Late last month, Teach NYS hosted our annual member school conference, with close to 80 attendees from 63 member schools, our largest turnout ever. Energy was high among the executive directors, administrators, finance directors, teachers, and board members that attended. Our keynote address featured Elliot Holtz, co-chair of Teach PA, and Rabbi Yaakov Deutscher, Executive Director of Kosloff Torah Academy, who discussed the potential of the Federal Tax Credit Scholarship program. They were joined for a lively Q&A session with Teach Coalition National Director, Sydney Altfield. Our guests from PA also led a more detailed breakout session that was packed with participants and information!
Another timely topic from the conference was the National School Lunch Program. One breakout session featured an interactive panel discussion led by school leaders and Michael Salzbank, who has been assisting schools through Teach NYS on the lunch program. School leaders delved into the intricacies of the program and the issues to consider when deciding whether a free lunch program is the right fit. If your school is interested in running a free lunch program for 26-27, please reach out to our office.
Teach NYS Government Maximization Staff ran informative breakout sessions on a range of topics including Mandated Services, the STEM teacher reimbursement program, security grants, and more.
Participants shared some great feedback with us. One administrator shared, “Thank you for organizing such a great conference. I gained new insights and truly enjoyed the experience. Most of all, it was wonderful to finally put faces to the names of the people we have been working with over the years. It was my first time attending, and I appreciate all the effort that went into making this event meaningful.”
Another administrator remarked, “The conference yesterday was excellent… The morning was phenomenal (thank you for the dvar Torah…), the opening was fantastic, and the breakout sessions I attended were fascinating, particularly regarding the Federal Tax Credit Program (not to mention that the presenters were superb). I’m sure an incredible amount of work went into the program, and I appreciate how well it was run, and how interesting and informative it was.”
The conference was dedicated to Rabbi Moshe Hauer A’H who co-led the OU for more than 5 years with a caring and powerful presence that is unreplaceable. We also paid tribute to Rueven Maron A’H, formerly of Brandeis School and HAFTR, and Faigie Gelbstein A’H, formerly of Yeshiva of Flatbush, who were sorely missed at the conference and will continue to be missed in our hearts.
Here is a short video recap of the conference: Teach NYS Member School Conference 2025
There will be many opportunities for further feedback from Teach NYS on conference items, so stay tuned!