New Integrated North American Jewish Day School Organization Launches

Day Schools of Reform Judaism (PARDES), The Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education (PEJE), RAVSAK (The Jewish Community Day School Network), the Schechter Day School Network (Schechter), and the Yeshiva University School Partnership (YUSP) have all agreed to move forward towards the formation of a new, integrated North American Jewish day school organization.

This new organization, which is temporarily being called “NewOrg,” is committed to supporting and enabling financial vitality and educational excellence in Jewish day schools, and to building and strengthening a vibrant, visible and connected Jewish day school field. By pooling the talent, expertise and resources that have been dispersed among the various organizations, NewOrg will be able to offer an expanded set of programs, services and networking opportunities to benefit the more than 375 schools and close to 100,000 students currently being already served, and any other schools interested in participating.

NewOrg will maintain and expand on stream-specific offerings, while scaling and developing field-wide programs; it will offer the small network feel, but with the benefits of leveraged resources and expertise. NewOrg will take the best of what each organization has to offer its schools, and then innovate and scale it for all schools interested in participating. It will network colleagues and schools of different ideologies and geographies to address shared challenges and capitalize on shared opportunities, while still providing distinct services and counsel to schools from within similar streams. NewOrg will advocate for all day schools. It will convene professional leaders, lay leaders and donors to advance the field, and bring in more resources. And, NewOrg will wield its extensive organizational reach and influence and bring it to bear on behalf of the needs of individual day schools.

NewOrg is expected to launch, subject to the finalization of the formal agreement and necessary state approval, in Summer 2016.

Until then, the five founding organizations will continue to offer their affiliated schools the same services as before. While there will be a transition, the intention is to keep it as seamless as possible. You can find additional information and updates at www.newjdsorg.org.

Currently, NewOrg is being generously supported by the AVI CHAI Foundation.