Denver Jewish Day School

Background Statement

Denver Jewish Day School has been educating the area's Jewish youth since 1975.

We are an independent, Jewish community day school with approximately 325 students in Pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Our school sits on a beautiful campus in Denver, Colorado with an amazing view of the Rocky Mountains. As the only Pre-K through 12 Jewish community day school in the Rocky Mountain region, Denver JDS sets the bar high and is committed to educating the whole Jewish child, inspiring them to grow intellectually, socially, spiritually, and ethically in a student-centered, challenging, and nurturing environment.

Theodor Herzl Jewish Day School (Herzl) was founded in 1975, serving 14 students in grades one through five. Four years later, in 1979, Rocky Mountain Hebrew Academy (RMHA) was established, with 10 students in grades 9 through 12.

In 1994, members of the Herzl and RMHA boards began work on a vision of a single, unified space for Jewish education. In April of 1998, the trustees of both boards voted overwhelmingly to merge the two schools into one institution: the Denver Campus for Jewish Education (DCJE), which then became known as both DCJE and Herzl/RMHA.

In 2001, Phil Kalin became the first president and CEO of DCJE. He served in that role until 2007, when our current Head of School/CEO Avi Halzel took the helm. In August 2010, our school was re-branded and became known as Denver Jewish Day School (Denver JDS).

Since our founding, we have educated more than 2,500 students.