Assistant Principal, Collins Middle School, Salem Public School SY 2024-2025

About Salem Public Schools, where belonging leads to opportunity.

Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district enrolling nearly 4,000 students across our 11 schools. Our vision is to ensure that all students will be locally engaged, globally connected, and fully prepared to thrive in a diverse and changing world. We hold dear our core values of belonging, equity, and opportunity in everything we do. Over the next three years (2023-2026), we are committed to the work outlined by the four core priorities in our strategic plan: 1) Elevate Learning; 2) Empower Educators; 3) Center Belonging; and 4) Strengthen Our Foundation. We seek individuals who are passionate about urban education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement for all students, regardless of ability, economic status, gender/gender identity, language, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or other backgrounds. Applicants who have experience working in urban schools and settings and are bilingual are strongly encouraged to apply.

What You’ll Do: 

A priority of the school is to ensure that all students are challenged by an academic experience that is accessible, rigorous, relevant, and engaged. To ensure that this goal is realized, Collins Middle School has begun a redesign process intended to bring the school’s programs and practices in alignment with this goal and the demands of a rapidly changing world. The redesign effort is anchored in an overall goal of excellence and equity. In addition to supporting the management of the day-to-day operations of the school, the Assistant Principal will play a key role in the middle school redesign effort. 

Role Responsibilities

• Developing and supporting systems of accountability for staff and students
• Supports the principal in building, developing, and sustaining an effective leadership team and teacher teams
• Recruits, hires, develops, and retains effective and caring teachers and other professional staff 
• Delivers actionable feedback about instruction and other professional practices via coaching and written observations 
• Ensures that all staff are evaluated annually and receive ongoing, timely actionable verbal and written feedback 
• Builds educators’ capacity for assessment for learning and strategic data use 
• Addresses instances of underperformance and provides guidance for staff to improve 
• Makes learning and the social and emotional growth of all students the core mission and organizing force of the work.
• Creates and maintains an inclusive learning environment 
• Employs an approach to assessment and curriculum design that reduces barriers and optimizes levels of challenge and support, to meet the needs of all learners. 
• Strong knowledge of MA curriculum frameworks and standards-based practices.
• Adheres to and enforces school committee policy, school guidelines, administrative directives, and employee contracts
• Assists in the development, communication, and enforcement of guidelines to maintain and follow up on proper attendance, discipline and conduct, as well as assuring that students and parents have supports in place to meet expectations
• Contributes to the building and nurturing of a positive school culture including the coordination of school-wide or grade-level events, the implementation of staff and student recognition systems and leading the school-wide House System.
• Assists with hiring, professional development, curriculum development, instructional supervision and evaluation using the statewide teacher evaluation protocol (including participation in Instructional Rounds and attending grade-level PLCs and common planning time)
• Works with the principal and others to maintain a safe, secure and clean environment at the site including supervising emergency drills, developing emergency response procedures, arranging substitute coverage, supervising students’ lunch/recess and school arrival and dismissal, and communicating with maintenance and custodial staff
• Prepares paperwork and reports as required (newsletters, handbooks, etc.) and assists with scheduling
• Participates in the creation and monitoring of the site’s School Improvement Plan and is a member of the site Leadership Committee
• Takes part in processes related to 504 Plans, IEPs, and Student Study Teams, as needed
• Responsible for providing a link between the special education department and the school staff with regard to legal mandates and the implementation of district policies, procedures and vision.
• Mentor, support and provide oversight and coordination for the special education programming at Collins Middle School.
• Work closely with families and students of students 
• In collaboration with District Special Education Team Chairs, review all individualized educational programs, assessments and required paperwork to assure accuracy and mandated timelines.
• Communicates with parents on issues related to the school and to their specific children, and participates in the Parent-Teacher Association
• Assists with state, district and school-wide testing processes and data analysis and is a member of the Instructional Leadership Team
• Oversees technology usage at site and serves as liaison to staff technology lead
• Assists with coordination of university and community agency interactions with the site (ex: student teachers, work-study students, and observers)
• Oversees the coordination of field trips that align with the state curricular standards
• Serve as principal in the principal’s absence.
• Performs other duties as assigned by the principal or district-level administration
• Other duties as assigned by building principal or their designee

What You’ll Bring: 

We are looking for candidates who have diverse backgrounds and experiences, are inspired by our mission and are highly motivated to change children’s lives through education. You’ll be right at home here if you are a reflective practitioner who values collaboration with colleagues and pushes yourself, your work and the people around you to the next level. We expect our SPS employees to: 

• Hold a deep commitment to students and families and value diversity - The SPS community is vibrant, diverse in background, ethnicity, language, and perspective. You embrace and affirm the backgrounds of all members of the SPS community and view our diversity as a powerful resource that supports us each in learning and doing our best work. 

• Hold high expectations for yourself, students, and colleagues – You see potential in all, especially our SPS students, and maintain high expectations for achievement, while providing the support necessary to meet that bar. You hold yourself to high expectations, modeling SPS values and seeking opportunities to continuously improve. 

• Build authentic, caring relationships with colleagues, students, and families – You build strong relationships across students, families, and colleagues that are collaborative in nature and contribute to the individual and collective success of SPS. You partner with families and colleagues to make decisions in the best interest of students and learning. 

• Embrace feedback – You are a reflective practitioner who learns from failure, using mistakes and challenges as opportunities for growth. You model persistence and growth mindset and thrive in a culture of feedback. 

Job Requirements: 

• Master's Degree Preferred
• Required Massachusetts teaching certification/licensure as a School Principal/Assistant Principal (K-8)
• Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) Endorsement (Required within 1-year of start date)
• Minimum of five (5) years of Teaching, Administrative or Assistant Principal experience (urban public school setting preferred)
• Demonstrates a high degree of energy and a genuine interest in students and their success
• Experience working in an urban public school or charter school setting preferred
• Strong desire to work within a turnaround, extended day, urban educational program
• Experience working with students & families of diverse ethnic backgrounds
• A comprehensive knowledge of curriculum, instruction & assessment as they relate to elementary instruction and pedagogy.
• Proficiency with technology (blended learning, teacher/family communication suites (Parent Square), Google G-Suite Apps, etc.) desirable.
• Second language (Spanish and/or Portuguese) proficiency a plus
• Bilingual candidates and candidates of color strongly encouraged to apply
• Current authorization to work in the United States

Work Year: This is a full-time, full-year position. Please visit www.salemk12.org to view the 2024-25 district and/or school calendar.

Salary: Administrator salaries in the Salem Public Schools are determined by the Salem Administrators Association collective bargaining agreement.

Benefits: The City of Salem offers Group Insurance Commission (GIC) benefits to all full-time employees. Click here for more information about our health benefits.

Equal Opportunity Employer 

Salem Public School District is committed to maintaining a work and learning environment free from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital/civil union status, ancestry, place of birth, age, citizenship status, housing status veteran status, political affiliation, genetic information or disability, as defined and required by state and federal laws. Additionally, we prohibit retaliation against individuals who oppose such discrimination and harassment or who participate in an equal opportunity investigation.