Institute for University-School Partnership Spearheads New Efficiency Effort Among Jewish Day Schools

In response to a crisis of affordability sweeping through the day school world, a new effort to have schools practice greater efficiency has resulted in savings of tens of millions of dollars for nearly 40 Jewish day schools across the nation.

But while the new “benchmarking” process spearheaded by Yeshiva University’s Institute for University-School Partnership is expected to free up funds for scholarships, don’t expect to see dramatic drops in tuition itself.

Rather, the “foundational” goal of benchmarking, according to Harry Bloom, the YU School Partnership’s director of planning and performance improvement, is not tuition reduction per se, but “making schools sustainable while delivering quality education” and making day schools “accessible to the entire Jewish community, including to the middle income families who often are hard pressed and not always well served by current financial aid processes.”

While common in the corporate world, benchmarking — a process in which institutions measure their performance against that of their peers, in order to identify cost-saving and revenue-enhancing opportunities — is a new arrival in the Jewish day school world, whose myriad financial challenges include a “tuition crisis.”

Eight Bergen County schools have gone through a round of benchmarking under the guidance of YU, and according to Samuel Moed, chairman of Jewish Education for Generations in Northern New Jersey, the process has already saved a combined $2.5 million.

Currently working with 30 additional schools (Orthodox, Conservative and pluralistic) in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago and Cleveland, the YU School Partnership and the Avi Chai Foundation, the project’s lead funder, hope ultimately to bring benchmarking to at least 200 day schools in 30 communities, including ones in New York City and its suburbs.

Bloom estimates that benchmarking and the strategic planning that follows is on track to achieve combined savings of at least $22.5 million — approximately 10 percent of operating budgets — over three years in the five communities in which it is being implemented so far. Read full article at The New York Jewish Week…

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Syms Students Launch Exclusive Luxury Lifestyle Advice Web Site

Yeshiva University students, Jeremy Hodkin and Doron David, have recently launched the KIS Group, a members-only Web site offering exclusive access to videos featuring experts in a variety of fields. Membership to KIS Group, which stands for Keep It Secret, is by invite-only, a strategy Hodkin and David hope will help them target a high-end, savvy demographic.

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“We try to give people behind-the-scenes access to informational and instructional videos from top-level experts,” said Hodkin, a junior at YU’s Syms School of Business double majoring in management and marketing.

While the site currently features videos in categories like fashion, culinary, health & wellness, business, life skills and entertainment, the two plan to roll out another, KIS Back, with videos profiling various charities.

A winner of the McKelvey Scholarship for Entrepreneurship award and the Advanced Placement Scholar award, Hodkin, 20, already has a keen sense of business, having held positions at Backal Hospitality Group, UBS Financial Services and Williams Island Tennis Club, as well as Icon Media Group, a company he founded when he was 16.

David, a friend of Hodkin’s since their middle school days in Hollywood, Florida, was brought in early on by Hodkin to lead the KIS Group through the development and concept stage into a functioning business. The two praise the faculty at Syms for their “guidance and support any time we needed help.”

“Our classes at YU have taught us that ethics and business go hand-in-hand,” said David, 20. “Having a tight-knit community of students and faculty allows us to easily network with people that are able to help us pursue our venture.”

Michael Strauss, entrepreneur-in-residence and clinical professor of management at Syms, worked with Hodkin and David on developing their business plan and sees an enthusiasm for entrepreneurship at Syms. “Our men and women are very driven, highly committed, passionate and laser-focused in whatever they undertake, especially building their own business,” said Strauss.

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