NEW YORK –Rabbi Kalmen M. Rosenbaum, principal of Torah Day School of Atlanta, in Atlanta, Georgia, has been selected to represent private schools as a 2009 National Distinguished Principal.  The 2009 selections mark the 26th year that the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the U.S. Department of Education have presented this prestigious award.

Rabbi Rosenbaum is one of only six private school principals from across the country and the third yeshiva principal ever to receive this award.

Rabbi Rosenbaum was nominated and selected by a committee of yeshiva principals and administrators through a search process conducted by the yeshiva services division of Agudath Israel of America and by Torah Umesorah — The National Society for Hebrew Day Schools — said Agudath Israel Education Affairs Associate Mr. Dovid Tanenbaum.

Rabbi Rosenbaum previously held the position of principal at the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School, in Staten Island, NY, the Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva, in Edison, NJ, the Rudlin Torah Academy in Richmond, VA, and the Hebrew Academy of Greater Hartford, in Hartford, CT.  He has served as principal of Torah Day School of Atlanta since 1994.

“At the helm of every successful school is a successful principal,” said Gail Connelly, NAESP’s executive director. “Our National Distinguished Principals program provides us with an opportunity to recognize the outstanding leadership of these principals and their commitment to creating successful learning communities.  Because of them, students thrive academically, teachers grow professionally, and communities are strengthened.”

Criteria for selection of the principals, set by NAESP and the U.S. Department of Education, require that the honorees are active principals of schools where programs are designed to meet the academic and social needs of all students and where there are firmly established community ties with parents and local business organizations.

Rabbi Rosenbaum, who was a talmid of the Ner Yisroel Rabbinical College, earned his Masters degree from Loyola College, and was a Doctoral Candidate at John Hopkins University, all in Baltimore, MD. He served one term as President of the National Council of Yeshiva Principals and two terms as Chairman of the Torah Umesorah National Educators Convention. He is a frequent guest lecturer throughout the United States and in Israel. His school was awarded the Excellence Blue Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education in 2008-2009.

Rabbi Rosenbaum and his family live in Atlanta where he is a member of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Atlanta Council of Jewish Day Schools, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Atlanta Chevra Kadisha Burial Committee, the Coalition of Jewish Day Schools, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and Congregation Beth Jacob.

Torah Umesorah is the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools and Agudath Israel of America advocates on behalf of, and serves the interests of, those schools.  Agudah and TU maintain close ties with the metropolitan Washington, D.C.-based National Association of Elementary School Principals and its almost 30,000 members nationwide.

(YWN Desk – NYC)