Familiar Faces, New Roles: Saddle River Day School Welcomes 2019-2020 School Year with a New Administrative Team

The 2019-2020 school year is off to a great start, boasting a record enrollment that is the highest it has been in the last 10 years. New student orientations in the Lower and Middle School divisions took place on Tuesday, September 3rd, and the 7th and 8th grades took a trip to Downtown Sports for a fun-filled day off campus on Wednesday. The Student Council organized a BBQ for all new students in the Upper School, and grades 10-12 took field trips to High Exposure, Liberty State Park, and the Bronx Zoo. The freshmen class embarked on an overnight trip to Hands In 4 Youth in West Milford, NJ. On campus, opening day began with a festive outside “Welcome Back” reception for parents and guardians, hosted by the Parents Guild. The excitement for a new year, filled with promise, can be felt everywhere on campus!

As the new year begins, SRDS also welcomes a new team of Administrators, many of whom have been at the school for years, but are assuming new responsibilities. As previously announced, Mr. Jalaj Desai will serve as the Associate Head of School and will assume the role of Interim Head of School for the 2019-2020 school year. His leadership and enthusiasm has already established a presence in the SRDS community.

Tony Maccarella will serve as the Interim Head of Upper School. Dana Stern will now assume the role as Middle School Head in addition to her Lower School responsibilities, along with Christine Lebovits, serving as the Assistant Head. Deirdre Angrick will assume the responsibilities of Academic Dean.

Danny Brown will continue his role as Athletic Director, assisted by Anthony Gallo, but will add Director of Outreach to his responsibilities. Geoff Bowman begins his second year as the Director of Admissions.

Laura Hollis continues in her role of Technology Director and Karen Ferretti as Director of College Counseling. Robert Finkel continues in his role as Chief Financial Officer and Gretchen Lee will continue as the Director of Communications. 

New to the team is Tanya Hodges who will serve as the Director of Marketing & Strategic Initiatives.

Jalaj Desai says, “The new administrative team brings so much passion and experience to SRDS! I am excited to be working with each of them in their administrative roles and look forward to building on the energy that we have already experienced early on to bring about positive change and innovation to our program and our school.”