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Our goal is simple: create a safe and nurturing learning community where our students learn to impact our world as compassionate scholars and global citizens. Our pluralistic Jewish day school celebrates diversity through an inclusive curriculum that welcomes and honors families of all faiths and backgrounds.

- Dan Ceaser, Head of School

 

Dan Ceaser,

Head of School

Dan Ceaser is a nationally recognized school leader with over twenty five years of administrative leadership experience. He is a graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and the Fisher School Leadership Institute at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Dan also holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from American University and a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College. In addition, Dan has taught at the University of South Florida School of Education and has served as a Board Member on the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Principal Center Advisory Board, the Harvard Alumni Council and has worked to create professional development offerings for outstanding school leaders around the world.

Before being appointed the first Head of School at Community Day School, Dan served as Middle School Director at Kentucky Country Day School, a coeducational JK–12 independent school in Louisville. There, he helped shape the middle school into a national model for 21st-century innovation while maintaining close daily connections with students and families. He worked with teachers and parents to build a program recognized for combining academic rigor with strong social-emotional support.

Previously, Dan was the Executive Director and Founder of KIPP Tech Valley Charter School, the highest-performing public middle school in Albany, New York. Highlights of his tenure include designing and leading a successful student recruitment process that resulted in full enrollment and waitlists, and establishing public-private partnerships that secured philanthropic support for the school’s growth. He has also guest-lectured at The State University of New York, Siena College, and Bennington College, and presented case studies to graduate students at Harvard University. Earlier in his career, Dan chaired Teach For America’s Corps Member Advisory Council in Washington, DC, served on the inaugural Washington Post Teacher Advisory Board, and contributed curriculum to the Anti-Defamation League and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Dan and his wife Katherine, a Sarasota native, are the proud parents of three CDS graduates and share their home with a devoted dog and a decidedly grumpy cat.