What We Want for Every Child

Dear Mirowitz Community,

Last night at Curriculum Night, I shared a few thoughts about what we want for every child at Mirowitz and the priorities guiding our work this year. I wanted to share those reflections with our entire community as we continue this exciting start to the school year.

We’ve had a wonderful start to the school year, and there is a special energy throughout Mirowitz. On any given day, you’ll find children learning, laughing, singing, praying, debating, creating, and simply enjoying being together. That combination is at the heart of what we want for every Mirowitz student: serious learning and intentional joy.

As we begin this new year, we also do so from a position of strength. Last spring, Mirowitz received full re-accreditation for another seven years from ISACS, an important affirmation of the work happening throughout our school. We are also fortunate to begin the year with a full Board of Directors, including both new and returning members who have committed significant time, energy, and resources to Mirowitz and its future.

What We Want for Every Child

This year, we are focused on three priorities: excellent and engaging learning, knowing and supporting every child, and creating a joyful, deeply Jewish community.

Academic excellence means more than covering material or mastering a set of skills. We want our students to think deeply, ask meaningful questions, solve problems, take intellectual risks, and develop the confidence to become increasingly independent learners.

Our size gives us a tremendous advantage in truly knowing our students, but that doesn’t happen simply because our classes are small. It requires intentionality. Our teachers collaborate closely with one another and with Mandi Zola and our Learning Support team, continually asking important questions: Is this child appropriately challenged? Are they supported? Do they feel known? Are they experiencing joy here?

And all of this happens within something uniquely Mirowitz. We aren’t simply an excellent school that also teaches Judaism. Our Jewish values are woven into the way we learn, the way we treat one another, the choices we make, and the way our children come to understand their responsibility in the world.

It Takes Partnership

None of this happens without our families. Mirowitz is strongest when families, teachers, administrators, and the Board recognize that we share responsibility for the same children and the same school.

Strong partnership means communicating directly and early, assuming good intentions, listening to one another, and working together when something isn’t working for a child. It also means recognizing that we can always get better.

Our accreditation process affirmed many of the things Mirowitz does exceptionally well while also challenging us to continue strengthening our systems and consistency. We are taking that work seriously, and we are grateful to have our families alongside us as partners.

Most importantly, we are grateful for the extraordinary faculty and staff who bring our mission to life every day. They know our students, challenge them, support them, celebrate them, and create classrooms where children can grow academically, socially, and Jewishly.

Thank you for choosing Mirowitz and for entrusting us with your children. We are excited about the year ahead and all that we will accomplish together.

Shabbat Shalom,

Brian Thomas

Interim Head of School