Our Staff
Executive Director, Sheila Feldman
Sheila Feldman joined Adat Shalom in 1993 and quickly became one of our most
active members. Her volunteer work for the congregation has included serving as High Holiday Coordinator, Newsletter Editor, and Co-Chair of the
Community Life Committee (a Board position). In November 1999, Sheila accepted a full-time, salaried position as our
first executive director.
She remains in that position and has become a member of the National Association of Temple
Administrators (NATA).
Sheila honed her administrative skills while holding executive positions at the National Naval Medical Center and the
National Institutes of Health.
She has long been active in the Parent Encouragement Program (PEP) and continues to
serve that organization as a certified parent educator, leading
parenting workshops and giving talks in the larger community. She finds that her work in PEP and in Adat Shalom complement each other nicely, and
she remains strongly dedicated to both organizations. She and her husband, Bill Blackburn, live in Silver Spring. They have
six grown children and two grandchildren from previous marriages.
Interim Director of Education and
Youth, Peggy Ephrath
Peggy Ephrath, our Interim Education Director, has over 15 years of education leadership experience in both formal and informal settings, as well as 25 years of management experience in the communications industry. She earned her B.S. in Management from the University of Alabama and a Masters in Education and Human Development from the George Washington University.
The tenets of her educational philosophy are:
- The Teacher-Student
Relationship is perhaps the single most important factor
contributing to the student’s readiness to participate and learn, and
best forged by the organization and classroom management skills of the
Teacher.
“I have come to a frightening conclusion. I am the decisive element in the classroom. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous.” Haim Ginott
- The most effective learning is enjoyable and accomplished via Integration of Informal and Formal Learning Activities.
- Differentiation in the Classroom is
imperative as our students learn in different ways.
- Experiential Learning is effective
education.
“Education is a social process. Education is
growth. Education is not a preparation for life; education is life
itself.” John Dewey
- The educator is obligated to instruct our students in
basic moral values, particularly Tikkun Olam. What is the value
of knowing Jewish History, Bible, T’fillah and Hebrew if we are not
prepared to alter the world for the better?
Peggy “adores Adat Shalom” and looks forward to maintaining all that is good with the Torah School, implementing changes to the Hebrew School as recommended by the Torah School Board, expanding the High School education program, and further meeting the requirements of our special-needs students.
“In the end, education has to do with fashioning certain kinds of individuals…I crave human beings who understand the world, who gain sustenance from such understanding, and who want – ardently, perennially – to alter it for the better.” Howard Gardner