[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E205-E206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RECOGNIZING NAOMI REEM

                                  _____
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 25, 2020

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of 
Representatives to join me in recognizing Naomi Reem, an extraordinary 
woman and a leader in the Washington, D.C. Jewish community, who has, 
for 15 years, served as Head of School for the only Jewish day school 
in the District, the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School of the Nation's 
Capital.
  The Jewish community of Washington, D.C. is one of the fastest 
growing and largest in the nation. Indeed, according to a February 2018 
article in The Washington Post, the D.C.-metro area is now home to the 
third largest population of Jewish people in the country after New York 
and Los Angeles. As we all know, a critical part of building strong 
community is access to good education, and Ms. Reem has made it her 
personal mission over the past decade and a half to ensure that a 
vibrant Jewish education is available to families in and around the 
city.
  Founded in 1988, Milton, formerly known as JPDS-NC, has had just two 
heads of school in its 31-year history. Under Ms. Reem's leadership, 
the school received its first independent school accreditation; grew 
from under 200 to over 450 students; opened a second, early childhood 
education campus in the District; and launched the first Jewish middle 
school program in D.C. in over 40 years.
  Ms. Reem is an expert educator with a teaching degree from the Agnon 
Institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a bachelor's degree from Hebrew 
University in Jerusalem, and a master's degree in Jewish Education from 
Hebrew College in Newton, Massachusetts. She has led Milton to adopt 
numerous curricular initiatives in General Studies and Hebrew and 
Judaic Studies, which have earned the school a solid reputation, 
locally and nationally, as a forward-looking institution, excellent in 
all academic areas. Milton's reputation has attracted major 
philanthropic support, totaling well over $55 million since Ms. Reem 
joined the school.
  Prior to coming to Milton, Ms. Reem was Head of School at Sinai 
Academy of the Berkshires, a day school in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 
for seven years. Previously, she worked at the Gordon Day School in 
Miami, Florida and in several educational settings in Argentina, Israel 
and the United States.
  Ms. Reem has served on the Board of the Association of Independent 
Maryland and D.C. Schools, where she previously chaired two 
accreditation teams for other independent schools. She has also served 
as a mentor at the Day School Leadership Training Institute, a program 
sponsored by the AVICHAI Foundation and the Jewish Theological Seminary 
to train new and aspiring heads of schools. Additionally, Ms. Reem is a 
member of the Executives Council for the Jewish Federation of Greater 
Washington and served as its co-chair for three years.
  Ms. Reem is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and left her 
hometown in Argentina when she was 22 years old. She became a citizen 
of the United States on February 2, 2017.
  Ms. Reem's long career in education--from her early years teaching 
through her tenure at

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the helm of one of the most successful Jewish day schools in the 
country--illustrates how much can be achieved when one is dedicated to 
a cause and a community.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask the House of Representatives to 
join me in honoring Naomi Reem for her work and service and in wishing 
her and her school continued success.

                          ____________________