Overview:
The Schenectady City School District (SCSD) has begun a period of change that seeks to transform the district and its schools. A significant level of local, state, and federal attention and investment in the Schenectady City Schools has characterized the last few years providing an incredible opportunity to ensure that all of its students graduate prepared to succeed in college or a well-paying career. Currently, the Schenectady City School District is seeking highly competent, motivated, dedicated and fully engaged individuals to accept leadership roles throughout the district's schools and Central Office to serve the academic, emotional and physical needs of approximately 10,000 students through the essential elements of the district’s Strategic Plan. The Superintendent is leading a talented and committed leadership team with the aim of moving SCSD toward world class status and preparing all students for success.
Cohort Principal Role
This position reports to the principal of a midsize urban school district located in the Capital Region of Upstate New York. The Cohort Principal will be responsible for developing a Big Picture model for alternative education students. The Big Picture Learning project is focused the philosophy for personalized learning- one student a time- to create schools where educators are motivated to teach, students are engaged in meaningful learning, and academic progress is measured against real-world standards.
Essential Characteristics of a Leader for the Big Picture Learning Project must have the Ability to:
- be a leader in the context of dis-equitable social constructs. The candidate must have a strong belief toward equity, and the moral courage to speak and act against dis- equitable systems and supports.
- listen and take emotional risks.
- demonstrate empathy, compassion and advocacy with students, staff, families and communities.
- have a vision and the resilience and network-building capacity to implement it.
- be able to establish, lead and sustain a community of adult learners, including families and external stakeholders.
- attend to the learning needs of individual adults as well as the school as an organization.
- be a systems thinker and innovator.
- be able to design and implement schools where the learning is interest-driven, compelling, real-world-connected and lasting.
Essential Responsibilities of a Leader for the Big Picture Learning Project must have the Ability to:
- Strategically creates an educational model for students that is interest-driven and provides mentorship and internship opportunities for students in real-world job opportunities;
- Collaborates with other schools/systems & district change work;
- Establishes, leads and sustains a community of adult learning, including families a and external stakeholders;
- Attends to the learning needs of individual adults as well as the school as an organization;
- Builds school culture in alignment with the program/school vision;
- Demonstrated skill in working in and leading a non-traditional academic program;
- Builds and promotes trust with all school stakeholders in support of student success;
- Grow a new school program/educational enterprise using demonstrated entrepreneurial skills;
- Creates shared ownership and distributed leadership among students and adults;
- Works collaboratively with other school leaders to build, support and maintain a strong team;
- Makes a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation;
- Demonstrates alignment between values and the student experience;
- Supports interest driven learning for adults & students;
- Leads real world learning programs;
- Participates with the recruitment and recommends the hiring of necessary high school staff in collaboration with administrative team and within district procedures;
- Evaluates and provides support to assigned Cohort Professional Staff - Teachers and Non-Professional Staff;
- Recommends continued employment and tenure of Cohort House Teachers to the Superintendent and/or his designee;
- Responsible for any designated physical location or wing the cohort occupies;
- Supervises activities and extra-curricular activities within the high school;
- Develops, maintains, establishes goals, promotes, and evaluates high school programs in collaboration with administrative team, specifically including collection and evaluation of data;
- Responsible for the master schedule of students and staff within the high school in collaboration with other Cohort Principals, Coordinators, and/or High School Principal;
- Supervises budgets, grants, and any designated cohort office finances;
- Provides leadership and supervision for staff and program(s) within the high school;
- Oversees the daily function and operation of the high school in collaboration with the administrative team;
- Provides supervision, support, and discipline to students aligned to the cohort;
- Encourages and monitors student progress data in order to improve student academic achievement;
- Establishes and maintains communication with parents and extended high school community;
- Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the School District's policies and applicable laws;
- Maintains positive communications with High School Principal for any building level shared needs such as busing of students, custodial support, lunch program, etc;
- Maintains positive communications with other building and/or district administrators (Coordinators, Directors, etc.) for any shared needs;
- And other similar duties as related to the running of a school building;
- And any other task as assigned by the Superintendent or his designee.