Principal's Letter

Dear families – current and past, 
 
I am so appreciative of your outpouring of kindness this week. It has given me great comfort. Over the years, you have learned bits and pieces about my mother, but she heard much more about you and your children. She loved to hear my school stories and to talk about teachers and students. Although I can only remember her visiting the building once — her presence looms over me and the school on a daily basis. 
 
My mother devoted her life to education — specifically Jewish education, first and primarily in the Washington, DC community, but then across the United States and North America, but she always felt that as a NYC public school teacher — at JHS136 on 136th and Edgecombe, she got her most foundational educational experience.  When I called her in tears on my first day at Joan of Arc JHS,  because after an hour I was ready to quit, she let me know, in her own way, that that was not going to happen — that I had what it took.   
  
She grew and led a premiere Jewish school, together with my father, founded another one, and then went on to become what people nicknamed her “the Dean of Jewish Education,” serving as a consultant and mentor for HUNDREDS of principals over the years.  Her final paid job was running a “Principal Hotline,” where school leaders could make an appointment to discuss their challenges and could get her plentiful advice. I thought that was the ultimate and perfect job for my mother, as she was already confined to a wheelchair because of her Parkinson’s, but that she could actually get paid for the advice she gave people! She often said to me, you know, you can call the hotline too! But, I didn’t need to; I had a direct line. 
 
I had the greatest education anyone could ask for — I did my apprenticeship, my teacher training, my leadership internship with her. This was the woman who bought me my first blackboard as a Hanukah present when I was in third grade. And, if for me that wasn’t already the greatest gift, she added a roll book too! The first school she founded was mine — in our basement, set up with her collection of antique school desks and school things. Schooling, leadership was in her blood — as my brothers and I grew up, she wove lessons into our everyday actions, she was sometimes subtle, but more often very direct. I’ve written before about the spelling lists on the bathroom door, the chart paper on the wall of the kitchen, the lessons on how to write thank you notes, how to show appreciation — the list however is truly endless. Listening to her as she drove, made dinner, did just about anything, I learned how to approach so many situations — challenging and joyful ones. As I watched her unabashedly approach prospective donors to fund projects that she thought were vital for educational institutions, I too learned to fundraise and to advocate for what I believed in. As I grew up in the incubator of what she called her “wild ideas,” I had the ultimate gift of learning from a master. I saw her connect with students — especially the most challenging ones, prioritize, make decisions, and reach out to people. I hope I have internalized those leadership lessons and will use them. 
 
Over the course of the week, I heard so, so many wonderful stories from those whom she mentored, taught, supported, rescued. My mother did not like “cutesy things.”  When we were kids, the condition she put on us getting a cat was that it had to have a distinguished name. We discussed various names — historical figures, scientists, scholars, and then my mother devised a plan. She put the cat in the middle of the room and had us each call out names. When the cat responded, she said, that would be the name. Our cat was named Freud!  But, this week I think of a plaque I often see where they sell teacher things — “A teacher affects eternity, he/she never knows where her influence will stop.”  My mother had a wide orbit and a far reach.  My mother was a force — she could mobilize teachers, students, parents, the community — she made things happen sometimes so everyone could see, and often very quietly. 
 
During our last conversation late last Wednesday night, she asked about the students returning to school, reminded me to be (COVID) careful, and asked about Booker T. Day.  In the box of Valentine “treats” I sent her last week, was a Booker T. shirt, because she was a fan!   
 
Rabbi Heschel wrote, "Everything depends on the one who stands at the head of the classroom." She was my teacher and is so much a part of Booker T. — my leadership, my “wild ideas”,  my commitment — I attribute all the good to her and will forever feel proud and blessed to be one of her most important students. 
 
Elana 

 Student Coordinator's Letter

Dear Parents: 
 
While Dr. Elster is away, mourning the passing of her mother, I’m honored to write from her desk.  Our hearts are with her and with her family.   
 
This week, we welcomed our blended learners for our first full week since November.  For some students, it marked their first time back at school since last March.  Each day began with nervous excitement and the inevitable acknowledgement of how strange school is in the time of COVID, but as the week wore on, the old sounds and familiar feel of Booker T.  began to seep back in to the building.   
 
In the halls of Booker T., I saw students carrying hand made construction paper DNA models.  I saw a teacher speed shuffling from one room to another with Santana’s Smooth playing loudly from his laptop.  ("Mood music," he called it.) I saw hallway dancing from a very flexible sixth grader, unrelated to the Santana.  I watched a Humanities lesson being taught on the floor outside of the COVID testing room, socially distant of course, while students waited patiently to be swabbed.  I saw our cafeteria cooks bring snacks and lunches for students to scan for cookies and chocolate milk, of course. And I heard a certain Latin teacher bellow from way down the hall, his students matching his volume soon thereafter.   
 
It’s good to be back. 
 
Parent Teacher Conferences will be held this week over Zoom on Wednesday, March 10^th from 5:30-8:00 and Thursday, March 11^th from 2:00 to 4:00.  If you haven’t already, please visit  https://www.schoolbookings.net/code?code=5xrvr to book your conferences. Don’t miss this opportunity to check in with your child’s teachers!  
 
Erica Williams 
Student Coordinator 

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