From tracking attendance and grades to managing events and contact information, finding the right SIS is essential to the smooth operation of a school. But with especially distinctive needs such as non-standard schedules and the use of both Hebrew and English, Jewish day schools face a unique challenge when it comes to finding the right software partner.  

Luckily, Veracross’s highly customizable interface is up for the challenge, and administrators from these two Jewish day schools can speak to how it’s improved operations at their institutions. 

Fuchs Mizrachi School 

Fuchs Mizrachi School is a Jewish Pre-K-12 school with over 400 students. According to their Director of Technology, Rabbi Akiva Fleischmann, managing data for so many students posed a huge challenge. Before switching to Veracross in 2019, the school’s information was scattered across multiple programs and could only be accessed on-site. This led them to begin looking for an updated, all-in-one integrated school management platform. 

The decision to implement Veracross at Fuchs Mizrachi was largely financial. The school’s old system required them to keep an expert consultant on retainer, and, because time is money when it comes to running a school, the team felt that Veracross would be a more efficient use of funds. Veracross’s extensive online support would grant anyone access to instant help and training without the need to keep someone on retainer.  

Maimonides School 

Similarly, Deborah Leschinsky, Director of Technology at Maimonides School, shared that with Senior Systems, their previous SIS, the interface was complex to use and required expensive training. While they had one system to manage information for their 400 students, technical issues with the platform caused massive problems for administrators, making it difficult to get support.  

“The fact that Veracross built their system as one platform, intending for it to work across a number of different modules, was significantly different than anybody else in the marketplace,” she said. “It really sold us, and it’s proven valuable.” 

How These Schools Use Veracross 

At Fuchs Mizrachi, everyone has been trained to use Veracross. “Every question that I get is solved through Veracross,” said Fleischmann. “All the different querying and pulling out information, say changing someone’s phone number or this person’s email, these things are all there. Just type it in the box.” 

In classrooms, teachers use it to take attendance, find the location of their students, and input grades. Administrators use the system for everything from class registration to creating group events. It also allows them to compile information about student grades across the division, which is useful during times like parent-teacher conferences.  

“People are happier in their jobs because they can do them faster and easier and quicker,” Fleischmann shared. “It’s a great tool to have at our disposal and keep everybody on the same page.” 

Leschinsky agrees that the ease of finding and managing information with Veracross has made everyone at her school very happy. “Everybody uses it every day,” she said. “It’s just a real part of the fabric here.” 

Faculty members at Maimonides use the platform to view the profiles of their students and allows them to post information about assignments so that students can view their homework online.  

“One of the things that has been fantastic, especially during the holidays, is doing alternate block schedules,” added Leschinsky. “It’s really easy for me to set up certain schedules that we’ll use throughout the year. I can set all of those in advance and plug them into the daily calendar as they’re needed. It’s very efficient across all levels.” 

Meeting the Unique Needs of Jewish Day Schools 

Administrators at Jewish day schools face an extra challenge when it comes to finding the right SIS. One of the main benefits of Veracross is that the platform supports Hebrew, which allows educators to easily communicate with parents through report card comments. 

“It lets our Judaic studies teachers write the words they want to write in the language they want to write in instead of having to transliterate things,” said Fleischmann.  

The highly customizable interface has also been useful at Fuchs Mizrachi. It allows them to schedule things like morning prayer separately from classes and gives administrators full control over attendance records and the weighting of grades. 

Leschinsky also agreed that the flexibility of Veracross is one of the main benefits. “It’s enabled us to keep our structure; we don’t have to change our structure for the product. The product has come along with us,” she said. This feature is key at Maimonides, as they have a non-standard schedule with nine periods each day.  

Aside from the typical day-to-day schedule, the platform also accommodates different holiday schedules. “You want the kids to be able to look at their schedule and know where they’re supposed to go because there are changes,” Leschinsky explained. “It’s nice that we can set it up in one place and then have the kids be able to see it the next day.” 

She also emphasized the benefit of being able to customize how student GPAs are determined. This is important at schools with both Judaic and general studies, as it allows the GPAs to be calculated separately or together. 

How Parents Can Benefit  

In addition to being a big hit with teachers and administrators, Veracross also benefits students and parents. “My parents were over the moon with the new interface,” said Fleischmann. “When you look at the parent portal and how you can build it how you want, pretty much anything you want to put in that portal, you can.” 

The system provides a “one-stop shop” for students and their families to view their assignments, schedules, grades, and attendance records. Even after a child graduates, parents can easily access Veracross to view and obtain any records they might need.  

“I’ve had parents come up to me and tell me that they love the new system,” Fleischmann added. Not only does the program make communication and record sharing between schools and parents a breeze, but this top-of-the-line experience will help keep families engaged and coming back to your school. 

To learn more about how Veracross supports Jewish day schools, watch our on-demand webinar for a conversation with Fleischmann and Leschinsky.