Community School Director

Areté Education

Areté Education extends the traditional school day, week, and year with enhanced learning experiences that are fully integrated into school communities. Areté Education motivates students with aspirational and experiential learning in a nurturing and rigorous environment where they acquire and develop the skills and knowledge to succeed in school and beyond.

Since 2012, Areté Education has partnered with NYC DOE schools to deliver an innovative and robust expanded day program to elementary, middle, and high school students. We are seeking candidates for the full-time position of Community School Director to further the integration and alignment of school and community- based services throughout the expanded learning day and expanded school year through summer programming. We are hiring four Community School Directors to work at one of four locations that include Harlem, Bronx, and Brooklyn for the 2023-2024 school year.

Community Schools Director Overview:

Community Schools are a strategy to organize resources and share leadership to integrate social services into the fabric of the schools. Community Schools align resources with vision and purpose resulting in improved student learning, stronger families, and healthier communities.

Community Schools offer a holistic approach toward improving academic performance driven by strong, collaborative partnerships among principals, parents, teachers, and CBOs. In Community Schools, parents are real and active partners in their children’s education, the school climate is joyful and positive, and expanded learning opportunities are abundant.

Core outcomes are two-fold. At the student-level, community schools aim for increased attendance and student engagement; connectedness to adults; development of social and emotional skills; and improved academic performance. At the school-level, community schools aim for improved school culture; more actively engaged families; and seamless service delivery with partner organizations.

Community Schools Director Job Responsibilities:


School Partnership-Building:

• Serve as an advisor to the principal, providing leadership for coordinating the work of different partners within the school and aligning the work of partners with the school faculty. 


• Work with school leadership to maintain a focus on results and track progress.

• Organize Community School Team (CST) Meetings. Support the development and

  implementation of the school’s Community School Plan

• Develop strong relationships with parents, students, and teachers to ensure that all

  stakeholders understand what a community school is and how it supports student achievement. 


Expanded Learning Time (ELT):

• Work with SLT, teachers, and partner agencies to integrate expanded learning and enrichment activities before, during or after the school day as well as through the expanded school year (summer programming).
• Build relationships and mechanisms to effectively link the school day to expanded learning activities. Assist in identifying outside providers, as necessary.

Attendance Improvement:

• Serve as key member on school’s attendance team, including (but not limited to) using the New Visions data tools for tracking and coordinating student interventions. Assist with data collection and research, and prepare relevant data to bring to meetings.
• Organize and oversee assets and needs assessments and seek input from teachers, school staff, parents, and students to determine ongoing needs of students and families. Identify high need students, coordinate with teachers to target interventions, and track and monitor impact of interventions. 


Family Engagement Support: 


• Work with Executive Director, Principal, SLT, and Parent Coordinator to implement a transformative model of family engagement that creates strong school-to-home partnerships for learning. 

• Plan, coordinate, and support special events that promote family engagement. 


Coordination of Social Services: 


• Serve as a point person for coordinating vision screenings, mental health services, and physical health services in conjunction with the Office of Community Schools. 


• Identify local community resources and broker new partnerships that are aligned with school goals and needs. 


​​​​​​​Requirements and Qualifications: 


• Relevant Master’s Degree preferred.

• At least five years leadership experience.

• Bi-lingual skills (English/Spanish) preferred. 


• Ability to work effectively with school aged youth, educators, families, and communities from a wide range of cultural, social, and economic backgrounds. 


• At least three years experience working in school-based settings, with knowledge about tenants of community organizing, student support services, and youth development theories. 


• Ability to work collaboratively, with strong relationship building and communication skills. 


• Will require extended hours and some Saturdays. 


• Department of Health and Department of Education fingerprinting and clearance required. 


• Must remain in compliance with Areté Education policies, regulations, and operational procedures, as outlined in the Employee Handbook. 


• Other duties may be assigned. 


​​​​​​​EEO STATEMENT: We are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer, and do not discriminate in our selection, hiring, fellowship or employment practices. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, or any other characteristic protected by State or Federal law.