High School Principal and Upper School Campus Head Lisa Vardi announced she will be leaving JDS at the end of the school year and has accepted the position of Head of School at the Ann & Nate Levine Academy in Dallas beginning July 1, 2026.
Head of School Rabbi Mitch Malkus informed the community via an email announcement sent out on Jan. 7. The change coincides with Malkus’ departure, as he will be stepping down at the end of the year. Vardi’s next school is a non-denominational Jewish pre-K-eighth school.
“It’s a great professional learning opportunity,” Vardi said. “It’s a really wonderful educational opportunity to lead a growing Jewish school in a different part of the country. I think it’s an interesting personal opportunity as well. I think no matter where you are, you need to always grow as an individual.”
During her four and a half years at JDS, Vardi oversaw several structural and cultural changes. She focused on expanding student leadership by shifting responsibility for Kabbalat Shabbat to students, restructuring student government and increasing fellowship opportunities across academics, athletics and wellness.
Vardi also implemented a phone-free policy through the use of Yondr pouches, which she said was intended to promote student interaction and engagement during classes and free time. According to Vardi, these changes were designed to last after she leaves by intentionally distributing leadership among faculty and administrators. Throughout these changes, Vardi said she has been guided by two values: integrity and making a difference.
“The making a difference is really about ensuring that all decision-making is student centered,” Vardi said. “And it’s not like I made the changes. When you’re a leader it’s about the ‘we’. I can help set the vision and the strategy, but the implementation has to go beyond one person.”
Assistant Principal Aileen Goldstein believes that Vardi brought a strong vision to her leadership as principal that elevated the academics and the environment at the high school. According to Goldstein, Vardi worked to create a welcoming and clean physical environment through changes to the Upper School campus, and she also pushed for academic excellence and led grading reforms.
Goldstein sees Vardi as fearless when making necessary but difficult decisions and believes she modeled strong leadership even when her decisions were isolating or unpopular. Above all, Goldstein believes Vardi always emphasized asking questions and encouraged curiosity.
“‘What’s best for students?’” Goldstein said. “That’s the question [Vardi] led with in any meeting, in any conversation, whether it was about operations, teaching and learning, a family meeting, a concern meeting, a discipline situation, you name it. The first question was always ‘What’s best for students?’”
According to Malkus’ email to the community, Vardi’s replacement has not been decided, but further updates will be released soon.
“Anytime there’s change, it can be scary and it’s an opportunity,” Goldstein said. “We are very well positioned to move through this opportunity and to continue to grow. And I think that Dr. Vardi will be very missed, and there’s a lot here that we can capitalize on and see what the next step takes us for. So, scary as change is, I think that we should embrace it.”
This change in leadership will also affect students, as high school students have had Vardi as their principal for their entire high school experience. Vardi was a key figure in shaping the culture and everyday-life of the high school, according to junior Eve Sharp. Sharp said that the initiatives Vardi implemented reflected what she believes the school stands for and said they were beneficial for both students and faculty.
Specifically, Sharp believes that the implementation of Yondr pouches helped revamp school culture and boost engagement between students during free time and in the classroom. Beyond this policy, Sharp appreciated the mindset Vardi brought to the school community.
“I just really appreciate her as a principal because of the tone she carries in our high school,” Sharp said. “I’m very happy for her that she’s becoming the head of school at a different school, but I’m nervous to see if we can have another principal who steps up the same way that she has.”
According to Vardi, being JDS’s high school principal has been an experience full of immense pride and honor. Her time at JDS has deepened her appreciation for Jewish education and Jewish identity, and she views the move as going toward a new opportunity, not leaving something behind.
“It has been a really wonderful professional and personal journey for me these last four and a half years, and I have just been in awe of our faculty and staff,” Vardi said. “They’re terrific. I have been in awe and mesmerized by our students. I describe the culture of this high school as one of intellectual curiosity and engagement. What our students do, and how they’re involved in the life of the school, they’re constantly asking more and more questions in the pursuit of learning and in the pursuit of making things better.”
