• Major New Study of Jewish Day School Boards

• From Deborah Shapira, Chair of Prizmah’s Governance Committee

• Perspectives From Field Lay Leaders

• Resources for Board Leadership

• Prizmah Programming for Lay Leaders

• Send Us Your Photos
• Jewish Day School Perspectives and News

There are so many elements—the physical structure, the educational experience, the passion of teachers, the generosity of donors, the curiosity of children, the vision of founders, the dedication of professionals and volunteer leaders, the community of parents. No one aspect determines success, and all together contribute to a thriving institution. A change in any one of these can dramatically alter the course of a school’s trajectory.

The starting point of this study is Prizmah’s unwavering belief that it is possible to improve schools by improving the ways their boards function and that the relationship between the head of school and the board chair is critical to school success. Just as we recently studied the landscape, opportunities, and challenges of professional day school leadership, so do we now share the results of an exploration into the realities of day school boards.

View the executive summary of the study here.

The resources featured in Prizmah’s Knowledge Center have been curated to meet the needs of Jewish day school board and professional leaders. Click here to learn more.

A thriving Jewish day school depends on sophisticated and effective governance. Your board works to ensure the school’s future. Just as your administration and faculty benefit from professional development, nurturing the growth of your lay leaders will increase their ability to effectively govern the school.

Prizmah’s governance consultants have extensive knowledge of Jewish day schools and understand their unique organizational needs. Our team is also certified by BoardSource, the leading organization in nonprofit governance and are equipped with deep experience and knowledge of leading practices to help your school thrive.

Prizmah offers a variety of options to meet the governance needs of your school board. Click here to learn more.

Prizmah's Board Leadership Reshet provides monthly emails with cutting-edge ideas and proven solutions curated for lay leaders. Participation in the Reshet is open to anyone serving on the board of a Jewish day school or yeshiva. Through the Reshet, lay leaders ask questions and share wisdom in an accessible, peer-to-peer platform, including archived responses and resources. If you are already a member of this Reshet, we hope you will encourage your fellow board members to join and to be an active participant alongside board member peers from across North America. If you are new to the board or to Prizmah, please join.

Prizmah hosts a robust calendar of webinars, multi-day gatherings, and peer-to-peer meetups for professional and lay leaders. More programs are being added regularly, visit our gatherings page for information.

Schools across North America are open or opening soon, and we want to showcase your school and students in our materials! Whether your schools are all online, all in-person, or a combination, please share pictures with us that we can use to showcase the incredible value of Jewish day schools, especially now.

Please send your photos (high resolution preferred) to Sara at [email protected]. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out at any time. We can’t wait to showcase your community!

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