SY25-26 Springfield Legacy Academy Bilingual Dean of Culture

Grade Level: 6-8

Start Date: August 18, 2025

Salary Range: $57,396 - $90,424

Responsibilities

The Dean of Culture is responsible for actively cultivating a positive, inclusive, and supportive learning environment by overseeing student behavior, promoting social-emotional learning, building community engagement, and ensuring consistent implementation of school-wide values and disciplinary practices, all while working collaboratively with staff, students, and parents to foster a strong school culture aligned to the school’s philosophy of repairing harm, building relationships, and fostering community. The Dean of Culture will ensure that fellow educators have the support needed to effectively build a supportive culture of high expectations for all students. 

• Culture Development:
• Foster an environment designed to allow all students to be happy, productive, and reach their full potential. 
• Implement and oversee an effective, building-wide, consistent student culture program aligned with the school's mission and values including regular (at least monthly) programming aligned to school values. 
• Work to elevate student voice as part of school culture work. 
• Implements strategies to promote student well-being, respect, and inclusivity. 
• Facilitate open communication and collaboration among students, staff, and parents to build a strong school community. 
• Continuously work to make the school a positive environment that values students, their families, and their culture, and consistently pushes them to work hard and achieve at high levels.
• Develop positive relationships with family members and the community.
• Serve as a representative of the school to the community; working with staff members to ensure that families are well-informed about what is happening in school and have other opportunities to interact positively with the school.
• Supervise public areas (such as hallways and other public spaces) when appropriate to reinforce school behavior expectations. 

• Student Behavior Management:
• Monitor and address student behavior issues through restorative practices, positive behavior interventions, and conflict resolution strategies. 
• Enforce school policies and disciplinary procedures fairly and consistently. 
• Develop positive relationships with students and consistently holding students to high expectations. 
• Consistently and fairly respond to students who have failed to meet school culture expectations; help to implement appropriate consequences and help students quickly become able to meet the school’s high expectations. 
• Work closely and effectively with students who have behavior challenges;  partner with families and school staff to execute individualized behavior interventions, when necessary. 
• Collaborate with teachers to address classroom management concerns and support student academic success. 

• Leadership and Staff Development:
• Train and coach staff on positive school culture practices, including social-emotional learning and effective classroom management. 
• Facilitate professional development opportunities for staff focused on building a positive school climate. 
• Lead school-wide initiatives to promote equity and inclusion. 
• Serve as the primary teacher leader defining and reinforcing school culture and expectations. 
• Help ensure school-wide consistency in implementation of culture expectations. Lead professional development training on positive school culture, effective classroom management, and other topics. 
• Provide planning support to teachers to help them improve classroom management and increase student engagement. 
• Observe teachers frequently and provide actionable feedback and coaching on how to improve student culture and classroom management. 
• Act as an exemplar for all staff by modeling positivity and high expectations for all students. 
• Reinforce a learning environment that sets high expectations for all students, with a recognition of the individual needs of students, including language and cultural differences, maturational differences, and differences in learning styles. 
• Work closely with school leaders to help ensure a positive staff culture; addressing challenges in staff culture positively and assertively.

• Data Analysis and Reporting:
• Regularly assess school climate through data collection and analysis of student behavior, surveys, and other relevant metrics. 
• Use data (including student attendance, student discipline records, student surveys) to identify areas for improvement and implement targeted interventions and student culture. 
• Prepare reports for school leadership detailing the school culture and key performance indicators. 

Qualifications

• Experience teaching at the middle and/or high school level 
• Appropriate content/program area and grade level license from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education required (Educators who are not licesed by MA DESE in the appropriate area or grade level may be eligible for a licensure waiver and are still encouraged to apply.)
• Experience as an active anti-racist or advocate for equity 
• Ability to lead and collaborate with teams to achieve shared goals 
• Strong understanding of student development, social-emotional learning, and restorative practices
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to effectively interact with diverse stakeholders 
• Bilingual in English and Spanish required
• Bachelor’s degree required 

If you meet some of the qualifications above, we encourage you to apply or to reach out for more information. We know that historically marginalized groups – including people of color, women, people from working class backgrounds, and people who identify as LGBTQ – are less likely to apply unless and until they meet every requirement for a job. Therefore, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or who are members of other marginalized communities.

We encourage you to reach out to info@sezp.org if you have questions about the role or your qualifications. We are happy to help you feel ready to apply!

Benefits

SEZP offers a competitive salary commensurate with experience; salaries for new teachers start at $57,396. Teachers in SEZP qualify for benefits (sick days, retirement, health insurance, etc.) offered to other teachers in the Springfield Public Schools.

In addition, there may be several opportunities unique to SEZP schools to increase earnings above base salary. While not guaranteed, those opportunities include, but are not limited to:

• Signing or relocation bonuses
• Expanded Learning Time stipends at some schools, based on the yearly schedule
• Empowerment Academies: Intervention and instruction opportunities we implement during February, April, and summer breaks, following an application and selection process

Positions will be filled on a rolling basis; applicants are encouraged to apply immediately. Please contact info@sezp.org with any questions.

About the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership

While Massachusetts is consistently ranked as one of the top states for education results in the country, we have one of the highest and most persistent opportunity gaps. The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) - established in 2015 as a collaboration between Springfield Public Schools (SPS), the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), and the Springfield Education Association (SEA) – seeks to improve the longitudinal life outcomes of the nearly 5,000 students in our seventeen middle and high schools.

As a “zone” of schools within the city of Springfield, SEZP’s approach draws on a deep and embedded partnership with the school district and local teachers’ union, while harnessing the flexibility and innovation found in autonomous school models. As a result, each school within SEZP is accorded significant school-based autonomies - in curriculum, talent, calendar, schedule, and budget – while being held accountable for realizing achievement gains for historically marginalized students. In all of our work, SEZP is in pursuit of equity and anti-racism – acknowledging the systemic oppression our students and families encounter daily and working to disrupt these provision gaps urgently and courageously.

Nondiscrimination Statement

The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, ancestry, age, disability or military service or marital status. The Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate in admission to, access or treatment in its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation, disability or homelessness.

NOTICE OF SEX NONDISCRIMINATION

Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex and prohibits sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, in any education program or activity that it operates, as required by Title IX and its regulations, including in admission and employment.

Inquiries about Title IX may be referred to the Springfield Public Schools’ Title IX Coordinator, titleix@springfieldpublicschools.com, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights at https://ocrcas.ed.gov/contact-ocr, or both.

The Springfield Public Schools Title IX Coordinator is Katie O’Sullivan, Senior Administrator of Human Resources, 1550 Main Street, Springfield, MA 01103, 413-787-7100 ext. 55428, titleix@springfieldpublicschools.com.  

Springfield Public School’s sex nondiscrimination policy and grievance procedures can be located on the Springfield Public Schools website, www.springfieldpublicschools.com/non-discrimination

To report information about conduct that may constitute sex discrimination or make a complaint of sex discrimination under Title IX, please refer to titleix@springfieldpublicschools.com

Salary : $57,396 - $90,424