School Leadership

Dr. Deborah Skolnick-Einhorn joined Milton as Head of School in July 2020. She was unanimously chosen as our third Head of School, following the enthusiastic recommendation of the Board-appointed Search Committee.

Deborah previously served as Associate Dean of Hebrew College’s School of Jewish Education, where she worked from 2002 to 2020. In that role, Deborah ran and taught in graduate programs training Jewish educators, with an emphasis on mentoring teachers, administrators and teacher leaders. Prior to Hebrew College, Deborah served as Assistant Director at the University of Maryland Hillel. Over the years, she has taught students at nearly every grade level from K through 12. A graduate of Tufts University, Deborah earned an M.A. in Modern Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in American Jewish Life from Brandeis University. Deborah is the recipient of Brandeis University’s Excellence in Teaching Prize and was named Indiana University’s Inaugural Women and Philanthropy Fellow. In 2022, she received Hebrew College’s Shevach Award for Distinguished Achievement in Jewish Educational Leadership.

Alongside her professional work in Jewish education, Deborah has been active in pluralistic Jewish communal lay leadership, serving on the boards of Tufts Hillel and Camp Yavneh and as past chair of the Jewish Women’s Fund of Rhode Island and the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island. Deborah is currently a member of the 12th cohort of the Day School Leadership Training Institute, a fellowship for new Heads of School.

Deborah is married to a native Washingtonian (Marshall Einhorn) and they live with their three children in Washington, DC.

Melissa Davis has been at Milton since 2011. She received a BFA in Theatre Education from the University of Arizona and an MS in Education from Johns Hopkins University in School Counseling. Her first teaching position was as a middle school Language Arts and Drama teacher in Northern California, during which time she received a subject matter competency in Secondary Language Arts. After moving to Maryland with her husband, Melissa taught Theater at a high school in Howard County.

Melissa took a “sabbatical” when her two sons were born, returning to teaching in 2007. She fell in love with Early Childhood, and taught for three years at the Ohr Kodesh Early Childhood Center, including two years as Assistant Director. She also worked for four summers as the Site Director of ESF Camps at Georgetown Prep. In the summer of 2014, Melissa completed a 15-month intensive leadership development program, JECELI (Jewish Early Childhood Education Leadership Institute). She has also worked at Capital Camps as a Yoetzet (Social Worker).

Melissa was born in Philadelphia and grew up in New Jersey and Southern California.

Lisa Schopf was named Milton’s founding Middle School Director in February 2016. Lisa has over a decade of independent school experience as a teacher, teacher mentor, and school leader. Lisa has been an educator at Milton since 2006, first as a General Studies teacher for Grade 5, and most recently as the Math and Social Studies teacher for Grade 6.

Lisa recently completed a nationally recognized program, “YOU Lead,” a Yeshiva University-School Partnership program designed to develop and advance emerging leaders in Jewish education. She has also completed the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s program, Improving Schools: The Art of Leadership; is an AviChai Fellow focusing on specific elements in our school that can inspire understanding and connection within Judaism; and has served as the Co-Chair of the Association of Independent Maryland and DC School reaccreditation for Milton. In addition, Lisa has been serving the Milton community as a teacher mentor since 2013, through a national mentoring program, the Jewish New Teacher Project.

Previously, Lisa taught Grade 7 at the Booker T. Washington Middle School in Morningside Heights in New York City. She also worked in program development for Middle and High School students through The Constitution Works. Lisa also developed lesson guides for educators to accompany literary selections for elementary and middle school students through her work for educational magazine Baba Ganewz. In addition to her impact as an educator and mentor, she also contributes to the field of education by regularly authoring articles about best practices in education for academic journals.

Lisa received an M.A. in History from the University of Maryland at College Park. She earned her undergraduate degree from Barnard College of Columbia University, graduating summa cum laude in History and Education. While at Barnard, she earned her education certificate for Grades 7 – 12. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society, and the recipient of numerous academic honors including a Senior Fellowship; the Eugene H. Byrne History Prize; the Mary Thomas Elliot Prize for Outstanding Academic Record, Integrity and Citizenship; and the George Wellwood Murray Fellowship for Graduate Study in Humanities and/or Social Studies. Lisa grew up in Long Island, NY, where she attended the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway through high school.

As Director of Student Support Services, Alexis Herschthal works to integrate and manage Milton’s learning support and counseling services for all students who need academic and social-emotional support.

Born and raised in the Washington, DC, area, Alexis Herschthal attended local Jewish day schools through middle school. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and interned at a local public elementary school with at-risk kids while she was there. This troubled school and its wonderful students had a powerful impact, solidifying Alexis’ love of working with children and inspiring her to pursue a career in counseling.

Alexis received a Master of Social Work degree from Catholic University. As a graduate student, she worked at special needs schools in the area. Following the completion of her MSW, she continued working in special education as the lower school counselor at Kingsbury Day School, where she became licensed as a clinical social worker and remained until she was offered the opportunity to come to Milton in 2010. In 2015, Alexis joined the Sibley Group, a private practice in DC, where she works part-time as a child therapist.

Rabbi Scott Slarskey was ordained through the Ziegler School of Rabbinical Studies and graduated from Clark University with majors in Philosophy and Ancient Civilization plus a minor in World Religions.  He has taught in state parks, juvenile detention centers, summer camps, synagogue supplemental schools, and college settings.  Since ordination Scott has served as Jewish Educator at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, as the Upper School Religious Leader and Upper School Principal of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston, as the Director of Jewish Life and Middle School Coordinator at St. Louis’s Saul Mirowitz Jewish Community School.  For the last ten years he has also served as a collaborative member of the Kol HaOt educational and mentoring team, supporting Jewish Day School professionals around the country in enhancing the creativity and efficacy of their educational practices by centering students’ processes of inquiry and leveraging the power of the visual arts to enhance student voice.

“Reb Scott” is committed to an educational practice that centers both learning and teaching.  He is a graduate of many professional development programs, including the JTS Jewish Day School Standards and Benchmarks Program, the Legacy Heritage Teacher Institute for Technology, the iCenter’s iNfuse program, Unpacked’s UED Collaborative, the Pardes Jewish Educators Summer Workshop, and the Day School Leadership Training Institute.  He is also the recipient of the St Louis Federation’s most prestigious professional award, “Visionary Award” recognizing high-impact Jewish leadership within the local community.

Reb Scott is married to Rabbi Tracy Nathan, abba to an AU student, and beloved human of a goofy “doodle” dog named Arlo.  He enjoys playing banjo, fishing, gardening, printing t-shirts, and crocheting.

Vinita joined the Milton family in July, 2022. A native of Atlanta, GA, she has mostly lived in the DC region since 1999. She attended Georgetown University undergrad, including a year abroad in Strasbourg, France and received a BA in Government and French and a minor in Spanish. She worked with the non-profit Community Family Life Services in DC for several years before attending Harvard’s Graduate School of Education where she received an MA in School Leadership. Following her graduate program, she served as the Math Program Coordinator for the organization For Love of Children before she moved to Georgetown Day School in 2007. During her time at GDS, she was responsible for everything from the auxiliary programs to enterprise risk management and took on various strategic projects for the school. After 15 years at GDS, Vinita is excited to join Milton and is charged with refining or initiating various systems and processes to improve experiences for teachers and outcomes for students. Vinita identifies as a hinjew (half South Asian and half Jewish – with origins in South Africa) and lives with her wife and daughter, as well as two cats, two dogs, and a number of chickens, in Silver Spring.

Adam Broms joined Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School as Chief Business Officer in January 2020. Adam came to us from Capital Camps and Retreat Center, where he worked for nine years, the last three as Camp Director. Prior to Capital Camps, Adam worked in Human Resources at Hillel International. He holds a Bachelors and a Masters of Business Administration from the George Washington University. Adam is a member of the Inclusion Committee of the Federation of Greater Washington and previously served as a member of the Leadership Committee of DC Minyan.

Miri Ploff joined Milton (then JPDS-NC) in 2001. She taught at the school for 12 years before becoming the Director of Administration in 2013. In 2019, Miri became Director of Human Resources & Administration. Miri received her undergraduate degree from Penn State University and completed her student teaching in the United Kingdom. She was born in Larchmont, New York, and spent several of her formative years in Tokyo, Japan.

Leigh Gilman earned a B.A. in Classics (Emory) and an M.A., also in Classics (The Ohio State University). She taught Latin for 30 years, coming to Milton directly after a 22-year career at Sidwell Friends School, where in addition to teaching, she spent time serving on the Admissions Committee.  Leigh has two children in college who began their education at JPDS. She is looking forward to deepening her relationship with the school and is excited to join the staff at Milton in a role that will allow her to introduce and welcome families to a community and academic program that has had an enduring and positive impact on her own family.

Lindsey Marks grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC where she attended The Holton-Arms School for ten years. She went to college at Brandeis University where she double majored in psychology and sociology. Through high school and college Lindsey worked with children of all ages and knew that she wanted to pursue this passion in her career. In 2006, she moved back to Washington, DC to pursue a Master’s Degree in Education at American University and at the same time, she began teaching at JPDS. (Now MILTON)

This will be her 19th year at MILTON! After serving as the teacher representative on the Admission Committee in 2014, Lindsey decided to bring her teaching experience and knowledge of the school to the Admission Office. She enjoys the administrative side of the work while still maintaining that wonderful feeling of working with children. Lindsey looks forward to giving her all to the continued growth of our school in her new role as Director of Enrollment Management.