Job description

Assistant Principal

Middle School of the Kennebunks

RSU 21 serves 600 employees, 2400 students across three communities and has an annual budget of $52 million. As Assistant Principal, you will serve as a dynamic and developing leader supporting the delivery of measurable results that drive transformative student growth and achievement in our schools. We believe Assistant Principals are our future leaders — providing crucial school-wide leadership, while simultaneously developing the essential skills, mindsets, knowledge, and behaviors necessary to fulfill the role of Principal. We actively cultivate our Assistant Principals for school leadership, and our Assistant Principals should consider themselves to be both valued professionals and Principal apprentices.

Assistant Principals serve as a key member of the school-based leadership team, whose members work collaboratively with Principals, fellow Assistant Principals, district-wide instructional leaders, and educators to enact the ambitious vision of our Superintendent. Assistant Principals operate with a mindset and framework of continuous learning and improvement, and help to both equip and inspire instructional staff to do their best work to improve student outcomes.

Assistant Principals will:

• Assist the Principal in enacting the strongest possible vision of instructional excellence
• Serve as a key contributor to our efforts to attract, select, develop, coach, and retain the highest quality school-based staff
• Work with the Principal to develop a collaborative and high expectations culture dedicated to student growth, student achievement, and student social-emotional wellbeing
• Support school operations to ensure effective implementation of school resources, tactics, and logistics
• Serve as a dedicated and developing leader in our district’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at the school, classroom, and curriculum levels
• Contribute to and adhere to a disciplined goals- and data-driven academic and professional development (PD) strategy

Location: Middle School of the Kennebunks

Reports to: Designated school Principal

Manages: Designated school-based staff members

Qualifications: Love what you do, and the opportunity this position presents — especially your ability to contribute to the formation of a high-expectations instructional climate and culture dedicated to improving student outcomes. We seek a developing instructional and talent leader with passion and demonstrated potential to create and maintain high-performing instructional environments. Valid State of Maine Certification (045) as a K-12 Assistant Principal is required. Master’s Degree with a background in Educational Administration, Educational Leadership or equivalent is required. (Alternatives to these qualifications may be considered.) Three to five years of successful K-12 teaching experience strongly preferred. Experience in instructional leadership roles and experience working with teams of teachers preferred. Our ideal candidates will be strong instructional leaders with classroom, teacher leadership, and administrative experience, but we welcome candidates with educational and/or leadership backgrounds and expertise from outside the district-setting as well.

Responsibilities:

Assistant Instructional Leader

• Provide input and thought-partnership into the school’s strategic planning; identify and accept assigned areas of self-ownership and project management
• Support instructional design, delivery, and decision-making to ensure it is centered around rigorous student learning, interdisciplinary and critical thinking, and high expectations for students and staff
• Help enact the Principal’s vision and actively mobilize teachers to achieve the school’s collective goals that drive towards continuous school achievement and improvement; contribute to the planning and goal setting for designated grades/departments, and ensure alignment with school-wide goals
• Build own and others’ instructional knowledge of standards, content, curriculum, assessment, and research-based instructional practices; coach teachers to match strategies to gaps in student mastery
• Work with the Principal to use assessment-based student data to drive instruction, program interventions, and teacher supports; coach teachers on how to assess for student mastery

Assistant Talent Manager

• Serve as enthusiastic recruiter and effective ambassador to market your school and attract high quality staff; collaborate with Principal on hiring and retaining diverse, highly-effective teachers and staff
• Support Principal in identifying and developing emerging instructional leaders (i.e., Department Heads, Grade Level Chairs, Instructional Strategists) through goal setting, coaching, and feedback; support, develop, and lead school-based instructional leadership teams
• Assist with the management and evaluation of teachers and support staff; accurately evaluate teacher performance against ambitious performance standards
• Assist Principal in serving as instructional coach and regular presence in classrooms to observe, monitor, and improve instructional effectiveness; share actionable, honest, and ongoing feedback with teachers designed to improve and demonstrably change instructional performance
• Serve as Principal in the absence of the Principal; serve as designated Administrator when needed

Assistant Culture and Community Builder

• Help create and sustain an organizational culture that promotes high instructional and professional expectations for all members; help shape and maintain a positive, inspiring, inclusive, and nurturing school culture that attracts staff and families to want to join, and remain, in the school community
• Help promote a safe and orderly learning environment which embraces collaboration, cooperation, and empowers all members of the learning community
• Enforce consistent student behavior expectations to build and maintain a positive learning environment; assist in maintaining discipline throughout the student body; support teachers in student support and behavior intervention systems to ensure that limited time is spent on reactive student discipline; act as contact for student intervention and parent engagement, determining next steps for issues beyond the teacher level; deal with special cases, including investigations, as needed
• Support Principal to communicate district perspective effectively with all stakeholders including staff, students, families, and community members, while engaging stakeholders in ways that convey mutual respect and effective conflict management, when needed
• Model ongoing personal self-reflection and a mindset of continuous learning and development

Assistant Operations Manager

• Embrace the alignment of operations management with school mission and goals; leverage operational assets to enhance instructional effectiveness
• Help manage elements of daily school operations (e.g. arrival/dismissal, lunch/recess, school trips, student schedules, attendance reporting/monitoring); investigative follow-up actions as needed
• Share in the monitoring of all school-sponsored activities (field trips, dances, extracurricular events) and serve as a visible presence at school events and activities
• Help coordinate transportation, custodial, cafeteria, and other support services; assist in safety inspections and safety drill practice activities
• Develop management skills to lead a building successfully including effective verbal and written communications, engaging in difficult conversations, time management, and meeting facilitation

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Lens

• Contribute to improvements to curriculum and instruction with awareness and understanding of their impact on a community of diverse needs
• Help address negative experiences by students or staff that conflict with our stated DEI priorities, values, and beliefs, and, when needed, identify strategies to decrease reoccurrences
• Ensure students and staff see you as their advocate, feel comfortable sharing examples of discrimination and harassment they witness or experience, and trust that discrimination and harassment will be addressed if shared
• Demonstrate a commitment to the RSU 21 Equity Initiative by internalizing the district’s DEI priorities and policies; model behaviors to reinforce the equity-based, diverse, and inclusive culture we seek
• Reflect on personal biases that may impact your work, decision-making, and/or the culture of the district you help lead through a commitment to personal DEI growth

Data-driven and Goal-Based Instructional Leadership

• Work with Principal to develop the skills to support and deliver data-driven instruction through the analysis of comprehensive, relevant, accurate, and up-to-date data
• Refine goals-based management skills to set ambitious and measurable personal, school- and classroom-level goals that will result in meaningful growth that can change student trajectories
• Help instill and maintain a school-wide culture of ongoing accountability checks to gauge progress towards data-driven goals
• Support Principal to facilitate disciplined data collection, monitoring, analysis, and reporting routines to ensure accessible and timely integration of data into ongoing cycles of instructional planning and PD
• Lead efforts to track academic outcomes by student sub-groups, with a particular focus on minimizing achievement gaps by various identities

Competencies:

• Change agent mindset: you see education as a relentless effort towards improving students’ lives; you believe in your ability to make a difference, and inspire others to believe the same; you are not satisfied with the status quo or “the way things have always been done”; you see education as a pivotal driver of opportunity
• Student-centered: you keep student’s needs central to every action you take and decision you make; you never lose sight of students’ needs as the district’s focal point and North Star
• Relationship-oriented: you recognize the deep importance that relationships with colleagues and stakeholders play in your work; you build rapport and trust with others; you’re comfortable with and adept at navigating a diversity of personalities and work styles; you value authentic collaboration
• Coaching orientation: you champion and advocate for your team members; you take time to teach and offer actionable feedback, ensure that people feel their efforts are appreciated, and view mistakes as opportunities for learning; you model and inspire excellence
• Resourceful: you optimize available resources and tools to enhance your impact; you network liberally and with confidence to broaden the scope of people who can serve as a resource to your work
• Highly responsive: you are flexible and able to adjust when faced with unexpected, real-time problems that demand your attention
• Strong communicator: you share clear, thoughtful, well-defined information, including in-depth data presentations; you compile research, and synthesize and communicate your findings with strong trends and takeaways
• Leadership orientation: you’re not afraid to call out poor decision-making, lack of integrity or unhealthy behavior when you see it; you take the long-view, rather than thinking short-term; you can be direct when needed, without being hurtful; you seek new solutions and improved approaches in order to achieve better outcome.

Reasonable Accommodations: RSU 21 will provide accommodations to an individual with a disability, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or applicable law, who has made the district aware of their disability, unless doing so would cause an undue hardship to the district.

Terms of Employment: As per contract, total compensation to be established by the Superintendent commensurate with experience and approved by the Board.

Evaluation: Performance of this job will be evaluated by the Superintendent, in accordance with the Board of School Directors Policy on evaluation of Administrative Personnel (GCOC).

Posting to Remain Open Until Filled

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $95,000.00 - $110,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Work Location: In person

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