The school year saw new Bader Hillel leadership | Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

The school year saw new Bader Hillel leadership 

 

Bader Hillel Academy named a new principal and assistant principal, both within the last year.  

In September, Rabbi Sholom Ber Munitz was named Bader Hillel Academy’s Judaic Studies principal. Prior to the appointment, he taught fifth and sixth grade Judaic studies at Bader Hillel for 11 years, in addition to serving as the rabbi at Mequon Jewish Preschool.  

In addition to administrative tasks, Rabbi Munitz enjoys greeting the students each morning, often with Torah-based flashcards to help them practice Hebrew. He also leads davening with the middle school boys and continues to teach some classes. 

“Connecting to kids, learning with and from them, is the most beautiful thing,” he said.  

Munitz grew up in Pittsburgh, where he lived until his teen years, when his family moved to Buffalo. He attended Yeshivas Lubavitch Toronto and Oholei Torah in Brooklyn, before returning to Buffalo to work at Mesifta Menachem, a yeshiva run by his father. 

A year after getting married, he and his wife Leah moved to Milwaukee, where they have spent the past 13 years, raising their seven children (four of whom currently attend Bader Hillel). 

Nicole “Nikki” Nickolaus 

In the winter of 2021, Bader Hillel Academy hired Nicole “Nikki” Nickolaus as assistant principal. Her primary focus is on general studies planning, including curriculum, observing teachers and providing feedback, and student discipline. 

Nickolaus was raised in Oconomowoc, where she now lives with her husband Paul and their four children. She graduated from Aurora University in Illinois.  

She previously taught at a charter school in Milwaukee and taught sixth grade for several years in Oconomowoc. She was an instructional specialist for four years at Silver Lake Intermediate School, which led her to an interest in administration.  

At Bader Hillel, she said appreciates the small school setting, with its strong student-to-teacher ratio, and that teachers can give their input on important administrative decisions, such as the newly-adopted math curriculum.  

“Not only are we a school that educates kids in their religious and general studies backgrounds, but we also connect with them outside of school,” Nickolaus said. “There’s just this true connection and caring for everybody.”