ABOUT KIPP TEXAS PUBLIC SCHOOLS

KIPP Texas Public Schools is a network of 59 public charter, open-enrollment, pre-k-12 schools educating nearly 34,000 students across Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Together with families and communities, our mission is to create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose —college, career, and beyond—so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world.

Founded in Houston in 1994, and operating as KIPP Texas since 2018, our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and antiracism in our classrooms, in our offices, and in the communities we serve is unwavering. We are looking to hire a diverse team of dynamic, collaborative, and dedicated individuals with an unyielding belief that every child will succeed. Join our Team and Family and champion equity, chase excellence, persist with purpose, bring joy, and help us rise together.

KIPP Texas is part of the national KIPP network of 255 college-preparatory public charter schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Nationwide, KIPP students complete four-year college at a rate of 36 percent, comparable to the national average for all students and approximately three times higher than the average of students from low-income communities.

The Opportunity

The Director of Internal Communications will manage and distribute routine and critical information with key stakeholders served by the organization, including staff, parents and students.

S/he/They will serve as support with programming for signature and secondary events, forthcoming intranet, KIPP’s internal communications and family communications strategy, donor stewardship, and organizational messaging. Under their leadership, and in partnership with the Enrollment, Advocacy, and Marketing teams, KIPP will continue to elevate and increase brand awareness of its high-performing public charter schools, student success, and commitment to the mission to a right for education for everyone. 

This work will take place across all four of the KIPP Texas regions: Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and oversee internal communications, which includes but is not limited to:

  • Serve as editor and content advisor for internal communications at KIPP Public Schools in partnership with, and by advising, your direct reports, to ensure internal communications at KIPP is timely, consistent, and rooted in a scalable and sustainable strategic framework as KIPP’s employee population continues to grow.

  • Intranet: Support with the development, implementation and management of KIPP’s intranet site that should be the go-to source for all communications.

  • KIPP’s Blog: KIPP generates owned blog content 2-3/week to help share news, announcements, and information with our key audiences.

  •  Staff Communications: Develop and distribute all-staff emails from the voice of the CEO and help lead two all-staff calls annually, develop a robust internal communications strategy to build affiliation and pride among staff while consistently informing them of important information and context.

  • Event Programming: Support and manage your team to develop best-in-class programming, remarks and speeches, and memorable event experiences for KIPP’s Team & Family. Develop scripts, programming, oversee training and prep, and help manage logistics and the run-of-show management for KIPP’s signature and secondary events.

  •  Family Communications: Support the management and oversight of national, regional, and campus-based family communications at KIPP, providing resources, guidance, and training to ensure families receive effective, timely, and clear communications.

  •  School Messenger: Advising and training campuses on best practices and communications norms, sending centralized district-wide messages to families

Skills and Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree required, master’s degree in applicable field preferred

• Experience: 5+ years of full-time professional experience required; 2+ years of full-time people management required

• The persistence and grit of being a self-starter and problem-solver who takes the lead, navigates challenges deftly, and can adjust an approach based on cultural environment and results to make a lasting impact;

• The ability to work independently, in a remote environment, where your co-workers and peers are spread out across the state of Texas;

• A competency and familiarity of using various forms of current and new technology (including collaboration platforms, video platforms, etc.) to support and enhance communication across dispersed teams and to deliver key messages in creative ways to different audiences;

• Skilled writer in both English and Spanish (preferred) with attention to detail and experience in writing internal and external communications, messaging, and leveraging communications to build organizational culture;

• Evidence of high-level organizational and analytical skills, and ability to manage and coordinate multiple projects and tasks simultaneously.

• Social media fluency

• A comfort level with uncertainty and find enjoyment in the process of continuous learning, experimentation, iteration, and improvement;

• A philosophy of best practices AND adjusting to an ever-changing environment and diverse audiences;

• An entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to finding new voices and stories;

• Cultural competency allowing the ability to relate to and communicate with staff and parents from diverse cultural, language, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds;

• Strong work ethic coupled with critical thinking skills and an enthusiastic and passionate approach to the work;

• Personnel management experience, including team-building experience

• Ability to occasionally travel to Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and/or San Antonio;

Compensation and Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary scale, a part of KIPP Texas’ competitive benefits options, KIPP offers all employees an $0 HMO plan for the employee only. In addition to our $0 plan, KIPP provides a $600 employer contribution towards a Health Savings Account and a variety of other supplemental benefits such as Dental, Vision, Short and Long-Term Disability, Pet Insurance, Life, etc.