Johanna Shlomovich loves giving tours of Tucson Hebrew Academy.
“I invite anybody and everybody to come for a tour. I will give a personal tour to anybody to come see the great work that we’re doing,” says Shlomovich, who became Head of School at THA in July 2021.
She highlights several new THA programs, such as a sixth grade marine biology trip to San Diego, a seventh grade civil rights trip to Alabama, and a program for gardening through an environmental lens, led by Lev Metz, THA’s fifth grade Jewish studies teacher and Jewish environmental programmer, that has focused on the kindergarten class and a middle school elective, but will be expanded to the whole school next year.
“We have an exceptional faculty, really just loving and hardworking, dedicated,” Shlomovich adds, noting that faculty turnover has “significantly decreased” in the past several years. Tucson.
Shlomovich, who was chief operating officer at a Modern Orthodox day school in New York before taking the helm at THA, believes “a Jewish day school is a main pillar in any Jewish community.”
“The Jewish day schools are educating the Jewish future,” she says, explaining that Jewish day school alumni are more likely to be involved in Jewish communal life as they get older, whether that’s synagogue membership, serving on the board of a Jewish federation, or becoming a Jewish communal professional.
Even if they don’t take on those roles, day school alumni are more inclined to seek Jewish community, Shlomovich says, and to have their kids attend a day school.
Research by Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, a network of more than 300 day schools and yeshivas across North America, bears her out. A January 2025 Prizmah study of college students shows that day school alumni are more than twice as likely (81%) to say Jewish identity is very important to them compared to those who did not attend day school (35%), while a 2022 study of lay and professional Jewish leaders showed one third attended Jewish day schools, with this figure rising to 44 percent among younger Jewish leaders, those aged 35-44.
Shlomovich wants to convey this strong sense of Jewish identity to more students: She would like to see THA’s enrollment, which now stands at 77, steadily increase in the next five to 10 years.
Hava Leipzig Holzhauer, president and CEO of Jewish Philanthropies of Southern Arizona, likewise sees THA as vital to the fabric of the local Jewish community. THA is one of JPSA’s five beneficiary agencies, receiving an annual allocation as well as a variety of grant funding through JPSA’s grant process. For THA and all Jewish agencies, JPSA offers a menu of marketing services, such as the Community Calendar, shared program outreach, and monthly Post-Its email newsletters.
“I have great passion for Jewish day schools,” says Leipzig Holzhauer, who moved to Tucson from Florida in December 2023. Her four children attended day school for all or part of their elementary, middle school, and high school education, “depending on the kid,” with her eldest in day school from kindergarten through 12th grade. “Research indicates that when young people develop connections to their roots, it affects them in healthy ways as adults. It was important for my husband and me to find ways for our kids to connect to their roots – to their Jewish roots.”
“I do think it is wonderful to have choices, but it is important to have the option of a Jewish day school,” says Leipzig Holzhauer, noting that THA, in addition to providing a strong secular education, emphasizes learning Hebrew, “the language of our prayer and of half the Jewish community worldwide.”
Like many day schools across the country, THA has received new students in the aftermath of the events of Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel, with two Israeli families that fled the war enrolling four students in the 2024-25 school year. One more Israeli family is moving to Tucson this summer and has already registered their kids for THA.
“We’ve been a nice landing for those families,” Shlomovich says.
Anyone who has visited the THA campus in the past few years will agree it is “a magical place,” says incoming board chair Kathy Gerst.
“The kids are having such a meaningful and enriching experience, and I want that for more kids,” she says.
One challenge, she says, is that Tucson’s Jewish community includes a large proportion of unaffiliated and interfaith families, who may be less likely to consider a day school education for their children.
But at least cost is not as much of a barrier for THA as it is for many day schools across the country, Shlomovich says.
“We are lucky here that we have the [Arizona] tax credits to help with tuition, and we’re able to make a THA experience affordable for every child,” she says.
THA allocated over $870,000 in financial aid to 86% of the student body for the 2023-24 school year.
Many online reviews emphasize the sense of community THA generates.
In a 2023 review, a parent said, “The community is so warm, inclusive, and diverse. The teachers are incredibly loving, attentive, and really try to challenge the kids to think outside the box. We love the emphasis on arts, music, & social justice. We’re just really happy overall and our kids love going to school every day.”
Although some might call THA “pluralistic” or “non-denominational,” Shlomovich says the term she prefers is simply “community day school.”
“We want all of our families to feel like this is their Jewish community, and they belong,” she says.
For parents and guardians, there is a “Community Action Team,” equivalent to a parent association, which sponsors events such as Shabbat morning bike rides or Havdalah at the nearby Tucson Hop Shop.
For students, there’s a buddy program that pairs kindergarten students with seventh graders and first graders with eighth graders. All the kids have buddies, but especially for the younger grades, they function almost like a Big Brothers Big Sisters program, Shlomovich says.
“Every day, our eighth graders and seventh graders pick up their kindergarten and first grade buddies and bring them to the lunchroom and help them through the lunch line and help them get settled before running off and sitting with their friends,” which teaches the older students responsibility and reinforces community, she says.
With the school year coming to a close, Shlomovich reiterates that she welcomes all “to come see the magic happening at THA.”
