Description

Who We Are

Serving more than 3,300 scholars in six schools across two cities; Jackson, Mississippi and Nashville, Tennessee, RePublic Schools is the only school network solely dedicated to reimagining public education in the South. 

Part of reimagining education in the South means that we confront the historic inequities that work against our scholars and actively work to dismantle those inequities. We are doing this by intentionally creating environments that embrace, honor, and celebrate our scholars’ identities and experiences, as well as the identities and experiences of every member of our community. 

We are looking for determined Assistant Principal of Operations at the elementary, middle, or high school level to lock arms with our RePublic High School team in Nashville, TN for the 2024-25 school year. Candidates must share our unwavering belief that all children can achieve at high levels and change the world. Sound like you?

What You’ll Do

Overview

At RePublic, our school-based operations teams exist to block and tackle for staff to ensure that they can focus on what matters most each day - teaching and learning. Part architect, part-fine tuner, and all-seeing, the Assistant Principal of Operations is the operational leader of the school and reports directly to the Principal. The AP of operations creates and maintains all crucial non-instructional systems that enable our schools to run like clockwork to create an academic environment in which instruction is top priority.

RePublic’s APs of Operations are the business brains behind the school’s healthy existence: they’re responsible at the school level for the organization and management of the school’s finances, state and federal reporting, risk management, facilities planning and maintenance, transportation, technology, vendor relationships, student enrollment data, and staff compliance. A mastermind behind the scenes, the scene is better planned, organized, executed, documented, and communicated because of the AP of Operations and his/her leadership of each school’s Operations Team.

Key Responsibilities

• Operational Leadership Management

  • Develop systems and procedures to ensure seamless execution of all school operations each day, including, but not limited to, school food provision, student transportation (arrival and dismissal), emergency plans, facility maintenance and upkeep, and supply and asset inventory and maintenance (technology, books, classroom supplies, etc.).

  • Directly manage and coach a 2-3 person operations team at the school - including full-time, and any part time staff members or Operations fellows.

  • Provide critical academic support by working with the school-based leadership team to manage logistical elements of major student assessments; support the logistics of school-wide events and off-site events, including field trips, Family Nights, and New Student Orientations.

  • Coach the entire school-level team to operational excellence by ensuring operational systems are implemented with fidelity by all staff members and by giving feedback to stakeholders when systems are not meeting the bar of excellence.

  • Serve as a critical face of the school with external stakeholders, including families, and work actively to ensure strong community buy-in to the school’s vision and approach to education.

• Student Enrollment, Data Compliance 

  • Manage the school registration process and own student recruitment activities (with support of RePublic’s network team) to ensure schools are fully enrolled; \Serve as the resident expert on the student information system and ensure accuracy of this system;

  • Support the implementation of school schedule; and

  • Ensure the school is adhering to all local/state compliance and reporting requirements.

• School-level Finances and Human Resources

  • Actively manage the school budget by participating in monthly budget meetings to review budget variances and actively monitor school spending;

  • Manage the school purchasing process by establishing clear systems for staff to request items, placing orders with vendors, tracking delivery, and coding and submitting purchases orders, invoices, and reimbursement requests to the network team; and

  • Partner with network operations team to onboard new hires and to ensure teachers meet compliance and certification requirements.

Qualifications

Who You Are

Our ideal AP of Operations has an unwavering belief that our students can achieve at an exceptionally high level. Beyond that, he/she is:

• Leading for Racial Equity - We believe that racism’s legacy in education is most entrenched in the South. We look at ourselves first, reflect, and talk about the role racism plays in our lives. We work to be constantly anti-racist in our words and actions.

  • Deeply committed to serving our kids. You have elected to work with historically underserved students, and do this work because you believe that all students, regardless of background, are capable of excellence - and that it’s on us as adults to get our kids there. You can speak knowledgeably about our mission, and demonstrate a commitment to our educational model. You understand that educational inequity is more pronounced in the South than anywhere else in the nation, and you want to work with RePublic in part because of our commitment to this region.

• Strive for Excellence - We believe achieving excellence is a challenging journey. We maintain high standards and endeavor towards excellence each day.

  • Knowledgeable about the inner workings of schools and school-based Operations. You’ve got at least 3-5 years of experience teaching or working in operations in schools like ours - or in schools where you felt operational systems kept teachers from teaching and kids from learning.

  • A laser-focused systems builder who designs airtight systems and processes that endure over time and maximize efficiency. You anticipate where a system will break down before it ever stands a chance, and nothing makes you happier than when you see others implement this system like clockwork.

  • A detail maven and masterful executor. Your personal organization system ensures you get things done. You sweat the smallest of stuff, communicate effectively in all forms, and plan fervently backwards to meet timelines, achieve big goals, and manage complex projects with many moving pieces (and lots of involved stakeholders) across a finish line.

• Pursue Growth - We believe that we can and must get better. We constantly seek to both support each other and also improve our work.

  • A gritty problem-solver. You keep it cool when things are crazy, approach problems with viable solutions, and know when you need to roll up your sleeves to support your team.

  • A growth-minded tinkerer. You are self-aware and humble enough to understand where you rock, where you need to pick up your game, and how this impacts the people you lead. You seek feedback constantly because you’re hungry to get better, and you take extreme ownership of the outcomes of the people you coach and manage - you “pull back the thumb” before you “point the finger.”

• Create Joy - We believe that joy is the undercurrent of the work we do. We choose to see and create the joy that is within us and around us, and we actively work to spread that joy to others.

  • Customer service oriented. You want to be a servant leader, and are comfortable in leadership roles where your job is to make it easier for others to do theirs at an exceptionally high level.

• Become Better Together - We believe that each member of our community brings a unique and valuable perspective. We honor and celebrate these perspectives, and we know that our differences make us stronger.

  • A people leader. Let’s be real - managing people is hard. You’ve coached, directly managed, and demonstrably moved the effectiveness of other adults before taking this job. You build relationships across lines of difference, inspire and motivate others to buy into your vision, navigate challenging conversations with finesse, make tough calls, communicate effectively in all formats, give and receive feedback fluidly, and model/hold a high bar for adult excellence and exuberance.

• Other qualifications:

  • A bachelor’s degree with a preference for a graduate degree in a related field.

  • At least 1-2 years of leadership experience directly managing coaching adults required.

  • At least 3-5 years of teaching experience in K-12 with a track record of impressive student achievement results and/or other experience working in K-12 schools strongly preferred.

  • Familiarity/proficiency in Microsoft Excel and Google Office required.

  • Proficiency and experience in budget management oversight strongly preferred.