Headmaster This summer, Dania Vázquez accepted the role of headmaster for a newly created Innovation School in Boston, the Margarita Muñiz Academy, designed as a dual language high school. The Muñiz Academy is modeled after the work of the Rafael Hernández K-8 School in Boston. Dania has been an educator for over 31 years serving urban children and families. Prior to the work with the Muñiz Academy, Dania was the Associate Executive Director at the Center for Collaborative Education in Boston since 2001. Dania focused on a number of key initiatives including principal preparation, leadership development, curriculum development, and school governance. She also led whole school transformation efforts in Boston and throughout the state. In addition, she coordinated a range of services for the Boston Pilot Schools/ Horace Mann Network including leadership coaching, professional development, and project coordination as well as Pilot Network advocacy with the district and community. As an educator and practioner, Dania has diverse experiences serving grades K to 12 as a bilingual special education teacher, staff developer, facilitator, and principal of small schools primarily in New York City for over 21 years before coming to Boston. She is a co-founder of The Essence School, a successful middle school located in Brooklyn, New York. She served as principal in a small alternative arts school serving grades 6 to 12 and principal of a K to 8 elementary school, both in New York City. Her areas of expertise include ESL, language development, literacy, curriculum development, organizational development, and school transformation. She is also a watercolor artist, showing her work in a variety of venues in New England including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, North River Arts Society and the Jolgorio Navideño de Massachusetts. Muñiz Academy brings together her both her passion for teaching and the arts. She has an M.S. in Bilingual Special Education from Bank Street College and an Ed.D. with a focus on organizational development and school leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University.