Schechter Celebrates Re-Accreditation Process

by Shir Levenson, SSLI '26

Yesterday, Schechter held its re-accreditation opening celebration, welcoming representatives from NYSAIS and kicking off a week of meetings and intensive reviews as Schechter nears the end of the nearly year-long re-accreditation process.

NYSAIS is the New York State Association of Independent Schools, a voluntary organization of more than 200 private and religious schools throughout New York that hold each other to a high standard of education.

Every ten years, schools are required to complete a full re-accreditation, which includes conducting a self-study written by select teachers and hosting a committee of peer administrators. High school teachers Ms. Rebecca (Becky) Friedman and Ms. Kelly DeLaire spearheaded the study over the past few months, working hard to ensure that Schechter is meeting its goals and reflecting on its mission.

This week, administrators from peer NYSAIS schools are visiting Schechter to meet with administrators, teachers, and students to ensure that the school meets the NYSAIS requirements.

Yesterday, several high school students came to school to give the NYSAIS visiting committee a tour of the building. The students walked the group around, sharing anecdotes about the student experience: what it’s like hanging out and studying in The Wing, Tefilah in 205 and 206, meeting with teachers in the faculty room, and playing sports in the gym, to name a few.

Sam Levenson, junior and student government treasurer, said, “Going on a tour with the members of NYSAIS was a really interesting experience. I had to think about how I wanted to present our school to them most honestly and respectably.”

Levenson continued, “I thought about both the experiences and actual use of all of the spaces in our school as I was touring them, so that they could get a feel for what we actually do, for what it means to us, and for the memories and good experiences that we have around our school.”

Students came to school on Sunday to give a tour of the building. (D. Pinto)

Afterwards, the re-Accreditation celebration commenced in the gym. Parents, faculty, and the Board of Trustees listened to the elementary school choir sing to welcome everyone, followed by a number of speakers.

Micah Bidner, senior and student body president, addressed the community. In reflecting on his speech, Bidner said, “One of the greatest things about Schechter is how important student voices are. I was honored to be asked to represent Schechter’s diverse K-12 community. The truth is, nobody knows Schechter more than the people it aims to serve: the students. In this way, I think it’s important that someone with firsthand experience is able to share that with the accreditation team.”

Bidner shared that, “Today, representatives of the student body, chosen among the Student Government, met with the NYSAIS Visiting Committee to provide firsthand experiences of their time at Schechter and answered questions about classes, college guidance, and life at Schechter.”

Brielle Melzer, a junior and grade representative, attended the lunch meeting with the committee. “During the meeting, we spoke about our favorite parts of Schechter, clubs, school leadership, extracurricular activities, and things we think Schechter can do better.”

Melzer continued, “It was important to be there to accurately represent the school and make sure the accreditation people know how our school functions from a student perspective. I think I helped Schechter by showing them the difference between public and private schools and how switching was such a positive experience.”

Shir Levenson is an editor for Paw Print Now and has been published on the site since December 2022. Shir is currently a senior at Schechter School of Long Island and can be reached at the following email address: slevenson26@schechterli.org