AUGUST 20 • 2020 | 15
of remarkable,
” Katz said. “I knew it was
happening but seeing it in person is a totally
different experience. When I walked around
the building, I saw what we had been plan-
ning on doing for months.
”
As for Hillel’
s reopening plan for this fall,
it plans to welcome back all students for
in-person instruction. In addition to the pre-
cautions it has taken for the students’
return,
Hillel has also revamped its virtual learning,
in case of a shutdown, and also provides par-
ents a choice to keep their students enrolled
in virtual learning if they are not ready to
send their kids back or if there are underly-
ing health concerns.
“We began planning for the 2020-2021
school year back in early May. Two task
forces have met weekly since then and [have]
devoted hundreds, if not thousands, of hours
on every aspect of our path to reopening,
”
Katz said. “We have the blessing of a large
building with flexible spaces that allows us to
bring all students back to campus safely five
days a week this year. We have left no stone
unturned and will employ the most stringent
of safety protocols to minimize the spread of
COVID-19 in our school community.
”
The plans for Hillel also include the wear-
ing of masks, physical distancing in class by
keeping small class sizes and spreading out
desks, daily screening for parents and faculty,
daily cleaning and more.
“I consider myself to be a decisive person
who is not afraid to make a hard decision
and take responsibility for it. Having said
that, I am blessed to have the best leadership
team of any school in the country who helps
me to solve problems,
” Katz said. “I believe
resilience is one of the most important
social-emotional competencies that an indi-
vidual can have.
”
FARBER’
S DR. JOSH LEVISOHN
On March 13, Farber Hebrew Day School
announced the hiring of Dr. Josh Levisohn
as its new head of school,
replacing Rabbi Scot A. Berman,
who made aliyah to Israel
with his family this summer.
Levisohn’
s term officially began
on July 1, but he’
s been involved
with school decisions since the
announcement in March.
Although Levisohn’
s term has officially
begun, he will continue to reside in his cur-
rent home of Silver Spring, Maryland, until
next summer after his daughter Yonina grad-
uates from high school. He plans to spend
time with his family but make trips to Farber
each month. The Levisohns will relocate to
Michigan at the end of the 2020-2021 aca-
demic year.
Throughout his younger years, Levisohn
attended Jewish day schools from kindergar-
ten all the way to his senior year. Levisohn
earned his bachelor’
s degree from Harvard
University, and his Ph.D. in Jewish studies
from Harvard as well.
Levisohn began his career teaching Jewish
history at Maimonides School in Boston
and served as principal of Jewish Studies
at Akiba Hebrew Academy (now Barrack
Hebrew Academy) in Merion, Pennsylvania,
for eight years. Beginning in 2006, Levisohn
was recruited and became the head of school
at Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville,
Maryland. He served in that position for 12
years.
“
As soon as I started, I fell in love with it. I
love the environment, and I love being with
kids and developing relationships with them
and watching them grow,
” Levisohn told the
JN. “It is such a dynamic environment.
”
In 2018, he stepped away from school
administration to work as an educational
consultant with EduCannon Consulting,
which works with schools to advise and
support sustainable changes, where he was
involved in a number of projects, including
leading the merger of two day schools in
West Hartford, building the new Coaching
Institute for Prizmah, the network for
Jewish day schools across North America, to
support day school leaders, and providing
advice and consulting to other schools.
But, after two years of educational con-
sulting, Levisohn was ready and eager to
return to day school leadership. As he began
his search for a new position in day schools,
Levisohn focused heavily on finding an area
with a warm and welcoming environment.
“We were looking for a place that has the
right environment, and someone said, in one
of the interviews here, that this area is a great
place to raise kids. That’
s exactly what my
wife and I were looking for,
” Levisohn said.
“
Although all our kids are older, we are both
heavily involved with children. Detroit is
also a resurgent community and offers a lot
of growth opportunities.
”
Levisohn and his wife, Dr. Lisi, who is a
developmental neuropsychologist, have three
children: Ari, 23, Tani, 20, and Yonina, 17.
Not only is Levisohn tasked with the
transitional phase of becoming a new head
of school, he has also been heavily involved
with determining plans for this upcoming
school year in response to the coronavirus.
“I have been involved in a lot of deci-
sion making and planning from March
on, partially due to Rabbi Berman’
s credit,
”
Levisohn said. “Obviously, being someone
who is new to the Farber team, someone
who is new to the community and someone
who is not even physically there yet has been
a significant challenge.
“But, the truth of the matter is that it has
been a challenge for everyone in the day
school world. Everyone is trying to prepare
for an extremely unusual year in person,
with all the requirements, restrictions and
guidelines that we are putting into the place,
which are very extensive. At the same time,
also trying to prepare for the eventuality of
the possibility that we will end up going vir-
tual at some point.
”
As far as Farber’
s plan, it will welcome stu-
dents for in-person education Aug. 24. It has
put all the precautions in place, including
the wearing of masks, hand sanitizers, hand
washing, limiting the number of people in
spaces and keeping class sizes small. Farber
is a smaller school, normally averaging 13
middle schoolers in a classroom and gradu-
ating only eight seniors in the 2020 class.
“We are trying to do this as best as pos-
sible. But obviously, this makes for a new
start in a new place quite different than I
was anticipating,
” Levisohn said. “If the gov-
ernor’
s orders change or the situation in the
community changes, obviously we will need
to reconsider our plan based on what is best
for the public’
s health and what is best for
the safety of our kids and our staff.
”
J. LEVISOHN
Josh
Levisohn
COURTESY OF JOSH LEVISOHN
Ari, Yonina, Dr. Lisi Levisohn,
Dr. Josh Levisohn and Tani
“As soon as I started,
I fell in love with it.”
— DR. JOSH LEVISOHN