The Orchard Academy takes great pride in our leadership team who all have tremendous experience in the field of education. To contact anyone on this page, click here.

Josh Greenbaum has spent his entire career holding various roles in the non-profit and educational worlds. After studying at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, Josh began his career at a private residential boarding school for students with disabilities, working in classrooms and spending time in the behavioral services department. In 2008, Josh left to accept a position at Temple Har Shalom as Vice Principal of the Religious School where he helped manage over 400 students in kindergarten through twelfth grades. In that role, Josh developed curriculum, managed over 30 teachers and helped to run administrative aspects of the school. In 2013, Josh accepted a promotion to the role of Program Director and began directing aspects of the organization’s messaging and communications, creating and implementing global goals and objectives and executing large-scale projects including programmatic, educational and fundraising strategies. 

In January 2015, Josh help found, open and direct The Orchard Academy at Camp Harmony, growing the preschool from its original 5 students to over 125 when acquired in spring of 2019 by Temple Har Shalom and becoming the present-day TOA@MTS.  Through that experience, as well as his over 20 years as an administrator and director at the since-closed Camp Harmony day camp, Josh has becomes a staunch believer in the power of children, dynamic teams, open communication, and constructive conversations, all to help schools and organizations continually meet their potentials.

Josh lives around the corner in Warren with his wife Elyse (a licensed clinical school social worker), their daughters Shiloh and Ayla (both students at TOA@MTS) and their golden retriever Juno.  They enjoy traveling, neighborhood foodie finds and skiing, with Josh still maintaining his PSIA ski instructor certification after teaching for over a decade.

Nicole Griffith grew up in neighboring Watchung, New Jersey and has been working with children for her entire life.  Throughout her time as student at Watchung Hills Regional High School and later at The University of Delaware, Nicole spent her vacations and winter sessions working as a teachers’ assistant in various classrooms of a private school for children with behavioral disabilities. After graduating UD with a degree in psychology, she began her full-time educational career as a head teacher at a bilingual preschool in New Brunswick, NJ. 

Nicole went on to teach elementary special education for twelve years at that same private residential school where she began her experiences.  While there, she earned her NJ Special Education Teaching Certification from Rutgers University and later her Orton-Gillingham Teaching Certificate from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  With those experiences under her belt, Nicole began worked as a one-on-one reading specialist, helping students with severe learning disabilities through a multisensory, language-based approach.  All the while, Nicole spent quite literally her entire life at Camp Harmony, her family’s since-closed day camp, working as everything from group counselor to director, with more than 15 years in its administration.  After more than a dozen years in education, Nicole took on the responsibility of starting a family and with her husband Jack (who she met at Camp) continues to raise three wonderful boys. 

In 2012, Nicole restarted her career in elementary education as an in-class resource special education teacher in the Scotch-Plains/Fanwood school district before leaving to help found and direct The Orchard Academy at Camp Harmony, later becoming the now-named TOA@MTS upon its acquisition by Temple Har Shalom in Spring 2019.

After over eight years as a Classroom Educator, Math & Literacy Specialist, and Curriculum Coordinator at The Orchard Academy, Alison is looking forward to supporting our amazing teachers with inventiveness and experience. As the Assistant Director, Alison is motivated and energized to work closely with the staff as a resource to infuse creativity and uniqueness of lessons and to capitalize on teachable moments.

While focusing her field study on developmental psychology and working as a full-time assistant manager in retail sales, Alison graduated from Rutgers University in 2004 with a BA degree in Psychology.

Following graduation, she began working at The Sundance School for over 10 years as a preschool Group Leader where she maintained a strong parent/teacher partnership in order to develop and implement educational strategies tailored towards individual students’ needs. Creating a productive, hands-on, age-appropriate, play-based learning environment for young children and introducing them to a group environment is of Alison’s utmost significance, all while aiding in their comfort and safety as part of a community.

While still a student, she enjoyed working as a summer counselor for both Rutgers Boys Soccer Camp and Edison Township Recreational Soccer Camp. More recently, Alison succeeded as an assistant varsity and head junior varsity/freshman girls volleyball coach for the Edison Township Board of Education.

She loves to travel internationally and enjoy everything including the mountains, the lakes, and the shores of the northeast with friends and family. Alison resides in Metuchen with her husband of 15 years, Patrick, who has 25+ years as an AP English teacher and is a three-season varsity coach.