The Center for Community Education (CCE) at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut (BCHA) is sponsoring a panel discussion on “Online Learning: What Works? What Doesn’t? Its Future?”

The program, which will be broadcast via Zoom, will be held on Tuesday, January 6, at 8 p.m. The two panelists will be Rabbi Shimmy Trencher, principal of the Upper School and David Giver, principal of the Middle School.

“We are excited to organize a timely and important program with two superb administrators at our school who worked with our amazing faculty to develop BCHA’s hybrid and distance learning programs,” said Rabbi Tzvi Bernstein, dean at the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of CT. “The topic is one about which many parents, teachers and students have strong opinions. We hope this program will educate everyone about what we have learned regarding online education this past year.”

Rabbi Shimmy Trencher currently serves as the principal of the BCHA Upper School and previously served as dean of students, associate principal, and principal of the Rabbi Moshe H. Levinson Upper School at Berman Hebrew Academy; dean of students at Hebrew High School of New England (now part of New England Jewish Academy); and assistant director of New England (now Northeast) Region NCSY. Additionally, he is the founder of and advisor to Heart, Mind & Soul, an organization that develops and runs positive youth development programs for Jewish teens and adults. He holds a master’s degree in social work from University of Connecticut with a certification in mental health and substance abuse in social work practice.

David Giver currently serves as the principal of the BCHA Middle School and previously served as humanities department head of the BCHA Upper School, as well as serving in a myriad of roles at the Jewish High School of Connecticut. Before moving to Stamford, David taught courses in English, history and political science at Georgia Southern University—Armstrong Campus in Savannah, Georgia. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Norwich University and a master’s degree in fine arts—creative writing in poetry from Goddard College.

The Center for Community education is a new initiative of the Bi-Cultural Hebrew Academy of Connecticut that aims to inspire thoughtful conversation related to the spectrum of Jewish issues.

To register for the Zoom program, please visit www.bchaupperschool.org/cce�

By Michael Feldstein

�