Birchwood School Principal Preparing for an Emotional Year

Art Jakubowitz has dedicated his professional life to helping students with disabilities.

The principal at the Clarkstown school district's Birchwood School in West Nyack will enter his 27^th and final year at the school this fall. He has been the only principal the school has ever known, and he knows his leaving next summer will be a very emotional time.

'That's gonna be really, really weird," said the 60-year-old Jakubowitz. "The whole idea of not coming back to a place you've come to every day for 27 years will create a really big void.

"I'm very grateful I got to work with so many great people who do all the leg work. It's really the whole staff that does it, and I'm going to miss that."

Prior to coming to Birchwood in 1984, Jakubowitz was the principal of the French Hill School, in Yorktown Heights, from 1979-84. French Hill was a special education school for students with emotional and learning problems. He also was an assistant principal at another school for children with learning disabilities, the Walden School in Yorktown Heights, from 1976-79 and taught special education for a year.

Jakubowitz didn't intend on spending a career in special education. He started as a math teacher, but after being laid off he got a job in Westchester County teaching special education and things progressed from there.

"Once I got into that area, I really enjoyed it," he said. "It just seemed to be the right career path for me."

Birchwood offers an individualized and supportive environment for its 113 students, ages 5-21, who have significant emotional, behavioral and learning problems. The school, which has a class ratio of 8:1:1, also offers its students therapy services to complement the academic and social lessons.

The typical Birchwood student previously had experienced failure, both at the academic and social levels, Jakubowitz said. The school tries to repair any damage to the student's self-esteem that may have been caused by these failures by addressing unsuccessful learning patterns and trying to instill a more productive way of learning and better behavior through that combination of teaching and therapy, he said.

"The staff is specifically trained to remediate behavioral and learning problems," he said. "They help students develop self-discipline by showing them that they are responsible for their own behaviors, as well as for the consequences of those behaviors. Teachers, clinicians, support staff and (myself) work together to provide a nurturing atmosphere of safety and trust, enabling the students to grow and mature."

Clarkstown Central School District Superintendent Margaret Keller-Cogan said "while none of us irreplaceable, Art's stellar qualities will make finding a replacement an extremely difficult task."

She pointed out he has hired almost all the members of the Birchwood staff and his dedication to the school has helped create a level of comfort, constancy and support that is the foundation for its success.

"He is extremely well respected for his integrity, work ethic, humility, concern and empathy," Keller-Cogan said. "At the same time, he understands the importance of structure and discipline. As a result, the staff that works with him knows they are well supported, respected and appreciated in the challenging work they do."

Finding that balance between structure and support has been Jakubowitz' guiding principle as principal. He said he is proud of his legacy at Birchwood and the reputation he has helped to create.

"I think I've put my footprint on it," he said. "We really have developed a reputation around the county that if you have a child with special needs that this is the school to get into."

While in many ways he will go about his last year as he has his first 26, Jakubowitz said he does hope to be part of the process in choosing his successor, and he will help that person in the transition to taking over as principal.

"It's time for someone else to step in and offer some new input and take the program to an even higher level," he said.

Jakubowitz, a native of Tel Aviv, Israel, doesn't plan on slowing down after he retires next spring. He wants to travel a lot, including a trip back to his homeland, and plans to train for the New York City Marathon. He also will do some gardening and relaxing around the house with his wife, Ellen, and three adult children, Stacey, Marcy and Matthew. While he is looking forward to the next phase of his life, he also is very cognizant of what he will be leaving behind when he walks out of the school for the last time.

"There are such great things waiting for me that it's going to be a bittersweet moment," he said.