Director of School Operations

Overview

Rainbow Montessori Community School (RMCS) is a local education agency (LEA) and public Montessori program that will operate a single school serving children in PK4-age 8 beginning August 2025, with an intimate founding cohort of 10 PK4 students and 30 students between the ages of 5 and 7 years old in the Linden neighborhood of Columbus, OH.

The mission of Rainbow Montessori Community School (RMCS) is to provide quality, tuition-free Montessori education that fosters holistic child development and empowers students to thrive in a diverse and interconnected global community. We believe in creating a nurturing and innovative educational hub that inspires lifelong learning, critical thinking, and compassion, regardless of socioeconomic background or ethnicity.

Rainbow Montessori Community School is one part of a larger Wildflower ecosystem of decentralized Montessori micro-schools that support children, teachers, and parents. Wildflower Montessori schools prioritize the well-being of the whole child—mind, body, senses, and spirit—with an emphasis on connection to nature. Rainbow Montessori is committed to trusting, respecting, and empowering children to be active participants in their own education and being a space where they can bring their whole selves

everyday.

Your Role

As the Founding Operations Partner at Rainbow Montessori Community School (RMCS), you will lead most operational functions, establishing foundational systems and processes to support the planned growth of our school. At the same time, you will co-create and implement what’s needed to efficiently run a micro-school, operationalizing the vision of the founding team.

The Founding Operations Partner will report to the Rainbow Montessori Board of Directors. You will bring your attention to detail and project management skills to building core systems, processes and policies across the following operational functional areas:

• Admissions and Enrollment

• Data and Compliance

• Facilities (including support for technology infrastructure)

• Health and Safety

• Food and Nutrition

• Finance and Procurement

• Human Resources and Talent

• Academic Program Support

As a founding team member, you will ebb and flow between a team collaborator, lead, and advice giver in executing critical planning year tasks and in the transition to the first school year. Additionally, in our first year, all founding staff members will have critical roles and duties in the day-to-day operations of Rainbow Montessori Community School.

Your Ethos

This robust founding role requires that the Operations Partner embodies certain mindsets and habits. These characteristics include but are not limited to:

Desire to learn and grow. You are eager to stretch beyond your current experience, develop new skills and expertise, and more deeply explore your purpose and potential.

Commitment to practicing emotional intelligence. All staff participate in a system of governance in which autonomy is valued, and power is distributed. Our roles evolve regularly as our work and the surrounding circumstances change, and we rely on radical transparency, requesting and sharing advice with one another, a commitment to participation in conflict resolution practices, and clearly articulated roles and responsibilities to ensure that each staff member is able to lead within their respective roles. The tenants of Emotional Intelligence—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management—support us in fully engaging in our autonomous system of governance.

Designer’s mindset. You are adaptive and ready to iterate on plans and designs as new information becomes available. You tackle new experiences and projects with curiosity and candor.

Entrepreneurial leadership. You are flexible, open-minded, see opportunity in obstacles, and are energized by using creativity and resourcefulness to anticipate challenges and create solutions to problems.

Generosity of spirit. You build authentic relationships in diverse settings, practice gratitude, and lead with love. You seek advice openly and are comfortable working in a non-hierarchical organization.

Commitment to serving diverse and multifaceted communities. You are eager to increase access to Montessori for racially and socioeconomically diverse communities and are deeply committed to supporting the development of intersectional communities. You understand the role race, along with ethnicity, gender/gender identity and sexual orientation, play in contributing to persistent inequity. You have engaged in culturally responsive and anti-racist practices with the students and families you serve. Decision-making rooted in a liberated vision of what is possible. Beginning with the end in mind, your visions for how to operationalize the core values of Rainbow Montessori Community School are rooted in a future world where liberty and justice are truly for all. With this vision in mind, you co-create student- and family-facing experiences with those most closely impacted, balancing the various needs of internal and external stakeholders—Teacher Leaders, staff, volunteers, board members,

donors, and partners—and ensure smooth and efficient operations across school sites.

Willingness to bring your full self to this work as the culture shaper. You have the aptitude, stamina, time, and appetite to raise yourself to the challenge of starting and supporting social entrepreneurs (the Teacher Leaders) who are launching unique intimate school communities. You will be a key leader who weaves and supports the interdependence across classroom sites.

Your Experience

You are an experienced school or community-based operations team member looking for a new opportunity. You are ready to take on more responsibilities and lead collaboratively with a newly forming leadership team and school community. In addition, the Founding Operations Partner should have:

• At least 6 years of experience in a school or related social service field

• A Bachelor's Degree or higher

• Proficiency or advanced knowledge of Excel and/or other data analysis software

• Proficiency or advanced skill in project management Benefits

As a founding team member, you will have the opportunity to shape the culture of RMCS. In addition, you will:

• Join a team that invites deep connections beyond work. Rainbow Montessori Community School intends to support students in understanding their whole selves, so we create an environment that is inclusive and we invite each new member into conscious relationship

• Participate in a non-hierarchical, flexible exchange between your role as “lead” and “advice giver.” You navigate this dynamic role through clarity on your role, your individual strengths, and clear co-created accountability maps.

• Work with small team of highly experienced individuals working to actualize a more

liberated culture of being in community together

• Work from home or a shared workspace during the planning year (all staff are based in the Greater Columbus area.)

• Comprehensive benefits package including staff retirement savings option and generous leave, and an individual professional development stipend

Salary Range: $65,000-$75,000 commensurate with experience

Ideal Start Date: February 1, 2025.

Please apply by sending your resume. We will review applications on a rolling basis into late-January, then will invite promising candidates to interview and meet the founding team.

***

Rainbow Montessori Community School shall not discriminate, on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, sex or gender, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, status with regard to public assistance, or in any other way based on personal identity markers that do not relate to the capacity of an individual person to carry out the responsibilities of a role.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $65,000.00 - $75,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Life insurance
• Retirement plan

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Monday to Friday

Ability to Commute:

• Columbus, OH 43201 (Required)

Ability to Relocate:

• Columbus, OH 43201: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Willingness to travel:

• 25% (Preferred)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $65,000 - $75,000