A Message from ECE-RJ President Jennie Rubin

The ECE-RJ leadership has been blessed to have had truly dynamic people as part of the board. From the beginnings of the organization, it was a dedicated group of women, who came together to ensure that early childhood educators had a professional organization to represent them in the Reform movement. Four years ago the board reorganized the leadership structure, and strong voices were voted into the new roles. Dale Laing became our first Vice President of Learning.

As the Director of Early Childhood Education at Congregation Beth Or, Dale lives within a community of collaboration and vision. She brought her vision for professional learning to the table, and created the framework for our offerings. She envisioned what virtual learning could be for our members, and saw that we developed webinars, MeetUps, and hangouts to address the concerns and challenges our membership faces. She also planned our amazing Memphis Kallah.

Dale has just announced that she will be leaving the field of Early Childhood Jewish Education, and will be leaving our board. This is a tremendous loss for both our field and our organization. We will miss Dale’s enthusiasm. We will miss her humor and her beautiful singing voice. We will miss having her on this journey with us. The work she accomplished during her time as Vice President of Learning, will sustain us for many years. We thank you Dale, for always making everything fun, and for always putting your heart and soul into this organization. Wherever you go, and whatever you do, you will always be an early childhood Jewish educator, and we will always be here as your friends, and support system.

Because Dale is leaving mid-term, the position of Vice President of Learning becomes a Presidential appointment. I would love to hear from anyone who might be interested in filing this role. The work that I have done on the ECE-RJ board has been the most fulfilling of my life. I encourage you to reach out to me, preschool@templebnaior.org, to let me know if you would like to discuss what this position entails, and what it means to be on the board. Please also feel free to come and find me at the ChicaGO! Conference, so that we can discuss this in person.

On behalf of the membership of ECE-RJ, I wish Dale the very best in her new position. We are grateful for all you have given to us, and we will continue the work of professional learning, meeting the high standards you have set.

L’shalom,

Jennie Rubin

President