Community Day School Announces 2023-2024 Board of Trustees

July 19, 2023 – Sarasota

Hershorin Schiff Community Day School – a Jewish day school that serves children of all faiths in preschool through eighth grade – has announced its 2023-2024 board of trustees, which is charged with safeguarding and upholding the mission of the school and supporting the educational experience for its more than 300 students. President of the Board is Rachel Saltzberg, Vice President is Barbara Rodkin, Melissa Walsh is Treasurer, and Robert Landman is Secretary. 

New to the board this year are Colleen Blumenthal, MAI, Benjamin Edelman, Nikhil “Nik” Joshi, Esq. and (returning member) Dr. Wendy Katz. They join continuing trustees Lori Dorman, Esq., Gregory Farrington, Ph.D., Lillian Lincoln Lambert, Rabbi Michael Shefrin, Rick Siegel and Fred Starling. Richard Hershorin is a Lifetime Member; with the recent and untimely death of former board President Mitch Blumenthal, the board granted him Lifetime Member status posthumously.

In the wake of Blumenthal’s passing, longtime CDS leader Rachel Saltzberg has returned to the role of President of the Board. Saltzberg is the proud parent of three Community Day School graduates  – she has been involved with the school since arriving in Sarasota in 2004 with her husband and newborn daughter. Saltzberg graduated from McGill University with a degree in Industrial Relations, received her Graduate Gemology Certificate from the Gemological Institute of America, and her Master of Business Administration from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College. She has served the school in many capacities, professional and volunteer.

Colleen Blumenthal, MAI, who has been appraising real estate and consulting owners and investors for over 30 years, specializing in seniors housing and healthcare since 1992. In addition to her duties as Chief Operating Officer of HealthTrust, she has served as the task force lead on the American Seniors Housing Association’s State of Seniors Housing for the last 15 years and is a member of ULI’s Senior Housing Council. She, her late husband, Mitch, and the Blumenthal family have long been involved with the school as leaders and philanthropists.

Benjamin Edelman is a newscast producer at WWSB ABC7 News in Sarasota, where he produces the 5 p.m. show. He’s a Sarasota native who graduated from Community Day School in 2011; he earned his Bachelor of Science in Motion Pictures from the University of Miami in 2019. In 2020, he directed the horror/comedy feature film “Santastein,” which is currently gearing up for a 2023 festival run. Edelman can also be seen on ABC7’s morning lifestyle show, “Suncoast View,” every month for his movie review segments.

Nikhil “Nik” Joshi, Esq. is a Florida Bar, Board Certified as a specialist in Labor and Employment Law. Practicing since 1997, he has over two decades of experience representing employers and business owners, and takes pride in providing thoughtful, pragmatic advice and counsel to his clients. A native Floridian and proud alum of the University of Florida “Gator Nation,” he is active in many different community groups and charitable organizations.

Returning to the board is Dr. Wendy Katz, B.S., M.A., ED.S, Ed.D. For more than 40 years, Katz has served as a teacher, principal, mentor and administrator at the K-12 level in the public school system in Sarasota County as well as serving as a consultant to multiple independent schools from pre-K-12. She has been a visionary leader at Community Day School, serving for a time as interim director and continuing in recent years as a valued resource as the school has evolved and grown. In 2019, Katz was recognized with the CDS Goldie Feldman Award; proceeds from the event seeded the Wendy J. Katz Scholarship Fund, which assists deserving students who embody the qualities of non-traditional learners.

The board of trustees at Community Day School are responsible for setting policy, long-range planning, and financial management. Board members share a passionate commitment and dedication to the school’s mission and support the school with their time, experience, vision and resources. Current members of the board of trustees come from across the community and represent a diverse array of faiths and perspectives. Trustees have expertise and experience in education, law, business, finance, marketing, and development.

“The vision and leadership of the current board will be critical as we strategically shift our focus from moving to and upgrading our school campus to onboarding our new Middle School Director and strengthening our middle school program, expanding our Blumenthal Passport to Israel program – which includes the post-pandemic relaunch of our Israel student exchange initiatives, and intensifying our project-based learning curriculum, among other efforts,” said Head of School Dan Ceaser. “We are grateful to our continuing board members, welcome our new leaders, and are looking forward to an exciting and successful 2023-2024 school year.”

For more about Community Day School, visit communityday.org or call 941-552-2770.