With an enormous flurry of activity, our school year is drawing to a close. Given the array of camps, drama festivals, graduation ceremonies, Kadima days and excursions that we are undertaking, I am sure that our students will be suitably exhausted by the middle of next week.

We are very grateful that we have been able to offer such a varied program as the easing of restrictions has allowed us to reinstate the many events that had been put on hold.

I have expressed this many times in this column throughout the year but I want to take this opportunity to offer my gratitude to the members of our wonderful community who have carried us through a very challenging year.

The Senior Leadership team has worked so hard to ensure that we understood the regulations, anticipated the impact of decisions and planned accordingly. The collaborative wisdom, care and shared values have ensured that we have been able to respond to each new challenge and maintain our focus on ensuring the continued academic growth, wellbeing and progressive Jewish learning for our students throughout the year. To Cathy Kaiserman, Russell Kaplan, Rod Kenning, Fred Kok, Michelle Lazarow, Sidra Moshinsky and David Opat, I thank you for the vision, comradery and stability you showed.

All of the King David School staff have been just extraordinary. Staff, I cannot thank you enough for the flexibility and generosity with which you have responded to the pandemic while always striving to place our students’ needs first. I believe that every student knew that they had a teacher who was watching out for them at every moment and our non-teaching staff ensured that regardless of whether they were working from home or on-campus, the high professional standards and collegiate atmosphere was always maintained. 

I want to make special mention of our school nurses, Misty Kagan and Tali Israel. Misty and Tali have helped us to navigate through COVID protocols and testing and I believe that their management has been a significant factor in ensuring that, unlike many schools, we have weathered the COVID storm so well over the past two years.

I want to thank our School Council for your valuable guidance and support and the KDSPA for helping to maintain a sense of community.  I truly believe that at the heart of our community lies a commitment to our core values of inclusivity, egalitarianism and social justice and that the activities and decision-making of the Council and our Parents’ Association reinforce this culture.

I wish to thank our school families. We truly appreciate your trust in us and hope that you know how seriously we take our mission of providing a holistic progressive education that allows our students to thrive now and in the world that they will graduate into. 

Finally, I thank our wonderful students. It is such a pleasure and privilege to share in your learning, joy and ruach. I am so proud of your resilience and positivity. I wish you all a restful break and look forward to a new year of growth, learning and fun in 2022.

Shabbat Shalom and Todah Rabah,

Marc