Learning Services

שירותי למידה

Learning Services at JCDS

Our Team

Director of Learning Services: Jo-Ann Figueroa
Hebrew Specialist: Avital Fux
MS Learning Specialist: Chera Garlick
Hebrew Enrichment Teacher: Shiri Katz-Gershon
LS & MS Learning Specialist: Carry Aluia
LS Learning Specialist: Debbie Kopel-Kintish, M.Ed
School Counselor: Judy Werner

Our Mission and Purpose

It is JCDS' mission to nurture each student's capacity for intellectual discovery and decision-making within a respectful, pluralist, bilingual Hebrew-English environment. Excellence in this vein means making connections across all developmental areas - cognitive, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical; in essence, engaging the whole child.

JCDS aims to provide the conditions for each child to grow and thrive academically, behaviorally, socially, emotionally, and physically. The Support Services Department is thus committed to meeting each child's needs by partnering with teachers and families to differentiate, accommodate, and modify our educational program.

Our Commitment

We are committed to ensuring that services are readily and consistently available for all students and families. We fulfill this commitment by:

• Providing onsite services for students, such as socio-emotional and behavioral support, learning center, reading instruction, enrichment opportunities, and physical needs.
• Communicating often with families to build and sustain the bridge from school to home.
• Facilitating grade level meetings focusing on individual student needs for team consistency.
• Walking families through the process to obtain a private evaluation, Individualized Education Plan (IEP), or other resources (such as therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, 504 plans, eg.).
• Advocating for students with outside providers and evaluators, and attending necessary meetings within the public school setting.
• Working in partnership with teachers in order to build transparency and clear communication between student needs and classroom realities.
• Delivering professional development to staff to understand and support the various needs of the students in front of them.

All members of the JCDS Support Services Team are fully dedicated and passionate employees, committed to serving our community because all students deserve access to a joyful and complete Jewish Education.

For additional information, please contact Jo-Ann Figueroa.