Staff and Accreditation

 

Helen Cohen, Director

Helen has been in the forefront of shaping the direction of early childhood education in the Boston area for many years. She was the director of a Nursery School in Brookline for more than 20 years and is the Founding Director of the Frances Jacobson Early Childhood Center at Temple Israel.  She has continually served as Executive Director of FJECC since 1994.  Helen has a thorough knowledge and understanding of how young children learn and develop. She has been instrumental in developing early childhood curricula. She has trained and continues to train both graduate and undergraduate students at Wheelock and Hebrew Colleges and is called upon to give numerous workshops for teachers and directors. She has also taught at an international graduate level program in Singapore.   Helen served on the Educational Advisory Council in Brookline for many years and was a past board member of The Boston Association for the Education of Young Children.  Helen's work with parents, both on a daily basis as well as in more formal settings such as workshops, lectures and parenting programs, enables her to understand the challenges of parenting and how to best support them.  

Contact  Helen Cohen


Lisa Scott, Assistant Director

Lisa Scott has been working in Jewish Education for the past 22 years.  This is her first year as the Assistant Director of FJECC.   She began her career as a Kindergarten teacher and thoroughly enjoyed the exciting world of 5 year olds.  Due to her expansive experiences in Kindergarten she then pursued a Master's degree in Special Education and taught first through third grade in that field.  She then moved in to administration.  First,  as an Assistant Principal, and most recently Lisa was the Secular Studies Principal and coordinator of all Student Support Services at a local Jewish Day School.  She is very excited to get back to where she began her career and where she is the most passionate, working in Early Childhood Education.  She looks forward to interacting with this age group and bringing her administrative experience and expertise to FJECC.

Contact Lisa Scott

 


Ellen Forman, FJECC Judaic Coordinator

Ellen's job is to help the teachers seamlessly integrate Judaica  into all aspects of their curriculum. "It is both an amazing and rewarding position. Experiencing the joy the children derive as they learn about the holidays, rituals, and Torah stories connected with Judaism is truly a gratifying event for me daily." Ellen has been involved in Jewish education for most of her life, teaching preschool, Hebrew school and first and second grades at the Solomon Schechter School of Greater Boston. She feels that every day she is able to combine her love of young children with her passion for Judaic teaching as she helps preschoolers begin their journey down the road of Jewish education.
 
Contact Ellen Forman at 617-739-6455

 

Becca A. Lewis, FJECC Office Coordinator/Administrative Assistant

Becca A. Lewis has ten years experience working as an administrative assistant. Six of those years were spent supporting a local private Jewish elementary school. Becca has her BFA in Theatre from the University of Memphis where, following graduation, she worked as a teacher's assistant in both a preschool and kindergarten.

Contact:  Becca Lewis

 

Geri Mistretta, Coordinator of FJECC Extended Day Geri Mistretta has been an Early Childhood Educator for the past 25 years. She joined the FJECC staff in 1996. In addition to her Blue Room teaching responsibilities, Geri is the coordinator of our very popular Extended Day Program. In this role she has had the opportunity to get to know almost all of the preschoolers in the program! The other hat that Geri wears is that of the liaison for all PTO activities. One of Geri's great pleasures is seeing "her children" grow up, whether in the temple or around town.

Staff

Our staff is made up of highly qualified, educationally and professionally trained teachers who love working and interacting with children.  Each class is led by at least two highly qualified and experienced teachers with a minimum of a Bachelors degree in the field of early education. The vast majority of our staff  however, hold Master's Degrees in this field.   Additionally, our assistant teachers, whose job it is to augment the work planned and carried out by the two full-time teachers in each class, also are degreed and equally qualified.  Despite the excellent credentials of our teachers, professional development and academic training is an ongoing process.  We are proud to say that the average tenure of our staff is 10 years.

The FJECC has served and continues to serve as a laboratory for student teachers from Wheelock College and more recently from Lesley University.  These young teachers-in-training add a wonderful component to our program and further enhance the one-on-one attention our students receive. 

A Movement/Music Specialist also enhances our outstanding staff.

FJECC has been selected by The National Association of Child Care Professionals as a site worthy to visit when attending a national Conference held in the Boston area. Additionally, our school has received some of the highest credentials attainable.

Accreditation and Awards

FJECC is fully licensed through the Department of Early Education and Care.  Judaically, we have gained and renewed (in 2006) our Magen HaGan accreditation through the Bureau of Jewish Education. In 2007 we successfully completed the newly revised national accreditation process through the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children), one of the first 100 centers nationwide to achieve that goal. This accreditation takes a multi-layered and thorough look through all aspects of the program: teachers, children, parents, curriculum, community and administration.

We have been awarded a number of grants in the past based upon the work that we do on behalf of young children and their families. Recently we received a special education grant in order to support any students who may need additional attention.

Our Intergenerational program has received National attention and was featured in one of The Harvard University Magazines.

 

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