Head of School Chelsea

Career Opportunities with Phoenix Charter Academy

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Careers At Phoenix Charter Academy

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At Phoenix, we don’t force students to fit the school's mold; we build our schools around our students’ distinct needs. Many of our students are diverse learners. Some work part-time or even full-time jobs. Others are parents to small children or are caretakers for extended family networks. Still others experience housing insecurity or are navigating the adjudication process. Phoenix challenges young people to fulfill their educational potential and provides them with the support required to do so - even when their life circumstances present seemingly insurmountable challenges and obstacles. Learn more about the Phoenix Charter Academy Network here .

The Head of School

Phoenix Charter Academy Chelsea seeks a dedicated and tenacious leader who is aligned with, and embodies, the organization’s core beliefs and values : rigor with support as well as a faith in all students ability to learn and succeed. This leader must bring expertise in instructional practice / leadership, educator development, all aspects of school-site operations, and authentic community engagement. Our new Head of School, above all, believes in ever ongoing growth and possibility. Our next leader must model accountability, collaboration, and effective use of best-in-class, evidence-based practices that support non-traditional students to achieve academic success and the confidence to realize their full potential. They must also demonstrate the ability to problem solve in creative and nontraditional ways.

A Revolutionary Team

The Phoenix team is always learning, dedicated, relentless, and guided by these values which shape our culture and fuel our scholars’ outcomes :

An Unwavering Belief in Phoenix Scholars - Phoenix staff operate with the deeply held belief that all young people want to and can succeed, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers and societal constraints.

Putting Scholars First - Phoenix staff ensure the academic skills mastery and positive self-identity development that fuel college, career, and life success. Phoenix staff find every opportunity to teach and learn with scholars, using conflict to build supportive relationships and never taking things personally.

Learning In Real Time - Phoenix staff know that we operate in a fast-paced, ever-evolving, urgent environment. We seek direct feedback and seize opportunities to implement it quickly.

Humility - Phoenix staff approach problem-solving with curiosity and a desire to understand others' perspectives. We model open-mindedness and a growth mindset, and support one another in embracing failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.

Navigating and Celebrating Difference - Phoenix staff have work across cultures and experience, compassionately serving low-income communities and / or academically disconnected adolescents.

Finding Inspiration in the Small Things—Phoenix staff take an asset-based approach to our work, finding humor, inspiration, success, and joy in our day-to-day interactions with scholars and the larger Phoenix Community.

Specific Role Responsibilities

Reporting to the Chief Schools Officer, the School Head of School is our comprehensive leader, and as such, must be able to demonstrate and juggle leadership across multiple priorities, including :

Instructional Leadership

Ensure that the Phoenix academic team is clear about how to implement, assess, and adapt the curriculum and lessons that map to priority academic standards for core content areas.

Review data weekly, at least, with the leadership team and school staff to determine pivots that need to be made to achieve school academic goals.

Lead a scholar-focused academic program that ensures that scholars can demonstrate competence and apply skills in new environments, with the ultimate goal of completing college and living lives of self-determination.

Collaborate with the School’s leadership and Instructional Teams, as well as the Network-wide Instructional Leadership Team (NILT), to design and deliver engaging and focused professional development that addresses identified gaps and ensures all staff are continuously engaged in growing their practice.

Coordinate with the Network Collaborative Practices Team (CPT) to align academic work to centralized competencies, curriculum and assessments to ensure a consistent approach to helping scholars achieve the learning milestones.

Supervise the Special Education, English Language Development, Advisory, and Academic programs and services for Phoenix scholars; support and ensure staff compliance with their responsibilities, and continuously develop best practices in these areas.

Communicate instructional goals and reinforce classroom standards

Foster a positive school culture in which scholars continuously learn to hold themselves to high expectations and make decisions that reflect a high degree of respect for themselves and others.

Support through the advisory program for scholars developing independent

Lead community-wide rituals to share information, recognize and celebrate scholar and staff achievements, and apply the Restorative Practices Model.

Oversee the development of school-wide discipline practices communicated in an annual student handbook.

Oversee consistent administration of policies and compliance with state law and best practice.

Interject and support the creation of a joyful culture through school-wide and classroom-based celebrations, incentives, and positive recognition.

Develop staff capacity to foster positive relationships with scholars and ensure they make informed, healthy decisions that lead to success in all their pursuits.

Ensure coordinated and innovative student support services across teams.

Remain responsive to the professional needs of staff and infuse added supportive and developmental sessions when necessary.

Collect ongoing feedback from staff to identify needs and to develop action plans to provide appropriate supervision, direction, support, and recognition to staff.

Student Recruitment, Retention, and Community Engagement

Oversee yearlong student recruiting practices and management of all new scholar outreach, orientations, and onboarding to meet enrollment targets.

Oversee the application of Phoenix’s practices of relentless outreach and intervention to ensure engagement, regular attendance, consistent with established goals and benchmarks.

Oversee primary person model (PPM) to improve accountability. Each student is assigned to one main staff member who monitors progress and coordinates with others as needed. The goal is to reduce confusion and ensure all student needs are addressed.

Oversee school-wide staff engagement in retention activities using the mantra that “everyone is a retention specialist.”

Build and maintain critical community partnerships to ensure that the most disconnected young people can access Phoenix as an opportunity to get back on track to college and careers.

Ensure that Phoenix is a visible and trusted community institution.

Operational Leadership

Manage the school’s budget and work closely with the Operations leader to monitor the relationship between budget and enrollment; become deeply knowledgeable of the fiscal boundaries of the school budget.

Responsible for monitoring student enrollment (FTE) making data-driven adjustments to ensure staffing levels and resource allocation remain aligned with the school’s budget and strategic staffing plan.

Ensure the building is clean, welcoming, and conducive to learning at all times, and that the building sends positive messages to scholars about their worth and importance in our community

Ensure appropriate DESE regulations are met and delegated to appropriate staff (including but not limited to data collection and annual disciplinary reporting).

Ensure technology platforms are updated and accessible to staff and students.

Coordinate recommitment and recruitment practices with the network talent team.

Oversee school-based hiring processes through the final offer; participate in salary discussions when appropriate.

Supervision and Development of Leaders

Supervise, continuously develop, and evaluate members of the School Leadership Team using weekly meetings and through use of the leadership competencies.

Manage Leadership Team meetings to ensure the weekly coordination of action plans for enrollment, attendance, culture, and academic achievement data.

Support leaders in effectively supervising and evaluating staff to ensure that all staff members have focused goals for professional growth and receive ongoing feedback to improve their performance.

Collaborate with the Chief Schools Officer and the Instructional Leadership Team to develop the Staff Institute and the annual Professional Development Plan.

Qualifications

The Head of School will possess an infectious enthusiasm and a tireless commitment to supporting Phoenix scholars and staff. You care about the Phoenix scholar population and community because of your proximity to it. You never give up. You over-communicate. You motivate and inspire. You have demonstrated the capacity to successfully undertake the responsibilities listed above, and you bring the following skills, experience, and orientation :

Commitment to all students engaged in equity-minded educational practices

Ability to set direction across an entire school and motivate others to action

Demonstrated success in developing leadership capacity in others

Demonstrated ability to create inclusive environments that honor and leverage a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives

Outstanding leadership, management and culture building skills, with particular emphasis on team building, conflict management, sharing and collaboration, goal setting, and accountability

Excellent interpersonal, human relations, stress and conflict management skills

History of and enthusiasm for engaging with parents and community

A minimum of 3 years of school leadership / supervisory experience as an AP, Principal, Dean or something similar, as well as demonstrated classroom leadership experience with results

Commitment to inclusion

At Phoenix, we recognize the importance of forming a school community inclusive of a community’s demographics and experiences. We act to ensure that our students and staff always see reflections of themselves and their communities.

At Phoenix, we aim to break down barriers by providing access to resources, experiences, and differentiated supports for students who historically have not succeeded in traditional public schools.

At Phoenix, we solicit, value, understand, connect, and leverage multiple perspectives and experiences. We invite all perspectives except those that perpetuate oppression or dehumanization.

At Phoenix we do not just accept differences - we celebrate it, support it, and thrive on it for the benefit of our scholars and the communities we serve. We believe difference makes us stronger. Phoenix Charter Academy is an equal opportunity employer and as such and in accordance with MA state law, we do not discriminate against any team member or candidate because of race, creed, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity / expression, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. Phoenix Charter Academy is committed to making any reasonable accommodations necessary to support an individual's employment.

Our Commitment to Staff

We commit to providing a supportive environment and giving the professional development, coaching, and resources needed to be successful

We commit to creating an open and tolerant culture that embraces diversity and fosters equity and inclusion through affinity groups and continuous capacity building supported by our Racial, Justice and Equity working group

Something about creating a feedback culture

Support staff who want to develop their ability to serve all students

• The Network retains the right to modify this job description at any time, for any reason, at the Network’s sole discretion

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