Rabbi Dr. Baruch M. Hilsenrath, principal of Magen David Yeshiva in Brooklyn, NY, has been selected to represent private schools as a 2007 National Distinguished Principal. The 2007 selections mark the 24th year that the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the U.S. Department of Education have presented this prestigious award.

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

Rabbi Hilsenrath 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 Dr. Hilsenrath previously held the position of principal at the Bess and Paul Siegel Hebrew Academy in Hartford, CT, and the Akiva Academy in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He has served as principal of Magen David Yeshiva since 2001.

“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.”

The National Distinguished Principals program is made possible through the corporate sponsorship of AIG VALIC, an industry leader currently managing long-term investment programs for more than 28,000 education, healthcare, public sector and other not-for-profit and for-profit organizations in more than 41,000 locations—representing nearly 2 million investors throughout the country.

In October, Rabbi Hilsenrath will travel to Washington, D.C., for two days of activities planned to honor and bring well-deserved recognition to the elementary and middle-level educators chosen by the states, the District of Columbia, and private and overseas schools.

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 Hilsenrath, who was a close talmid of the late Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, Rabbi Avrohom Pam, zt”l, earned his Bachelors degree from Brooklyn College, his Masters from Fordham University, and his Doctor of Education in 1999 at the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration at Yeshiva University. He served two terms as President of the National Council of Yeshiva Principals and one term as Chairman of the Torah Umesorah National Educators Convention. His school was awarded the Excellence Blue Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education in 1990 and the Yeshiva Torah Vodaath Outstanding Educator Award in 1998.

Rabbi Hilsenrath, his wife Sima, and their family live in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. He is a member of Agudath Israel, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and Congregation Beis Eluzer.

 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.