Changes are coming to the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital. A director has been named for its new middle school, which is expected to open in September 2018, and the leadership of its education program is being restructured.
Lisa Schopf, the new middle school director, has been at JPDS since 2006, beginning as a general studies teacher for fifth grade before becoming the sixth grade social studies teacher. Schopf also serves as one of the school’s teacher mentors.
She currently is completing YU Lead, a Yeshiva University-School Partnership program designed for emerging leaders in Jewish education.
As middle school director, Schopf will lead the sixth grade teaching team and will continue to teach social studies. She also will be lead member of a committee to design the physical space and the academic, co-curricular and extra-curricular programs.
“I am excited to be part of the team that builds upon JPDS-NC’s rich academic program, commitment to citizenship and community and pluralistic Jewish education,” Schopf said in a press release to Washington Jewish Week.
Head of School Naomi Reem said Schopf’s “vision for the middle school, passion for pluralistic Jewish day school education, proven commitment to academic excellence, experience in planning and implementing 21st century curricula and knowledge of the JPDS-NC community make her the ideal choice to lead our middle school.”
The middle school will be located at the north campus on 16th Street and Military Road and will be called the Moses Family Middle School. A donation of $10 million from Alfred Moses, a former ambassador to Romania, and $10 million from The Gottesman Fund, paved the way for the school to add a seventh and eighth grade.
The school also is restructuring its education program, appointing division directors to oversee its early childhood, elementary school and middle school divisions.
Melissa Davis will remain director of the early childhood division. The school is conducting a national search to fill the elementary school positions. Those directors will report to Reem and will work with the person in charge of student support services, a new position as of the next school year.
Those administrators will work with Sharon Freundel, the school’s director of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Beginning with the next school year, Freundel will become the director of Jewish Life at the start of the 2016-‘17 school year.
In other personnel moves, David Zimand, assistant head of school, will be leaving at the end of the school year to become the head of school at Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto, Calif.
@SuzannePollak
