Temple Beth Israel Welcomes New Nursery School Director

Submitted by Temple Beth Israel

Temple Beth Israel of Port Washington is honored to welcome Allison Okun to the TBI family to oversee its Nursery School program. Currently in its fortieth year, TBI Nursery School has been attracting young families from Port and neighboring communities who are seeking a warm, nurturing environment for their child’s first introduction to school as well as early exposure to Jewish tradition and values.

Allison brings with her vast experiences in early childhood programming, primary Jewish education and kindergarten readiness. As former Director of Early Childhood Education at Sid Jacobson JCC in East Hills, she is looking forward to cultivating the best of different teaching approaches and curricula to meet each child’s individual needs and learning style while reinforcing the school’s core philosophy of creating a warm and safe, nurturing environment. Allison sees an opportunity to integrate some of the best practices from a larger scale organization into TBI’s more intimate setting to create an ideal atmosphere that fosters individual growth and builds self-esteem.

“Our educational philosophy is to educate the whole child socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually in an exciting, warm, safe and caring environment. I look forward to incorporating principles of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) into regular classroom activities and introducing interactive technology where appropriate. The new outdoor classroom also opens up so many opportunities for fun and experiential learning,” said Okun.

Allison brings to TBI an impressive list of credentials. For the past nine years, she has been at the Early Childhood Center at the Sid Jacobson JCC, serving as Assistant Director and most recently as Director. Prior to that, Allison held several different educational and leadership roles at the highly regarded P.S. 6 on the Upper East Side of New York City. Allison is a graduate of Brandeis University (B.A.), and she earned her Masters Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education at the Bank Street College of Education. Allison and her husband Neil live in Jericho and are the proud parents of two sons, Harrison, 13, and Drew, 10.

TBI Nursery School currently is licensed by the NYS Office of Child and Family Services and participates in the Universal Pre-K (“UPK”) program under the authorization of the Port Washington School District. Any child who resides in the Port school district and who is four years of age on or before December 1st or otherwise eligible to attend kindergarten the following year is eligible to participate in the UPK program. A child eligible for UPK may be entered in a lottery administered by the Port school district; if selected in this lottery, a portion of the child’s tuition is subsidized by New York State.

TBI’s preschool programs begin with “Special Person and Me” and go through Pre-K. If you are interested in learning more about TBI, you can call 516-767-1708 x7 or email tbinursery@tbiport.org . Registration for Fall 2015 begins in October.