SCHOOL COMMUNITY [plus special report on the Parent Survey conducted May 2021]
School Community - An Overview: The Levine Academy “Community” is comprised of students, parents, grandparents, faculty, staff, board, alumni, Dallas area clergy, alumni, alumni parents, former employees, as well as relationships with key Jewish agency leaders, members of law enforcement, city councilmen/women, and area commercial establishments with whom we have a long-standing association. Levine is proud that it can declare its family profile in the recent three school years (2018—2021) to encompass a wide range of Jewish affiliations; a rich cultural background including first generation families from Russia, Israel, Belgium, Mexico, South Africa, and more, as well as across the United States; and a broadening social economic diversity of families reflected in a growing percentage of families on tuition assistance plans. In 2019, the Board adopted its most recent Strategic Plan with one of the four pillars being “Inclusivity,” an ever-evolving achievement the school aims to aspire to and embrace continuously. This Community Self Study Report will touch on different elements within the school experience: the diversity within our school community; student programming; multi- constituent participation in events and traditions; school-home communication strategies as well as specialized community building approach via technology and live streaming; and the ever-present goal of being a school of growing inclusivity. Diversity: Since the school’s inception in 1979 and up until 2014, the school had identified itself as a Conservative Jewish Day School - what this really means is that the school honored the traditions and practices of the Conservative Movement in Judaism, which informs its prayer practices and rituals, and also established its alignments with Conservative Synagogues in North Dallas. The admissions appeal, therefore, focused primarily on those Jewish families who affiliated with these Conservative Synagogues. The Board of Trustees, in its 2015 Strategic Plan, began a process of broadening the school’s reach by seeking to be more welcoming to a wider range of Jewish affiliations, in addition to a concerted effort to strengthen the academic program overall. Jewish diversity has grown since 2015, and now the school’s profile is beginning to exhibit a more balanced array of affiliations. Our population of Reform Jewish and Modern Orthodox Jewish families is growing, while the Conservative Jewish population percentage (historically the largest affiliation represented at Levine) is shrinking. The percentage of unaffiliated Jews is also growing. During that same year of 2014/2015, the school began to alter its Admissions practices by being open to any family who is philosophically compatible with our Mission Statement. Prior to 2015, parental Jewish identity had been a part of the initial inquiry process. In essence, in 2015 Levine Academy became “a Community Day School,” although it chose not to use that term for its description. Instead, the Board approved a new Mission Statement declaring that Levine Academy would now be an “inclusive, dynamic Jewish day school.”
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