Retiring educator Stern ‘took school to new heights’

Reuven Stern

TORONTO — After 18 years at the helm of Thornhill’s Netivot Hatorah Day School, Reuven Stern has announced that he’s retiring.

Netivot will honour Stern for his years of service as the head of school with a cocktail reception on May 27 at The Avenue in Vaughan.

“He has put his heart and soul into the school, and he transformed it from the day he walked in,” said Shawna Magence, past president of the school and a co-chair of the upcoming event.

“He took the school to new heights, increased enrolment and furthered the mission of the school.”

He began his career in Edmonton in 1975 as a youth director, teacher and cantor at Beth Israel Synagogue.

After serving as a principal at Jewish day schools in Portland, Maine, and Indianapolis, Ind., Stern took on the role of head of school for Netivot in 1997.

Some of Stern’s achievements include the expansion of the school’s early childhood program to include nursery, pre-nursery and Hebrew immersion programs, as well as initiating and developing the special needs program called the Podolski-NESS department.

“We’ve really developed our support department, the Podolski-NESS department as it’s called, and it has grown and developed wonderfully over the years. I think we’ve served as a model here in the city for meeting the needs of all children… as well as creating our Hebrew immersion program, in keeping with the research… that says the younger the child is exposed to a foreign language, the better,” Stern said.

Stern said that when he moved to Toronto with his wife to head Netivot, his vision was to lead the school in keeping with a Zionist Orthodox ideology.

“What we wanted to do was make sure that the school would be a school of academic excellence and one that would continue teaching our children in the ways of their own parents, which is the way of modern Orthodoxy and Zionism,” Stern said.

“I’m happy to have been here, as over 1,000 of our students have graduated during this time, and from what information we have, over 20 per cent have made aliyah to Israel,” he said, adding that the success of his students can also be attributed to the abundance of Jewish community institutions and programs in the GTA.

Although Stern said he’s looking forward to his retirement – he and his wife will be leaving Toronto and splitting their time between the United States and Israel to be with their children and grandchildren – he’ll always look back fondly on his time with Netivot.

“What I’ll miss most is being with the children… and, of course, the ability to work with some tremendously dedicated professionals, in both in the administration and our teaching staff. These are people who work very diligently to train the next generation of Jews and to [make sure] that Toronto has and continues to have a strong, vibrant Jewish community.” 

Stern said he’s excited about the upcoming tribute.

“I’m so happy to take part in it and to see many of the friends and people we’ve interacted with – parents and teachers – over the past years come together one last time. It will be gratifying for the school and for me to be doing that.”

Magence said the main purpose of the event is to give “hakarat hatov,” thanks and special recognition, to Stern, but another member of the Netivot family who is retiring this year, gan (preschool) director Eileen Goldstein will also be recognized for her years of service.

“There is going to be a presentation of alumni over the last 18 years and the things that Dr. Stern has done and accomplished over his 18 years… On top of the honour, we want to leave something lasting in the school, to remember Dr. Stern… What we decided to do is raise money to create the Dr. Reuven Stern Atrium,” Magence said.

“There is no man who worked harder, who was more dedicated and who modelled the life of Netivot’s mission more.”