New Professionals Join the ICJA Faculty

By Melinda Burgin

ICJA hired many new professionals for the 2019-2020 school year.

Ms. Ruth Gleicher will fill the freshmen biology vacancy caused by Mr. Newman’s retirement. She previously taught AP Biology at Ida Crown for 18 years and taught full time at Niles North before retiring. For her new freshman classes, her main goal is to develop science skills. “In this age, memorizing facts is pointless, since everyone can just google it,” she explains. “I want my students to be able to think critically and write scientific arguments.”

For example, the class is currently working on determining if crickets are a good source of protein and should be served in schools. “We use storylining, where we engage with a phenomenon in a real world context and base a unit on explaining the science behind it,'' Ms. Gleicher said. 

Mrs. Emma Katz also joins the ICJA community from Brooklyn, New York. She teaches the juniors regular Bible class for girls. When she isn’t teaching, Mrs. Katz works in the Kollel, where she is the community scholar for Nili, the women’s programming department, where she gives shiurim and directs programming. Her main priority in her Bible class is to give her students “a thorough understanding of Sefer Devarim and how it applies to their lives,” she said. 

Mrs. Shira Fensterheim— who travelled all the way from Israel— will join ICJA’s Hebrew department. She teaches freshmen through seniors— both boys and girls. Mrs. Fensterheim is determined to teach by immersion, speaking entirely in Hebrew through all of her classes. Through this method, she plans to both “teach Hebrew and give her classes the real feeling of Eretz Yisrael.”

Brittany Peters is replacing Mark Wax as the athletic director. Ms. Peters is very excited to assume her new position, saying, “When the opportunity to be the new athletic director at Ida Crown was presented to me, I immediately said yes.”  She cites a very positive experience coaching basketball for the past three years as reason for her enthusiasm. While her personal favorite sports are basketball and soccer, since she plays both, she has a great passion for sports as a whole.  “High school athletics were some of my greatest sports memories,” she adds, “so any opportunity to be a part of a high school athletics program excites me.”

Ms. Peters has many ambitious goals that she wants to accomplish in her tenure, such as giving the weight room a makeover, making sure that there is an EMT or athletic trainer at all sporting events, and updating championship banners and trophies. Ultimately, her long term goal is to create a “sports program where kids want to come play at Ida Crown.” She hopes that accomplishing these goals can boost admissions, making Ida Crown’s reputation in the athletic department equal its academic excellence.  

This upcoming year will be Ms. Peters’s first venture into the administrative side of sports. However, she will have a strong support team to guide her through any challenges. “I’ve been amazed at how helpful other athletic directors at different schools have been as I ask questions and reach out for advice,” she says.  She trusts that “the transition will be smooth and positive.”