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The Executive Director (i.e. Principal) is in charge of ensuring that the mission and vision of the school are implemented effectively, ensuring that academic programs accelerate positive outcomes for all students.

The Executive Director is responsible for overseeing all aspects of running a school. This includes providing instructional leadership to faculty, managing the on-site operations and administrative duties, supporting student enrollment, and cultivating a strong school culture. The Executive Director will also foster relationships with key internal and external stakeholders to meet budgetary, academic, and talent goals.  

The ideal candidate is an experienced school leader and educator with an expertise in running successful school environments, coaching teams of faculty and staff, and meeting student outcomes. Familiarity with Summit Learning or personalized learning is strongly preferred.

Who We Are:

What if all students graduated high school with not only content knowledge, but the habits and skills to successfully navigate college and career, with a sense of purpose to anchor them? This is the question at the core of Summit Public Schools. Summit is a public school system serving heterogeneous communities in the Bay Area and Washington State and operate 11 schools serving over 3,600 students.

We share our personalized approach to teaching and learning for free through Summit Learning, with more than 330 partner schools across the country. Summit Learning forms the foundation on which Summit’s successful schools were built, with our schools consistently ranking among the best in the nation.

Are you looking for the opportunity to lead change? Do you want to help reimagine what schools should be? We put students in the driver’s seat and empower them with the skills and habits they need to be successful in college and life. We need diverse, driven, and dynamic talent to join our growing team to help realize our educational vision.

What You’ll Do:

Strategic Vision

  • Create a school-based vision that aligns with Summit Public Schools’ mission, which includes clearly articulated goals and measures of success. Lead all internal and external stakeholders to implement this vision effectively. Refine and adjust the vision as necessary throughout the academic year.
  • Meet regularly with students, parents, and faculty to communicate and inspire them around mission and vision.  
  • Ensure that academic programs accelerate outcomes for all students - this includes supporting strong instructional leadership, facilitating leadership team meetings with faculty and staff, and providing professional development and coaching.

Data Management & Student Academics

  • Create a school design and program that regularly collects and analyzes data to best improve student outcomes.
    • This includes implementing a training system and fostering a culture where faculty regularly utilize classroom data to improve their teaching practices and support student success.
  • Ensure all data is accurate in the student information system.
    • This includes maintaining student records in accordance with all federal, state, and local guidelines.
  • Design, implement and manage a testing plan that includes both external (eg. SATs) and internal tests (eg. CSTs) to meet all test ordering deadlines and guidelines.
    • This includes following all testing protocols, training all proctors appropriately, collaborating with Special Education teachers to provide any testing accommodations, and fostering a culture that respects the importance of standardized tests.
  • Ensure that all courses offered are approved through the UC system
    • Stay up to date with changes made to the UC course approval process
    • Oversee the execution of the plan by the assistant director
    • Design, implement and manage a UC course approval plan

Recruitment and Retention

  • Ensure that the school is fully enrolled. Develop and execute a vision for student recruitment and enrollment through collaboration with other site-based school leadership, the external engagement team, and other relevant stakeholders.
  • Collaborate with the talent team, other school leaders, and Heads of Schools to interview, assess, and select the best faculty and staff.
    • This includes utilization of culturally responsive rubrics and tools to conduct final round interviews with candidates to assess pedagogical effectiveness, academic performance, and alignment with Summit Public Schools’ mission.
  • Coach and support faculty and staff to ensure professional progression and growth.
    • This includes meeting with each teacher to develop goals and monitor progress; and observing, evaluating, and providing timely feedback during teacher observations.
    • Support people in finding additional opportunities for development by advocating for them internally and for identifying external opportunities that support their growth and retention at Summit Public Schools.
  • Ensure a strong faculty culture that embraces the vision and meets the mission of the school
    • Lead the new-hires through a school-specific on-boarding program that ensures they completely understand the mission and vision of the school and the organization

School Culture

  • Lead all faculty, staff, students, and parents to support a strong school culture that embraces the mission and vision of the school; provides an engaging an engaging and supportive environment; and develops effective strategies to inspire students to implement student culture goals.
  • Ensure a positive student experience with extracurricular activities, including opportunities for athletic teams, student clubs and groups, and other related school events.
  • Develop and implement an effective discipline strategy for students.

Relationship Management

  • Cultivate strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders - this includes all school governing bodies (SPS board, state authorizer, district authorizer, local school district authorizer, and community advisory board); community partnerships; and student families.
    • Ensure requirements for school governing bodies are met according to charter petition.
  • Attend SPS Board meetings at least twice a year.
  • Develop and maintain a strong relationship with community partners.

School Operations

  • Ensure that the school is accredited by WASC.
    • This includes designing, implementing, and managing a WASC plan; and create and review school-wide ESLRS; and positioning WASC as an opportunity to use data to evaluate school effectiveness.
  • Create and maintain a balanced budget in conjunction with the Chief Financial Officer, both for the existing year and for future years. Meet with the CFO regularly to forecast, monitor, and manage school budget that will maintain financial viability.
  • Participate in audits of financial procedures to meet best financial practices.
  • Ensure that faculty and staff understand rationale and importance of working on the state allocation budget, and that all team members are abiding by financial requirements set by the SPS finance and accounting department. Authorize all spending by signing expense reports and reviewing approving bills and all contracts.
  • Create appropriate annual fundraising goals and strategies; meet with the development team to regularly assess progress and design initiatives to meet measures of success.
  • Support on-site operations and administrative staff to ensure that school facility is operational at all times.
    • Design, implement, and manage a student attendance plan.
    • Collaborate with office manager to design a welcoming and supportive front-desk.
    • Collaborate with staff members responsible for the school’s lunch program and ensure that every student eligible for free and reduced lunch is identified and submits the required paperwork.
  • Ensure that all federal, state and local compliance requirements are met (PCSGP, CPR training, SB 740, PENSEC, CALPADS, CBEDs, etc.).

What You Need:

Key Qualities and Skills   

  • Commitment to uphold Summit’s values, belief that all children deserve a rigorous and equitable education that prepares them for college and for life.
  • Bachelor’s Degree is required.
  • A Master’s Degree in Education, Educational Leadership, or similar program is required.
  • Prior experience in school leadership is required.
  • A Teaching Credential in California or another US state is required, as is prior teaching experience.
  • An Administrative Credential in California or another US State is required.
  • Proficiency in Google Platforms, including Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides.
  • Clear health and background check.

Who You Are:

About You

  • You maintain high expectations for all students and believe all students can find success in school, college, and life.
  • You thrive while collaborating and are excited to work with your colleagues. You find positivity in share successes.
  • You’re deeply dedicated to social justice and feel motivated by the challenge and impact of working in a heterogeneous community and closing the achievement gap.
  • You share our vision to reimagine what schools should be and are excited to make an impact on the public education landscape.
  • You are data driven and have the ability to collect, evaluate, and utilize data in meaningful ways.
  • You have expertise in planning learning experiences that model skills-based, personalized instruction.
  • You are positive and resilient in the face of big challenges.
  • You take initiative and ownership in driving your work to meet personal and team goals.
  • You possess strong people management and relationship skills, with the ability to motivate, inspire, develop, and communicate with a diverse group of teachers, leaders, staff members, and community members.
  • You have an ability to apply honest, actionable, and timely feedback that results in improved performance.
  • You have a strategic mindset when it comes to executing professional development initiatives.
  • You are empathetic and culturally competent. You’re open to having hard conversations.
  • You thrive in innovative environments and are comfortable with the ambiguity that can come with a dynamic and progressive workplace.
  • You’re committed to continuous improvement, see feedback as a positive, and have a growth mindset.

What you get:

Summit offers competitive salaries and benefit options for full-time employees, including covering 75% of the health, dental and vision plan costs. We fully cover life and disability insurance. We have a “take what you need” PTO policy, 11 paid holidays and 3 weeks of organizational-wide closure during the year.

We strive to recruit a diverse team. Summit Public Schools is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, military status, pregnancy, parenthood, citizenship status, creed, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. Summit will provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

People from all diverse backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply. Spanish language proficiency is a plus.