Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville has named Dr. Jonathan Levy as its next head of school.
“I am honored to join one of the finest JK–12 Jewish day schools in the world,” Levy said in a press release. “CESJDS has long exemplified excellence in Jewish and general education. I look forward to collaborating with its outstanding faculty, leadership, and families to ensure students are inspired, supported, and prepared to lead meaningful and impactful lives.”
Levy is set to start on July 1, 2026, following the departure of current Head of School Rabbi Mitchel Malkus, who has served the school for 13 years.
“Through each stage of the [search] process, Dr. Levy rose to the top, and it became clear to us that he was the right candidate for our next head of school at JDS,” Stacy Schlactus, president of the CESJDS board of directors, told Washington Jewish Week.
Levy started his career after receiving a bachelor’s degree in history from Concordia University in Montreal, his master’s in social work from Yeshiva University in New York and finally a Ph.D. from McGill University, also in Montreal.
“I actually wasn’t sure it’s what I wanted to do when I got into teaching school and social work school,” Levy explained in an interview with Washington Jewish Week. “I ended up starting my career as a school counselor in Montreal, and I was actually in a position that I could go into the broadest range of Jewish schools, from the most observant to the most secular, but I was welcome in every school, and I loved the fact that I could meet and talk to and spend time with everyone in the Jewish community.”
Although Levy was born in the United States, at a young age his family moved to Montreal when his father became a professor at McGill.
“What’s interesting is that my mother was a teacher and a principal and a head of school, and my father, professor of Bible and a teacher. My in-laws were teachers. My brother is a teacher,” Levy said. “It’s the family business.”
After being invited to serve on the administrative team at a school in Montreal, Levy was asked to become principal of a school in Toronto.
“I jumped on that opportunity, and then to be a head of school, where I could really start to think big picture about things,” he said. “I’ve never looked back from that path, but I’d say it started from a place of being able to serve and get to know the broadest range of Jews in the community.”
Levy has spent the past 17 years in leadership positions at TanenbaumCHAT in Toronto, which is North America’s largest Jewish community high school. He has served as head of school since 2017 and as high school principal for eight years prior.
Levy said the logical next step for his career is his new role at CESJDS. “I’ve done the elementary school side, I’ve done the high school side, and this is the opportunity to bring it all together … in what I believe is a very, very special place.”
Schlactus added that she feels confident and excited for what the new head of school will bring to CESJDS.
“I’m just super excited, because I sit in this seat now as a board chair, as an alumna, as a parent, and I just could not be more proud of what the successful search says about JDS in this moment,” said Schlactus. “[CESJDS’s] legacy is not only what enabled us to attract such an exceptional leader as Dr. Levy, but it also honors this moment, and it honors the generations who built our school, and I think it reflects the strength, the unity and the purpose of our community in this moment, as we look toward the future.”
Levy said his goals for the start of the 2026-27 school year are to ensure a smooth transition for the students and staff. “It’s an important school, it’s a special place, and I want to build on what’s there.”
“I want to listen and I want to learn,” he added. “I want to hear from and meet students. I want to meet parents. I’ve heard wonderful things about the faculty and staff, and I want to have a chance to meet them. I want to learn about how the school operates and see firsthand the excellence that I’ve heard so much about. I want to understand the strengths of the school, what it wants to be [and] the opportunities that are there.”
