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Special Education 59
pretty amazing when you think about it.”
The changes are huge, continues Dr. Weisbord. “It’s clear that
the community owes Marjorie Shulbank a tremendous debt for
pushing us into the 21st century, for pushing us to confront the
issue and not letting parents or educators look away. She let us
know that it’s something we can all deal with, and helped us re-
alize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu made different styles of learning
and growing and accomplishing – and all of them are legit and
important.”
A Completely Different World
Martha Goodman, coordinator of the Maryland Special Needs
Advocacy Project (MDSNAP), a project of the CJE (Center for
Jewish Education) that provides special education advocacy to
families in the Baltimore Jewish community, has been working
with Ms. Shulbank on both a personal and a professional level
for the past 13 years. “When I started working at the CJE,” she
says, “most parents didn’t access the services available through
the public schools. It was a catch-22 – because they didn’t use
them, they weren’t good, and because they weren’t good, they
didn’t use them. Through Marjorie’s efforts and our efforts, it’s
a completely different world.”
Knowing that her efforts have borne fruit, Ms. Shulbank
retired this spring, after over 40 years of working for the De-
partment of Education. “She’s touched so many people in the
community, it’s amazing,” says Mrs. Goodman.
“I took the ball and ran with it – it wouldn’t let me go,” Ms.
Shulbank claims, deflecting the praise. “I was tickled to death to
see all the growth in the community.”
When asked what pushed her to work so hard on behalf of
the Orthodox community – which she admires but freely admits
she isn’t a part of – Ms. Shulbank comments, “I truly, honestly
believe that Hashem made me do it. I can’t think of any other
reason. It started in small steps, but every time there was a lull
and I thought I was done, someone would call and re-energize
me all over again. And then, when the PEN Project took off the
way it did, I was the most astonished of anyone! Sometimes it’s
all about taking a leap of faith....”
And what about the baby girl with Down syndrome whose
birth started this process 25 years ago? Today she works in the
frum community, a fully functioning member of society, just as
Ms. Shulbank promised her mother she would all those years
ago.u
The PEN Project continues to play an active role in Balti-
more’s frum community. To learn more about it or to re-
fer a child to the project, contact the PEN Project liaison,
Cathy Jurist, at 410-767-0951 or cathy.jurist@maryland.
gov.
For more information about MDSNAP, see www.cjeb-
altimore.org/mdsnap. For information about SHEMESH or
to reach Dr. Weisbord, see www.shemeshbaltimore.org.
u 410 358 8509 u
pretty amazing when you think about it.”
The changes are huge, continues Dr. Weisbord. “It’s clear that
the community owes Marjorie Shulbank a tremendous debt for
pushing us into the 21st century, for pushing us to confront the
issue and not letting parents or educators look away. She let us
know that it’s something we can all deal with, and helped us re-
alize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu made different styles of learning
and growing and accomplishing – and all of them are legit and
important.”
A Completely Different World
Martha Goodman, coordinator of the Maryland Special Needs
Advocacy Project (MDSNAP), a project of the CJE (Center for
Jewish Education) that provides special education advocacy to
families in the Baltimore Jewish community, has been working
with Ms. Shulbank on both a personal and a professional level
for the past 13 years. “When I started working at the CJE,” she
says, “most parents didn’t access the services available through
the public schools. It was a catch-22 – because they didn’t use
them, they weren’t good, and because they weren’t good, they
didn’t use them. Through Marjorie’s efforts and our efforts, it’s
a completely different world.”
Knowing that her efforts have borne fruit, Ms. Shulbank
retired this spring, after over 40 years of working for the De-
partment of Education. “She’s touched so many people in the
community, it’s amazing,” says Mrs. Goodman.
“I took the ball and ran with it – it wouldn’t let me go,” Ms.
Shulbank claims, deflecting the praise. “I was tickled to death to
see all the growth in the community.”
When asked what pushed her to work so hard on behalf of
the Orthodox community – which she admires but freely admits
she isn’t a part of – Ms. Shulbank comments, “I truly, honestly
believe that Hashem made me do it. I can’t think of any other
reason. It started in small steps, but every time there was a lull
and I thought I was done, someone would call and re-energize
me all over again. And then, when the PEN Project took off the
way it did, I was the most astonished of anyone! Sometimes it’s
all about taking a leap of faith....”
And what about the baby girl with Down syndrome whose
birth started this process 25 years ago? Today she works in the
frum community, a fully functioning member of society, just as
Ms. Shulbank promised her mother she would all those years
ago.u
The PEN Project continues to play an active role in Balti-
more’s frum community. To learn more about it or to re-
fer a child to the project, contact the PEN Project liaison,
Cathy Jurist, at 410-767-0951 or cathy.jurist@maryland.
gov.
For more information about MDSNAP, see www.cjeb-
altimore.org/mdsnap. For information about SHEMESH or
to reach Dr. Weisbord, see www.shemeshbaltimore.org.
u 410 358 8509 u
