JES, we take a bird’s eye view of our Jewish educational community, seeing the incredible array of diverse schools and designing strategies to help each school thrive and each individual find their place and connect with others.
Did you know that there are 23 Day Schools, 17 Preschools, and 13 Congregational Schools in Baltimore? And that is not even counting those in surrounding counties, whom we serve as well. This includes over 6400 students enrolled in Day Schools, over 1600 students in Preschools, and over 1500 students in Congregational Schools. And it includes over 1600 educators.
If you scroll through our website you will see the vast array of services we offer in student support, educator training, and parent guidance. This includes not only academic support, but mental wellness support, financial grants, Israel education services, and so much more.
It is nice to sometimes take this bird’s eye view of our community and realize just how many people are passionate about Jewish education and how much work there is to do. But now, as we start to bring our hot air balloon back down to the ground, let’s remember that it is not just about the big numbers. As we zoom in closer we notice a school with children in the playground, a teacher teaching a class, a parent dropping off their child at school. And we remember that it’s really about individuals. Every day, at JES, our team comes to work inspired to try to help individuals. Whether it is guiding parents on finding the best support for their children, supporting teachers in learning how to reach each of their students, or offering direct services to children to help them read and succeed, we are focused on people. If there is something we can do to lend you a helping hand on your educational journey, please reach out and let us know. It is both our mission and our greatest honor to help.
