Adrienne Shulman Lasiter and Shirley Grill, Shomrei Education Co-Chairs, announced today that Sara Birnbaum has decided not to renew her contract as Director of the JLC (Hebrew School) when it expires in June. Because of the the long commute, Sara has decided to pursue other opportunities. Heather Brown has been named as her replacement in a new position overseeing both the JLC and the Preschool. Grill and Shulman Lasiter made the announcement  in a letter to Shomrei families and congregants.

Sara’s warmth has created a supportive learning environment and she has formed wonderful relations with our children, as principal and teacher. Sara teaches Hebrew and leads our STOM program; under Sara’s guidance, the STOM students have become a close knit group, engaging with each other as they do mitzvoth and grow together. We thank Sara for her service and for bringing love and ruach to our community.

We are pleased to announce that Heather Brown, principal of the Shomrei Emunah Preschool will assume a newly created position of Education Director; she will lead both the Preschool and the JLC. We are excited to have Heather step in as head of both our schools. Under her leadership, Shomrei will integrate our two schools under one umbrella, strengthening and integrating both entities, allowing for smooth transitions for our children from one program to the other.

In Heather’s current position, Heather has assumed an active role on the Shomrei Emunah Education Committee and is intimately involved in the redesign of the JLC curriculum, begun earlier in the year. Heather is uniquely qualified to move our community forward in the implementation of our vision of how we engage our children in their Jewish education; she has successfully built the Preschool into a program unrivaled in Montclair and we are confident that she will do the same for our JLC.

Sara will continue until the end of her current contract in June.