We are excited to announce that Moon Bishop will be the next Director of The Temple Preschool. Since agreeing to serve as our Interim Director last December, Moon has provided steady leadership, skillfully guiding our school through an unexpected transition and ongoing COVID-19 challenges. We are grateful for her unwavering dedication to the TPS mission, staff, families, and children. We are proud of Moon’s commitment to the school and the strides she and her team have taken this year. She has strengthened the staff by implementing a professional development program, increased enrollment, and created several new policies and procedures essential to the daily operations of our school. Moon also was a critical part of the recent TPS assessment and will be working to communicate her plans to implement recommendations from that process. We are excited about the passion, energy, and vision that Moon brings to this role and are thrilled that TPS will be under her skilled leadership moving forward. Moon says she is excited to be chosen for this position and looks forward to bringing her unique experiences to continue building a solid foundation for the youngest learners, “Although I’ve been an educator for thirty years, there is still nothing more exciting to me than watching a child’s eyes light up when they “get” something for the first time; it is what feeds my soul. My passion for learning and educating, along with my belief in children’s innate capabilities and strengths, inform everything I do and provide the guiding light for my work with children, families, and educators. I am excited to lead this already amazing preschool and can’t wait to see how we continue to grow and thrive.”  

Moon comes into this position with 30 years of Early Childhood Education experience, ten of which have been in our TPS community. Moon was a driving force behind our transition into a Reggio-Emilia inspired school eight years ago; brought us our unparalleled Children’s Guide to the City program; and has mentored, coached, and taught our staff (and parents) best practices for raising curious, capable, and confident children. Moon is active in national, state, and local early childhood professional groups and has created and facilitated over fifty national, regional, and local workshops and training events for students, families, and educators. We are confident that she will continue to bring all of that experience, passion, and dedication to successfully meet the needs of our community and enrich and shape the direction of the school into the future.    

As a final note, we are profoundly grateful for our TPS Director Search Committee. The members represent various constituencies in our community; each of them possesses unique talents and areas of expertise, including education and school administration, development and strategic planning, project management, marketing, and human resources. The search was a thoughtful, robust process of which we can all be proud. Throughout the last several months, the Committee conducted a nationwide search; it reviewed applications from over 50 candidates, interviewed ten first-round candidates and brought in three individuals for day-long, final-round interviews. For each of our finalists, the Committee collected feedback from our teachers, administrative staff, the TPS Advisory Committee, Clergy, Temple leadership, Temple staff, and the consultant who completed our assessment. It was important to the Committee that all voices in our community be heard and be part of the process. We are indebted to the Committee for these efforts and for offering their time and talents to this search. Finally, we would like to thank our dedicated teachers for lending their voices and time to this process.  

We look forward to an exciting and bright future for TPS.  Please join us in welcoming and celebrating Moon Bishop as our new TPS Director! 

Jim Marks, Temple President.               Rabbi Mark Schiftan 

Rabbi Shana Mackler                            Lauren Wachsman, Chair, TPS Director Search                                                                                                                  Committee