On Feb. 12, Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus announced via email to the JDS community that the school would be receiving a $5 million gift from the Robert H. and Clarice R. Smith Family Foundation in celebration of the school’s 60th anniversary.
Half of the money will be put toward tuition assistance, while the other $2.5 million will be placed in the Robert H. and Clarice R. Smith Fund for Faculty Excellence, which will go toward teacher salaries and professional development. In order to maximize the impact of the gift, Chief Financial and Operating Officer Elanit Jakabovics said that the school will follow an investment strategy.
“All our endowment funds are commingled in an investment account, so they work together to gain the benefits of the market,” Jakabovics said. “ … The investment policy states that we wait three years before we can start using the money that comes from the endowment. So we let the principal of the endowment grow a bit, and then we start taking 4% and use those funds to help support the budget.”
By placing the gift in the endowment and carefully managing it, JDS ensures that the funds will have a lasting impact, providing sustainable support for faculty and students over time. David Bruce Smith, the son of Robert and Clarice, worked closely with the school, and Malkus in particular, to determine the areas that would benefit the community most were tuition assistance and faculty support.
In addition to making it more affordable for students to attend JDS, David said that it was especially important to help set up the Fund for Faculty Excellence, noting that many teachers at JDS make less than their counterparts in Montgomery County Public Schools. According to Malkus, the fund will help retain high-quality teachers.
“I care really deeply about our faculty, and the educational research shows that when you have outstanding teachers, the quality of education will be excellent,” Malkus said. “It’s important to me to invest in our faculty and staff, and that’s become my passion project this year.”
The Smith Family has a decades-long relationship with JDS, with the school bearing the name of Charles E. Smith, the father of Robert and grandfather of David. Over the years, the family has given multiple major gifts to support the school’s growth, including for instructional technology and various other initiatives. David’s children attended JDS, and his grandchildren are currently enrolled at the Lower School.
According to David, philanthropy was always important to his parents and grandparents, and they contributed to many causes. In particular, his father, Robert, was actively involved in the preservation of homes of historical figures he admired, including Abraham Lincoln and the Founding Fathers. When he was older, Robert focused his efforts more on Jewish education and the school that bears his father’s name.
“They gave to Addis Israel. They gave to the Kennedy Center,” David said. “But all these things evolved over the last 20 years. Toward the end of my father’s life, it was JDS and the Founding Father and Mother homes.”
Before they passed away, David said that his parents had already planned gifts specifically for JDS. David said that he is strictly following their instructions to give back to the school they loved.
“All I am really is a steward,” David said. “ … I had to imagine if my grandfather and my parents were alive, what would they want this money to be used for, and having spent a lot of time with them, that’s what I did.”
