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March 14, 2008
New head of school
Russ Klein focuses on motivating students.
PAT JOHNSON
The shift from the public to private school system is not the only change facing the new principal of King David High School. Russ Klein, who is winding up a three-year stint as vice-principal at Prince of Wales High School, will take over as head of KDHS in July.
For Klein, a smaller school, like King David, with about 200 students, presents opportunities not available at institutions with 1,000 or more students.
"Sometimes people talk about King David and they'll say, 'It's a small school and it doesn't offer everything,'" said Klein. "That's a deficit approach. It's looking at the things that the students don't get, as opposed to the extra things that students do get. That's what we need to focus on."
The things students do get from a small school, Klein said, include the chance to exercise leadership in the school community, and a much closer relationship with teachers, administrators and peers.
"You can know every student by name, and every family," Klein said. "It gives every student a chance to step up and lead, which is really important in today's world. When you're at a school of 1,300 or 1,800 students or 2,200 students, as there are in Vancouver, it's very hard to stand out and it's easy to get lost."
Similarly, the combination of standard British Columbia high school curriculum and Judaics means King David students are in class longer than most B.C. students.
"That puts pressure on the students as well, as they learn time-management skills and balance," he said. "On the other hand, I've always felt that students who are busy do better. Those with a lot of free time tend to manage to waste their time. It's really important that we create people who are active, engaged and always moving."
The past few years have seen dramatic change and growth at KDHS, guided in large measure by outgoing principal Perry Seidelman, who will be retiring at the end of this school year. Under Seidelman, KDHS moved into its new facility three years ago and subsequently saw enrolment more than double.
The school's tradition holds a special, sacred place for those who teach, and Seidelman exemplifies the finest of this tradition, said Dan Shmilovitch, executive director of the school. Finding a worthy successor was a daunting undertaking, he said, because the principal of the Jewish community high school carries a responsibility that reaches beyond the campus, with a tremendous influence on the future of the entire community.
Though growing quickly, King David is still a fraction of the size of Prince of Wales, a 1,300-student school. It is this manageable size – combined with the responsiveness of an independent private school – that excites Klein for his new role.
"Sometimes, in the public system, the challenges are so large and the scale so big, that actually trying to get something done feels insurmountable," he said. Making change at King David will be "do-able," though he knows that moving from the public school system to the private will involve a shift in paradigms.
"The political reality of being in a smaller centre and in working with a board, that will be new to me," Klein said.
Then there is the issue of observance levels. A new head of Judaics should be in place this September as well, making for a significant new leadership team.
"There are so many different levels of observance at the school," said Klein. "We need to be respectful to all of them.... It's a very pluralistic school in terms of Judaic life."
Cementing a team of excellent teachers under a new principal and a new head of Judaics will illustrate Klein's philosophy of education.
"In my mind, there are two types of teachers," he said. "There are teachers who are teaching content and there are teachers who are teaching children. I want teachers who are teaching the whole child. Content is stuff that you can learn at any point in your life, but a skill-set and an attitudinal set towards learning is something that you really need to learn when you're young, and that love of learning needs to happen now. Trying to instil the idea of intrinsic motivation for kids about learning, that's what I try to put my focus on."
For Klein, the survival of Israel and the survival of a Jewish nation is personal. "As a child of a Holocaust survivor myself, it's something that strikes deep to my own heart," he said. Making these ideas essential to King David students is part of his new job, Klein said.
Born in Vancouver in 1961, Klein graduated from Magee High School. He received his bachelor's degree in chemistry and microbiology at the University of Victoria and his bachelor's and master's degrees in education at the University of British Columbia. Before moving to Prince of Wales, Klein taught at Vancouver Technical High School, in east Vancouver, for 13 years, and at King George, in the West End, for two. As he prepares for his new role, Klein asks for empathy and patience.
"I would ask the community to be supportive of the school and try to find ways to appreciate and support the things that it brings to the community," he said. "Because I think, if we're not careful, we can unintentionally tear something down that we really need. A Jewish high school in Vancouver is something that we really need."
Pat Johnson is, among other things, director of development and communications for Vancouver.
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