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Date: 9/7/2021
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY – After her recent move to the Pioneer Valley, new Lander-Grinspoon Academy (LGA) Executive Director Debra Kolodny said they are looking forward to serving the school community and expanding relationships in the area.
The Northampton-based Jewish day school for children in kindergarten through sixth grade announced its choice of Kolodny on Aug. 30.
“I am excited to help grow the school so that even more area families can take advantage of LGA’s remarkable general and Judaic academics, sophisticated music, art and performance programming, outdoor education at Abundance Farm and focus on tikkun olam (civil engagement and world repair),” Kolodny said.
Having recently relocated to Amherst, they said they are excited to build new bonds while fostering existing ones.
“I just arrived here in the Valley, but I came with dozens of relationships in the local Jewish Community. In the two months I've lived here I've expanded those relationships considerably and I am so excited by how engaged, committed and eclectic the community is here. That being said, I still have more areas to explore, as I haven't made connections yet in Holyoke or Longmeadow or Springfield,” said Kolodny.
Before making their way to the Valley, Kolodny spent time in Portland, OR, as an ordained rabbi.
“I served two congregations in Portland, OR, as both spiritual leader and executive. I also served two national Jewish non-profits as their executive director. From 2002 I was in the leadership at ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal-the headquarters organization for the Jewish Renewal movement. From 2012 to 2015 I served Nehirim, a Jewish LGBTQI+ retreat and advocacy organization,” they explained.
With all their experience, Kolodny is excited to apply it in their new position at LGA. “With 20 years of executive Jewish leadership, and the heart of an educator – all rabbis live to teach – and having served national organizations that were all about education, I was thrilled when I saw that LGA was looking to fill this position. Some of my most exciting and fulfilling work to date has been educating and inspiring our children,” Kolodny said.
Last year was the 25th anniversary of LGA, but due to the pandemic, the milestone went by without a celebration, but Kolodny hopes to change that.
“A priority is to hold several events to bring together our families, supporters, partners, stakeholders and prospective families in joy and gratitude for 25 great years,” said Kolodny.
Only being on the board for two weeks, Kolodny is already putting plans in motion. “We have an event scheduled for October here at the school that will include music, dancing, food and showers of praise for the school. We are also planning on house parties, pay down the mortgage campaign, a large gala in the spring, depending on whatever the COVID rules are at the time so it might be on Zoom, and a closing celebration in early September before the High Holy Days highlighting our community talent with instrumental and vocal performances.”
The new executive director also looks forward to expanding the Academy’s enrollment. “We are looking to double our enrollment in the next few years and I am excited to be getting the word out about what a gem LGA is,” they began. “LGA has a remarkable staff, our student's academic performance is extraordinary, our focus on the performing arts as well as a second language, civic engagement and environmentalism, all in the context of small class sizes means that we combine all the best attributes of the other area schools into one place.”
Kolodny hopes not only to make an impact within the LGA community but the local community as well.
“I want to strengthen our relationships with area synagogues and other Jewish institutions and leaders. I am excited to find out all I can about how we can build partnerships that strengthen Jewish life in the Valley right now as well as into the future,” they said.
“If we raise our children with a strong ethical foundation, clear direction on how to help make the world a loving, sustainable, just and abundant place and all the tools they need to succeed, our future will be bright. So, being here and meeting the delightful student body, it is obvious that LGA has everything I was looking for in this chapter of my career,” they added.