Schechter Day School Network

The express mission of the network is to promote: the continued growth and vitality of its member schools, which serve a broad Jewish population and are characterized by Conservative thought and practice, achievement and social responsibility, in a culture of joyous spiritual engagement, caring and community.

[3] Among the network's major achievements is the publication, in conjunction with the Melton Research Center, of the MaToK curriculum for the teaching of Torah in elementary schools that combines the commitment to tradition, Hebrew language, and inquiry.

[4] The network provides mentoring for new school heads; a fellowship that helps place a recent recipient of a rabbinical degree or graduate degree in Jewish education into an educational leadership position in one of the Schechter schools; placement services; consultation in such areas as the teaching of prayer; regional conferences on educational subjects for teachers and administrators; and support for curricular and marketing initiatives.

[6] During the 1950s and 1960s, additional schools opened throughout the country as parents began to seek schools that combined high general academic standards, authentic Jewish study and life, and open intellectual inquiry in all areas of study.

[9] The Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007.

The first Schechter school on the West Coast of the United States was Akiba Academy in Los Angeles, brought into existence in 1968 by a loose coalition of rabbis and leaders of several congregations.