Diana Barforough
Diana moved from Houston to San Diego with her family 13 years ago. She has been teaching preschool for 18 years and one of the things she loves to do most is story time with the children. Story time is the highlight of her days because she gets to act out funny characters. Diana loves the unconditional love that she receives from the children every year. She has been married for 23 years and has two children, Ana, who is 22 and just graduated from the University of Redlands and Joshua, who is 16 and attends the San Diego Jewish Academy. Living in San Diego has been a blessing for her and her family.

  Bree Ceretto
Born and raised in San Diego, Bree has wanted to be an educator since childhood. Joining Beth Israel first as a summer counselor during college, Bree is now in her eleventh year of teaching at the preschool. Bree has a background in elementary education and a teaching credential from The University of Arizona. Married in October 2011, Bree enjoys spending time with her husband and three young daughters Melia, Alana, & Lucia.

  Deborah Chait
Deborah has worked at the preschool for thirteen years. She was born and raised in Mexico City where she worked as Montessori preschool teacher. Moving to Israel she lived in a kibbutz and then in Tel Aviv where she helped open the first Montessori preschool in Israel. She has lived in San Diego for 21 years. She lives with her husband Cyrus and has two adult children Andres and Dario.

  Alejandrina Garcia

Alejandrina (Ale) has been working with children for 8 years; 3 at Head Start and 5 in the San Diego School District. She has worked with ages 3 to 5, but enjoys working with infant and toddlers the most. She has an Associate’s Degree in Child Development and has had her teaching permit for 5 years. She has a 3 year old daughter and a 6 year old son. She loves working here at Beth Israel and is going into her fourth year teaching in our preschool.

  Stella Ferrari
Stella was born in Argentina and comes from a warm culture that values the importance of family.  She considers herself a nurturing person who loves to help children discover life and all its wonders. She is an artist, which makes it easy for her to connect to children and their creative minds. She has several years of experience caring for children as young as 3 months as well as my own child and grandchildren. In addition, she has managed an after school program at her home while her daughter was in elementary school. Teaching has become to be a passion for her, seeing little minds learn every day and getting involved in things that she teaches them is what inspires her every day.

  Jacquelyn Fogel
Jacquelyn came to San Diego in 1994 to pursue her Master’s degree in History at the University of San Diego.  During this time, she found her passion for teaching children through her museum work.  After raising her twins, Jonathan and Skyler – age 11, she’s decided to come back to teaching and has joined us as a teacher in our infant room.

  Julie Gardner
Julie grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, attended college at Emory University earning her degree in Psychology, and then pursued her Master’s Degree in Elementary Education at Vanderbilt. She moved to San Diego to be with her now husband, Andrew, in 2000. She taught in the Beth Israel Day School, and took time off to be with her 2 young daughters, Elizabeth and Katelyn. She is excited to be back in the ‘teaching world’ in such a warm and caring community. In her free time, Julie loves to be with her family, visit local San Diego sites, and reading…when she finds a spare moment!

Ophelia Hood

  Lorna Lavine
Lorna Lavine has a love and passion for children. She began her journey as a preschool teacher 10 years ago when her daughter Marlie was born.  Lorna has taught all ages of preschool, religious school and has been a recipient of the prestigious Lawrence Family JCC Pedagogic Award for her commitment as an educator. Both of her children have attended and graduated from Jewish Preschool and she is actively involved in the Jewish community. Her daughter Marlie is 10 and her son Logan is 14. Outside of teaching preschool you will find Lorna teaching on the ice as she is a Canadian double gold medalist and former Ice Capades Skater.

  Louisa Liebman
2016-2017 has been Louisa’s first year teaching at the Bill and Sid Rubin Preschool.  She loves teaching, reading, and interacting with children of all ages and watching them grow from young caterpillars to self-sufficient and confident beautiful butterflies. Louisa has three children who are the center of her universe. She was born in San Jose California and lived in Israel for six years. She loves to speak Hebrew to the children and teach in a thriving multicultural preschool. She has a bachelor’s degree in interior design and a minor in Spanish and has been working in a Jewish preschool setting for over twelve years.

  Sheree Meyerowitz
Sheree was born and raised in South Africa. She graduated with her teaching degree from the Johannesburg College of Education. Sheree earned her teaching diploma in classical ballet through the London Royal Academy of Dance and runs her own Dance Academy for young children in the afternoon. In 1996 Sheree, her husband and three children immigrated to San Diego. She has taught preschool in San Diego for 18 years, and is proud to be a part of the Bill and Sid Rubin Preschool for the past 11 years. In her spare time Sheree loves spending time with her four young grandchildren- Chloe, Aaron, Aidan and Jason.

 

Kristina Moore

 

Taylor Norman

Zoe Pianko

  Irina Shamilova
Irina was born in Baku, Azerbaijan (USSR). There she became a nurse and physical therapist working with children. In 1992 she moved to the U.S. with her husband and daughter, Kristina and 5 years later she became an American Citizen. She studied early childhood education and she began working at Beth Israel in 2005. She enjoys photography, especially capturing the special moments throughout a child’s day. If you ask Irina why she loves her job, her answer would be quite simple, “Because I love kids.”

  Jackie Snoyman
Jackie was born and raised in South Africa, earning a teaching degree from the Johannesburg College of Education and working in elementary school education for five years. She and her husband Geoff immigrated to San Diego in 1982 and have two daughters. Jackie attended Mesa College to earn a credential in Early Childhood Education and has been teaching at Beth Israel for the past 20+ years. She enjoys traveling, reading, theater, swimming, yoga and spending time with her precious grandson, Rami! Jackie loves being part of the Beth Israel community and her daughters both attended our day and religious schools.

Lynn Thedell
A life-long resident of San Diego, Lynn loves working with children. Her education background includes a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master’s degree in education. Lynn is happily married. She and Greg are enjoying their 6 year old daughter Mary and 4 year old daughter, Faye. She enjoys watching them learn and grow throughout the school year. She loves reading with children and singing silly songs!

  Paige Turner
Paige is a recent graduate of the University of California, San Diego where she received a B.A. in Human Development and a minor in Education studies. Prior to attending UCSD, she spent several years at community college where she found her passion for for working with children. While at UCSD, she spent as much time as possible getting involved in the community by assisting in classrooms and participating in several research projects focused on issues in early childhood education. She is very excited to be a part of the Beth Israel community and loves getting to know all of the children. Outside of work, Paige enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

  Lori Waizman
Bio to follow.