Dear Families,
The Annual Meeting on Wednesday night was a lovely celebration of the 2021-2022 school year. Thank you to Elina Benin, Trea Diament, Rachael Schnitzer, and Ida Wicklund for their assistance with food and decoration for the event. The Annual Meeting is a time to show our appreciation and gratitude to the many individuals who support JDS. We were also thrilled to vote on the impressive slate of new trustees.
Please click here to see the honorees from Wednesday’s meeting.
In addition to volunteers, we also recognized staff service milestones. Among those recognized were three staff members who are retiring from JDS this year.
I want to thank Melissa Rickey for her 8 years of service to JDS as a Learning Resource Teacher. Melissa brought her extensive literacy instructional expertise. More importantly, she brought her remarkable positivity and continuous support for our students and teachers. Melissa, we hope that you have many exciting plans for retirement. We are incredibly grateful for your service to JDS.
Nancy Stacer, Director of Finance and Operations, is retiring to enjoy the warmth and sun of Florida while engaging in her favorite pastime – travel. Nancy brought a breadth and depth of experience to the Business Office that has propelled the “behind the scenes” of JDS to new levels of organization and efficiency. With her foresight, JDS was able to weather the financial storm of the pandemic. We hope you will share in our appreciation of her efforts.
For our last retirement, we have reached the moment where we must say “see you soon” to a true JDS legend. Marcy Gillman has been part of the JDS family for 25 years. Marcy first saw the value of a JDS education through the eyes of a parent when she brought her own children here. Her considerable educational expertise was soon recognized and Marcy has been an essential part of the faculty for 23 years. More recently she became an integral part of the leadership team. As someone shared with me, “Marcy is the most fantastic human I have ever met.” I couldn’t agree more. Her kindness, empathy, and ability to see the strengths of every student and adult will truly be missed. Please join me in thanking Marcy for her incredible tenure at JDS.
As was shared earlier in the week, I am honored and humbled to be named permanent Head of School at JDS. When I arrived last August, it did not take long for me to understand the magic of this community and the power of an education rooted in Jewish values and tradition. Over the course of this year, the Board of Trustees and I have worked side by side to advance a strong and stable foundation on which JDS can soar into the future. As we finally feel the shade of the pandemic lift, we can look towards an exciting 2022-2023 where the joys of community, collaboration and experiential learning can again be central to the lives of our students and future upstanders of the world.
One of my favorite quotes is from Teddy Roosevelt. He once said that “Far and away, the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” I believe that my tenure as Head of School at JDS is just that – work worth doing. I am overjoyed to steward the school through the next exciting chapter.
With Gratitude,
Meghan
