Ben Shifrin

Background

About Ben Shifrin

Ben Shifrin is beginning his 19th year as head of Jemicy School in Owings Mills, Maryland. Prior to coming to the Jemicy School, Mr. Shifrin lived and worked in California and spent 14 years serving as a special education administrator in the Unified School District of Los Angeles. He later served as the head of Westmark School, one of California’s premier institutions for students with learning differences. During this time he also served as a board member of the L.A. Chapter of the International Dyslexia Association and a member of the Learning Disabilities Association and the National Association of Independent Schools. Ben moved to Baltimore to become head of Jemicy School in 2002, and shortly after, facilitated a merger with Valley Academy helping to successfully create Baltimore’s first 1st through 12th-grade progran for students with language-based learning differences. In 2009, Ben was appointed to the Executive Board of Directors for the International Dyslexia Association(IDA), served in the positions, and vice president. In 2013, he was selected to serve on the Advisory Committee on Exceptional Children, which advises the U.S. State Department’s Office of Overseas Schools - helping families and educators in the identification and nurturing of children with both learning challenges and giftedness. In the summer of 2014, Ben accepted an invitation from Stevenson University to join the President’s Advisory Council. In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of the American Visionary Art Museum, in Baltimore. Ben graduated with honors from Temple University, where he earned both a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a Masters of Education in Administration.