Advisory is a weekly meeting in which a faculty member and a small group of students discuss topics which are relevant to each grade. The tone of advisory is purposely more informal than that of a normal class so as to allow an opportunity for every student to form a meaningful and personal connection with their advisor. In turn, the advisor acts as mentor, guidance counselor and advocate for the students in his/her group. While the advisor is looking after the social, academic and religious well-being of the students, the student also recognizes that the advisor is the first address that he/she can turn to whether to resolve a particular issue or just to have a friendly chat.
Additionally, the very dynamic of the advisory group itself and the interpersonal relationships it engenders between its members is a desired goal of this program. Whether through lively discussions of pertinent issues or just good old-fashioned “hanging out,” the advisory group is essentially a student’s in-school family.
Finally, the advisory program is tailored to each grade’s specific needs. With the ongoing input and assessment of the grade deans, the curriculum of the advisory meetings reflect the unique challenges and milestones of adolescence, which each grade is particularly facing. By choosing topics which are relevant to each specific age group, we hope to confront the myriad of questions and concerns, be they, religious, academic, cultural, social, that confront our students. The advisory setting allows for an opportunity, through discussion, for the students to lend their own voices to these important conversations, together with peers and guided by advisors.
Grade Deans at Frisch have a dual responsibility for the entire grade, as well as the specific student, in the academic, social and religious realms. Grade Deans are a presence in the grade and keep an eye on the culture of the grade as a whole, and the social and religious make-up of the students. Grade Deans assist with academic counseling, course make-up, navigating social situations, religious struggles and individual school participation. They ensure that the correct person at Frisch is dealing with each student, and follow through until every need is met.
Ninth Grade: Rabbi J.Z. Spier, Mrs. Leora Moskovich
Tenth Grade: Dr. Meryl Feldblum, Rabbi David Sher
Eleventh Grade: Rabbi Josh Schulman, Ms. Adina Rosenberg
Twelfth Grade: Rabbi Michael Bashist, Mrs. Yael Goldfischer
Guidance counselors focus primarily on students who would benefit from a more intensive guidance process. This includes counseling issues associated with academic guidance, the learning process and educational success, as well as the array of issues that teenagers face growing up in today’s world. Our guidance process, therefore, encompasses working with students on study skills, note taking, executive functioning, time and resource management, facilitating communication between the school and the parents and the coping strategies associated with the rigors daily life and of our academic demands.
Guidance counseling also includes assisting students where difficulties of an emotional nature interfere with a student’s ability to meet unmitigated success or other issues, such as familial, medical or social, which might be of a daunting enough nature so as to require the support of a trained professional.
Our counselors dovetail with professionals working with students outside the school. The department maintains both a resource center, available to all students, and a full referral network, carefully cultivated to work with our student population.
The Department of Counseling and Guidance, in addition to working closely with the Advisors and Grade Deans, also functions in harmony with the services offered by the College Guidance and Israel Guidance Departments.