Rabbi Dennis Eisner took over as interim head of The Kehillah School on July 1, stepping into the top job at Palo Alto's small Jewish high school with a clear mandate: get more families to notice it.

"It's the best kept secret," Eisner told Palo Alto Online. "If more people knew who we were, they would find it would be a great place for them to go to high school."

Eisner, who holds a Doctor of Divinity degree and spent 37 years in Jewish communal leadership, replaces Daisy Pellant. Pellant led the school for six years before accepting a position at a school in Bangkok. Eisner had already been on Kehillah's senior leadership team since 2021, running philanthropy and building community ties.

The 3900 Fabian Way campus currently enrolls about 180 students in grades 9 through 12, with an average class size of 12. Students travel from across the Bay Area to attend. Eisner wants to grow that number by recruiting students of any background.

The school, which rebranded from "Kehillah Jewish High School" to "The Kehillah School" in September 2024, has staked out a distinct identity in a region known for academic pressure. Kehillah caps students at four advanced courses per semester and dropped AP classes entirely for the 2025-26 school year, replacing them with its own Kehillah Advanced Topics curriculum. The school does not rank students.

That structure sets Kehillah apart from nearby Palo Alto Unified schools like Paly and Gunn, where homework loads and college-admissions stress have been persistent community concerns. Eisner, formerly the senior rabbi at Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, said he was drawn to the school's mission of high academic achievement paired with reduced student stress.

Kehillah spokesperson Brendan Lowe said in a press release that Eisner built relationships across the Bay Area Jewish community throughout his career. Eisner said his goal during the transition year is to listen, build connections, and maintain the school's momentum.

The school and a search consultant plan to name a permanent head of school by July 2027.