The following piece is the longform version of an article excerpt featured in this summer’s baeck+call school magazine. We thank our committed volunteers for their time and insights.
The well-roundedness of The Leo Baeck Day School has always been impressive to Isabel Faibish. We get together in the early spring as part of a series of conversations to reflect on the way it has “taken a village” over the past 50 years. How it has all been because of “do-er-ship,” as coined by former Board President and longtime supporter, Stephen Morrison.
Isabel’s daughter, Jackie Schwarz – who attended Leo Baeck as a student along with brothers Robbie and Jason – is also with us to speak about “putting your hand up for Leo Baeck.”. She tells me that the strong culture of giving back at Leo Baeck has always been there, however small the school initially was.
When Faibish and her husband, Paul, decided on Leo Baeck for their three children, it was the era of “class moms,” two per class, whose first job each September was to compile a list of 20-odd student landline numbers that, of course, got taped to the side of the Faibish fridge. For six years, Isabel chaired class moms (now more inclusively referred to as grade captains) with fellow 90s parent, Brenda Berger. They used to gather for class mom meetings in coffee shops or in a spare classroom, building strong friendships because of the shared wish to support this community. “Whatever was going on, Science Centre, Book Fair, the end-of-year Carnival – I volunteered. It was grounding for us.”
Isabel sprinkles her recollections multiple times with the word “warm” to paint a picture of what it was like then. “We were motivated because we really felt that the parent body AND the staff relied on us. We were glad to step up.”
Jackie, now a part of the incredible LBPA (her daughters being in Grade 1 and SK at time of writing), is emphatic about the journey every student gets to experience here. “It’s an honour to give back because I truly felt seen at this school, and still feel seen. I felt regarded and known by every teacher along the way.”
For the Morrison family in the 1980s, the school was a discovery after connecting with individual community leaders. It was a baby naming at Temple Sinai when daughters Haley and Jessica were still small that prompted Stephen to get more involved. “This new participation was very positive for me.”
And then. “You naturally get inspired.”
I wait for more.
“I would say… sometimes you start pitching in because there are people that you respect and admire who are very involved.”
This elicits a quip from Haley to her father: “Sometimes volunteering is just doing the thing that no one else puts their hand up to do!”
But because of how dedicated Stephen became, Haley deeply honours that she and her sister had a childhood “very much shaped by Leo Baeck. The school was like a supporting character in our lives.” She says that when she graduated, her father’s connection to the school “didn’t disappear.”
Morrison opens up about those people who he began to admire – Rabbi Dov Marmur, Rabbi Arthur Bielfeld, Rabbi Michael Stroh. “It could be that the leaders at the time saw a quality that I didn’t see in myself. I felt mentored by them – they encouraged me to also give of myself.”
Jackie and Haley recently co-chaired the year-long efforts of the school’s 50th anniversary. They particularly relished being involved in the Alumni event back in November – a nostalgic Kabbalat Shabbat for former students and staff where both women kicked off the evening by lighting the shabbat candles with their own mothers (Isabel Faibish and Fern Morrison). The foursome stood at the bima on behalf of Shabbat guests, and it’s a stand-out moment from the evening. About that night, Haley tells me, “just being in that room was completely beautiful. Getting to see former teachers with my old school friends, it was very special.”
Jackie clearly enjoys how much her mom loves the school. For both of them, they have seen from day one how genuinely the teachers care for their students. Jackie tells me, rapid-fire, “They enjoy their jobs. You can see it. Their energy. They have commendable energy. And every position here is important. Everyone helps oil the machine.” This is what makes both her and Haley say yes to Day of Giving volunteering, say yes to field trips, say yes to fun fairs. “They are all, not just teachers but all staff, trying to do better and better each day. This is what inspires the parent community to be involved.”
I ask Stephen more about how he found his way through the many goals and activities that were already at play by the time his older daughter was five. “In the mid-80s, we had something, if you can believe it, called the Computer Committee. So I was on that. Later I became Board Vice President and then President. I felt committed. And you don’t want to let people down once you have committed to something.”
It was not always a straightforward road for Stephen the volunteer, who experienced a rollercoaster of perseverance starting with the major heavy lifting of getting a new campus approved in the mid-90s. He stayed the course and the school has thrived after adversity.
Hayley sums up her dad’s dedication to the school: “I’m amazed about what he did in those times and now I’m in awe of some of the parents in our school. There are some faces that you see all the time, AND those parents also have full-time jobs.”
“I love watching the 1995 Breakfast Television feature that the school shared this year, seeing Haley at that age, and seeing my grandchildren now in the school. The future of the school was not assured back then so, now, I shep a lot of naches.”
As we are winding down our discussion, I ask Isabel what parent volunteers have in common, both then and now.
“It’s a shared mindset of wanting to do something outside yourself.”
She tells me on her way out that the school does feel like home, even though this wasn’t her kids’ campus. “My grandchildren know that bubby is involved.”
By: Janis Seftel (Leo Baeck Staff) for baeck+call magazine Summer 2024 issue
