ABOUT KIPP

Together with families and communities, KIPP creates 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. KIPP is a national network of tuition-free, public charter schools open to all students. There are 255 college-preparatory KIPP schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia, serving more than 100,000 students. Nationally, KIPP students are graduating four-year colleges at three times the national average for low-income students.

ABOUT KIPP ALBANY COMMUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS (KIPP ALBANY)

KIPP Albany Community Public Charter Schools (KIPP Albany) is a network of high-performing public schools that has been committed to creating joyful, academically excellent schools in Albany since 2005.  KIPP Albany is affiliated with KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) Public Schools, a national network of over 10,000 educators serving 160,000 students and alumni. For the 2021-2022 school year, KIPP Albany schools will serve over 1,600 students in grades K-8 and will employ more than 225 staff.  We are committed to furthering anti-racism, equity, and racial justice in all our efforts, and expect all of our stakeholders to participate in this work so that we can create a future without limits for our students, together.

Further regional growth is on the horizon with the Troy Prep K-12 schools planning to join the KIPP Albany network (new name TBD) at the start of the 2022-23 school year. Serving over 2,500 students in grades K-12 at seven schools across the Capital Region will allow increased curriculum offerings for students, professional development for staff, and enhanced family and community partnerships. 

KIPP Albany Community Charter Middle School (KACCMS) is a 6-8 middle charter school which was founded in 2012 as the sister school to Albany Community Charter Elementary School. In the same year, the school was named a National Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education.  We offer an extended school day, a longer school year, two instructors per class, school uniforms and a variety of afterschool programs. Our school places a high value on collaboration, community, and culture. We have made a commitment to developing an environment that affirms and celebrates the racial and cultural identities of our students and recognizes the critical importance of having teachers and leaders that reflect the communities we serve KACCMS students are taught in an environment that emphasizes respect and character education in addition to reading, writing and mathematics.  Like KIPP Albany Community Charter Elementary School, the middle school offers spacious classrooms, a media center, a state-of-the-art music room and a gymnasium. Students are provided a robust offering of extra-curricular activities. These additional offerings complement our longer academic school day and school year to allow for whole child development and an exploration of creativity and personal growth among our students. In 2020 Albany Community Charter Middle School joined the KIPP network and was excited to become a KIPP school to access more of the curriculum, professional development, and other resources available within the network to provide more opportunities to the community we serve.

The Dean of Culture’s job is to support the school in driving culture outcomes for students and staff as a member of the school’s leadership team. We expect our Dean of Culture to lead both student and staff culture and also to be able to collaborate with other members of the leadership team. At KIPP, we believe that the Dean of Students is a vital part of creating a culture of joy within our building. The Dean of Culture should consider him/herself/themself an important part to the leadership team.

Job Description:

 Student Engagement and Ownership

• Manage student-facing communications such as newsletters, flyers, etc.

• Work with grade level leaders to plan special events and performances.

• Develop systems to ensure families receive communication around academics and character choices at least once per week.  Work with grade level chairs to support teachers in meeting communication expectations.

• Work with the student support services team to create plans for students qualifying for tier II and III support.

 Establishing, Maintaining, and Celebrating a Culture Rooted in Relationships and Restoration

• Lead school wide efforts in developing a restorative culture rooted in student achievement through family engagement

• Manage social skills and mental health team.

• Coordinating re-entry meetings with school staff and families of KIPPsters who have been suspended

• Serve as an advocate for core groups of KIPPsters to engage families and teachers effectively and meaningfully to support student success.

• Determine restorative actions and consequences for tier III choices

• Keeping accurate student discipline records, documenting all incident reports, conferences, suspensions, and phone calls for behavior. 

• Following KIPP Albany policies, determine in and out of school consequences

• Support student tier II and tier III choices, including out of class time with core group of students, in order to promote restorative culture

• Support operations staff in developing welcoming, affirming, and transparent environment that promotes restorative culture

Establishing, Maintaining, and Celebrating a School Wide Culture Where Staff Can be Their Best

• Own the school’s character development program and ensure it builds and reinforces positive self-identity and necessary character strengths

• Actively participating in the Sunshine Committee

• Actively participating with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Committee

• Facilitate staff trainings on student-teacher relationships, classroom management, parent partnership and school culture

• Coordinate school wide character education programs for teachers

• Working with and through advisory boards to build student culture and incentives

• Meet regularly with the culture team and middle school counterparts in order to ensure consistent school-wide experiences.

  Professional Responsibilities

• Supporting and promoting the educational and character education mission of the school.

• Being a model in terms of dress, punctuality, and attendance.

• Attending all team and staff meetings.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education: Bachelor’s Degree required, Master’s preferred

Experience:

• At least 1 year as an Assistant Principal and 3+ years as an instructional coach
• At least 3+ years teaching in a similar charter school setting

Student Focus:

• Belief that all students, regardless of background, have the ability to go to and through college; demonstrated commitment to the school’s unique community

Direction Setting:

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

Performance Management:

• Demonstrated student achievement results from teachers and leaders that he/she manages and coaches

Talent Development:

• Demonstrated success in developing leadership capacity in others

Cultural Competence and Commitment to DEI Work:

• Demonstrated ability to create inclusive environments that honors and supports a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives 

Instructional Leadership:

• Adept at data analysis; ability to extract meaningful insights across school-wide data
• Expertise in what the school-wide academic standards and state assessments require of students’ knowledge and skills to demonstrate mastery; able to translate student mastery requirements into instructional plans and strategies
• Deep understanding of appropriate application and differentiation of high-leverage instructional strategies (e.g. make kids sweat, pacing, stretch it, etc.) based on comprehension of child development and pedagogy
• Command of instructional design and the benefits and tradeoffs of school design decisions in driving student achievement

Achievement Orientation: Demonstrated resilience and focus on student outcomes

Start Date:

This position is immediately available.  

Compensation:

Competitive salary and benefits package including health coverage and retirement.

KIPP TECH VALLEY is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, handicap, age, religion, sexual orientation, or national or ethnic origin.