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Perelman Hires New Head of School
L OCA L
JARRAD SAFFREN | JE STAFF
DURING HER EIGHT-year
tenure leading the Perelman
Jewish Day School, Judy Groner
presided over a generational
change in the teaching ranks.

Now, the retiring Groner is
handing over school leadership
to the younger generation, too.

When the head of school
retires this summer, Mitchell
Daar, 36, will replace her.

The board of directors
for the pre-K-5 Montgomery
County institution announced
the hiring with a letter to their
community on Jan. 10.

“We are delighted to
announce that we have secured
our first choice for this essen-
tial role,” wrote Nancy Black,
the board president.

Black’s kids, a son and a
daughter, graduated from
Perelman in 2008 and 2013,
respectively. But Black, a Bryn
Mawr resident, remains a
donor to the institution and an
active participant in its affairs.

She stayed involved because
she loved what Perelman did
for her children “during their
formative years,” she said. It
gave them a strong foundation
of Jewish identity and values.

“That school has a warmth
that really shapes who they
are,” Black added.

During the search process,
Black felt that same warmth
and openness from Daar. The
president called the new head
of school dynamic, engaging,
thoughtful and analytical.

“You need someone who
can bring people together,”
Black said.

Daar may seem capable of
bringing people together, but
he has not yet done it as a head
of school. When he starts his
new role on July 1, he will take
over as a building leader for
the first time in his career as a
Jewish educator.

But Daar feels ready for it,
he said.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Mitchell Daar 
He’s the director of employ-
ment and strategy for the
Rodeph Sholom School, a
nursery-eighth grade institu-
tion on New York City’s Upper
West Side. Daar has held that
role for three years, serving
more than 400 students.

Before that, he was the
associate head of the middle
school at the Abraham Joshua
Heschel School, also on the
Upper West Side.

Before relocating to New
York, Daar spent more than
10 years at his alma mater
in Chicago: the Bernard Zell
Anshe Emet Day School. He
was a math teacher before
moving to a variety of adminis-
trative roles, including director
of educational operations and
high school counseling.

Daar also earned an MBA
to supplement his educational
experience with business
acumen. Both experiences
molded him into an educator
who could run an institution,
he said.

“At my core, I’m an educator,”
Daar continued. “But I have the
understanding of how systems
work; how to create change in
an organization.”
Daar grew to believe he
was ready to run a school
during his current role at
its new head.

“Everyone that’s a part of
Perelman praises it, and it’s
near and dear to their heart,”
Daar said.

After he
announced his decision to his Rodeph
community, he had multiple
parents reach out to him about
his new school.

“To say they went to
Perelman, and it’s such an
amazing school,” Daar recalled.

In the summer, Daar is
marrying his fiancee, Gillian
Miller-Lewis, and moving to
the Philadelphia area. Then he’s
going to start figuring out how
to build on Groner’s progress.

“I’m most excited to just
Courtesy of Mitchell Daar play a strong part in such a
strong community,” he said.

Rodeph Sholom.

But perhaps
more “I’m so humbled by this role.” l
Part of his job is making than anything, like Black
sure enrollment is healthy, and described, it was the school’s jsaffren@jewishexponent.com;
he has launched rebranding sense of community that sold 215-832-0740
and marketing efforts to make
the school more “accessible to
families that are a fit for our
community,” he said. One such
group is families who have been
in public school education.

“We need to remove the idea
that Jewish education is only
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for incredibly affluent Jewish
families,” Daar said. “We need
to make it for anyone who
wants to be a part of it.”
Custom designs, color options and
Daar was ready to imple-
free alterations available
ment that approach as a head
of school even before he got
Evening Gowns
the Perelman job. Through a
Suits/Separates recruiting firm, DRG Search,
he interviewed for a different
Cocktail Dresses
principal job but didn’t get it.

That same firm, though, led
Perelman’s search and reached
out to Daar last summer. As
61 Buck Road
Daar started researching the
Philadelphia-area school and
Huntingdon Valley,
interviewing for the role, he
PA 19006
began to get excited.

With its use of technology
www.elanaboutique.com and experimental classrooms,
(215)953-8820 Perelman had “a culture of
innovation,” as Daar described
it. He also liked how Perelman
Make an appointment today!
melded Jewish identity and the
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Hebrew language with secular
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subjects like math.

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JEWISH EXPONENT
JANUARY 20, 2022
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