- Thru August 6 – Summer Blast Camp – Click here to register
- August 1 – Name change to Denver Jewish Day School becomes official
- August 23 – First day of classes for grade 6 (K-4 Assessments)
- August 23 – Lower School Open House/Ice Cream Social, 3:00 pm
- August 24 – First day of classes for K-5 and 7-12
Summer Update
I hope you all are enjoying your summer! We decided to put out this special summer edition of the Shofar, since we have some exiting news and important information to share with you.
Shayna holds a Master's in Jewish Education from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. She is currently the family programs director at the JCC, where her responsibilities include the recruitment of families with young children. Shayna also served as director of education at the Hebrew Educational Alliance. She has day school experience having worked as a teacher at Temple Israel of Hollywood Day School.
Shayna and her husband, Rabbi Jordan Friedman, have two children attending our school and have another child entering kindergarten in 2011-12. Shayna will start on July 26.
I offer a heartfelt thank you to Alana Story for her eight years of dedicated service. Alana has done amazing work as our director of admission and she will be greatly missed. We wish her a retirement full of joy and happiness.
I anticipate a smooth transition during the summer. Shayna's excellent communication skills, warm personality, understanding of who we are and what we do, and her knowledge of Jewish education make her an ideal fit for this position.
I also am very pleased to tell you that the construction on the Wabash Bridge and the realignment of Wabash Street has begun! We are working with the construction company to minimize the impact on school related traffic. The project will take about one year to complete.
Finally, our biggest project this summer is the launch and roll-out of our new school name and logo. As of August 1, our name will officially be Denver Jewish Day School; at that time, you will see the Denver Jewish Day School logo and an entirely new look and feel to our Web site, which will be www.denverjds.org. In the coming weeks, you'll receive information about several fun and exciting events planned during the first weeks of school to celebrate our new name and look.
Avi Halzel
President/CEO
We are proud to announce that Sheryl Feiler will be the new Special Events & Giving Manager in the Development Office starting August 4th. She will be working part-time and be the staff person overseeing the
- 2010-11 Annual Appeal including the September 16th Apple Walk
- November 11th Auction Event
- March 2011 Annual Dinner Event
- and general development duties
Sheryl is no stranger to our school. Her two children attended our school and she was the PTO President 1998-2000; Board Trustee 1998-2006; Board Chair 2002-2004; worked numerous times as Dinner Chair and Ad Journal Chair; recipient of the 2008 Neshama Yeteirah Award; 2010 Strategic Planning co-chair of Fiscal Responsibility; prior strategic visioning works; and many other volunteer roles. We know Sheryl brings great dedication and commitment to this new role so please join me in welcoming her.
We also want to say a big THANK YOU to Judy Karp who will be retiring the end of August, after ten plus years on staff and 19 years as a volunteer for the school, to explore her artistic talents and travel the world to see family members and new sites. We wish Judy every success and know that we'll still see her around the community.
Directory Ads for the All School Directory
Discounted ads are being taken now for the 2010-11 school Directory that is given out at back-to-school night. Don't miss out on this great way to get the word out about your business or new venture. Click here for more information.
Apple Walk for the Annual Appeal
Save the date Thursday September 16, 2-4 p.m. for the Walk and Carnival. More details will be forthcoming in August. Co-chairs are DiAhandra Diamond, Debbie Landy and Lee-Anne Wise. Co-chairs are looking for many volunteers to ensure a fun, safe and successful event! Please, e mail D Diamond (
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) should you be available to help 2:00-4:00 that day (or any portion of). Thanks for your consideration.
Chai 5 Club Breakfast
Wednesday, October 13, 7:45 – 8:45 a.m. is the annual Chai 5 Club breakfast. Please plan to attend this free, informative and fun fundraiser. Co-chairs are Elena & Jon Weinstein.
Auction Event
Save the evening of Thursday, November 11th for an outstanding evening of socializing and bidding on "must have", "can't live without" items. Co-chairs are Jodi Asarch, DiAhandra Diamond, Annie Foonberg and Karen Novick. Please remember to start getting those auction items! Let's make 2010-2011 auction our most successful ever!! Auction Forms will be available soon.
The Lower School is very pleased to announce that Colleen Beatty will be joining our staff as the new art teacher with the highest of recommendations from her current work at Logan School for Creative Learning. Colleen has worked with children of all ages in many creative capacities. In Colleen's own words, she is "committed to providing a creative, nurturing environment for children to grow as individuals and to embrace learning in all its forms." As a community, we welcome Colleen to our school and look forward to her work within the art curriculum.
Please look for a Lower School mailing the second week of August. Please note that we continue to use the School Preview Calendar posted on the school web site. Included in this calendar are dates for Back-To-School night, Late Start professional development times, holidays and more. Please pay attention to the published date in the upper right hand corner that indicates when the calendar was last revised.
Continue to enjoy your summer.
I note with sadness that this Shofar goes out on Kay Cromwell's last day at our school. We are sorry to see Kay leave, but know she will savor a well-deserved retirement. As everyone knows who has been touched by Kay's kindness, helpfulness, humor and aesthetic flair, she has been vital to the specialness of our school. She has fulfilled all her office administrative responsibilities well, but just as importantly, Kay's Southern civility, consideration and personal warmth have benefited students, faculty, parents, and administrators every day of her tenure here. How fortunate we are to have one Cromwell join us as another departs. Kay's daughter, Amy Cromwell, will take over Kay's position beginning July 19th.
Look for an Upper School Division back-to-school mailing the second week of August. This mailing will contain all the necessary forms to be completed and returned and other important information of about the upcoming school year, including information on our new teachers and staff and an updated Family Handbook. This will likely be our last back-to-school mailing as we try to transition to paperless communication over the course of next school year.
As you look forward, please refer to the 2010-1011 Summary Calendar posted on the school web site to help you plan your upcoming year. Included in this calendar are dates for our back-to-school night, parent-teacher conferences, late start professional development mornings, holidays and more. Please pay attention to the published date in the upper right hand corner of the Summary Calendar that indicates when the calendar was last revised.
The first day of school for grade 6 will be Monday, August 23 and for grades 7-12 will be Tuesday, August 24.
Bryan Hay
Have you ordered your labels yet? Visit www.dcje.mabel.ca to see the great peel-and-stick name labels you can affix to clothing, kippot, lunch boxes, water bottles, backpacks, folders, shoes, boots - whatever your child loses! The school administration kindly requests that all students' personal belongings be labeled with their name. Each term hundreds of dollars of articles from the lost and found are donated to charity because nobody claims them. This PTO fundraiser (the school gets 20% of the value of your purchase) offers you a fun and easy way to help identify your child's belongings. Several of our school's parents will attest to the fact that these labels are kid-proof and washer/dryer/dishwasher safe. In keeping with the school's name change, after August 1st the website will change to www.denverjds.mabel.ca.
School Logo Apparel
Beginning August 1st you can purchase select Land's End apparel embroidered with our school's new logo. This exciting new program will replace the "Friday White" shirts the PTO sold last year. Visit the Lands End School website www.landsend.com/school and sign up for their email updates to learn of special pricing offers, free shipping coupon codes, and other news. Be sure to select "Denver Jewish Day School PTO" in the navy blue "Find your school's dress code" box on the left side of the page. The Lands End Preferred School program allows the PTO to offer you a larger choice of styles and prices of clothing, which you order directly from their website. Although only select apparel has been approved for placement of our logo, any item ordered from the Lands End School catalog/website under our school's name will provide a small donation to our PTO. Pick up a catalog today in select Sears stores or in the lobby of the Lower or Upper School. You'll see that the catalog includes many items that you are already buying, such as backpacks and lunchboxes, khaki pants, fleece jackets, turtlenecks, etc.
Click on this link for a calendar of activities the PTO has planned for the upcoming school year. We look forward to seeing you at our Ice Cream Social on August 23rd.
Sunday, August 8, 2010, Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield. Please click here for more information.