Principal (Elementary and Middle)

QUALIFICATIONS:

• A master’s degree with a major in educational administration and/or supervision
• A valid state certificate to practice as a school principal
• At least two years of experience as a teacher
• Such alternatives to the above qualifications as the Board may find appropriate and acceptable
• Good physical condition with the ability to lift 10 pounds

REPORTS TO: Superintendent

SUPERVISES:            Assistant Principal, Teaching staff and paraprofessional, other professional staff, all nonprofessional school staff, and other resource and service personnel while functioning in the assigned school

JOB GOAL:  By use of leadership, supervisory, and administrative skills, manage assigned school so as to promote the educational development of each student

PERFORMANCE RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Supervises the school’s educational program
• Recommend to the superintendent qualified professional, paraprofessional and non-certified personnel for Board approval
• Submit to the superintendent for his approval a written plan for his/her school for the ensuing year
• Assume the responsibility for the implementation and observance of all Board policies and regulations by the school’s staff and students
• Assume responsibility for overseeing the school plant and for the proper care of school property by the staff and students
• Supervise emergency preparedness programs (e.g. fire drill, tornado drills, etc.)
• Maintain high standards of student conduct and enforce discipline as necessary
• Supervise and evaluate the school’s extra-curricular programs
• Organize the work of staff members to secure their maximum contribution in the planning, execution, and evaluation of the overall school program
• Act as a liaison between the school and the community, interpreting activities and policies of the school and encouraging community participation in school life
• Schedule parent-teacher conferences
• Conduct faculty meetings as necessary to ensure the proper functioning of the school
• Attend administrative meetings as scheduled
• Attend Board meetings as needed
• Conduct formal teacher evaluations during the months of September through March of each school year
• Conduct formal evaluations of support service personnel annually
• Demonstrate the requirements of the administrator’s personnel appraisal instrument annually
• Assure that the approved personnel appraisal plan has been explained to all certified staff and is available to them in written form
• Assure that each certified staff member who fails one or more of the competencies will have appropriate professional development made available
• Ensure that the instructional management plan is used in all courses for which grades are given
• Monitor and report annually to the superintendent, the school board, and the community the extent to which students are mastering the objectives in each subject area in which grades are given
• Recommend and implement adjustments in the instructional management plan based upon evaluation results of core objectives
• Ensure that pupil promotion, retention, and graduation decisions are made based upon approved guidelines
• Ensure that every subject area for which students receive grades has evaluation procedures which test the state and district core objectives
• Distribute written rules about the disciplinary procedures of the school to parents, teachers, and students
• Manage school activities to avoid interruptions of the required school day and to restrain interruptions of the class setting
• Ensure that permanent and cumulative records for individual students contain academic achievement and other required data and are collected, maintained, and disseminated in compliance with Mississippi Code, sections 37-15-1 through 37-15-3, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy – Act of 1974
• Ensure that an annual pupil performance record, which indicates the core objectives to be mastered for all subjects for which grades are given and the individual student’s mastery or lack, therefore, is maintained
• Ensure that a permanent record of all essential objectives in the areas of reading, mathematics, and writing as cited in the Mississippi Curriculum Structure and tested through the Basic Skills Assessment Program and Functional Literacy Examination is maintained for each student
• Implement the procedure for reporting each student’s mastery or failure of core objectives to his/her parents or guardian
• Collect required building level data to be furnished to the instructional coordinator
• Distribute to students and parent the written rules of the Grading, Promotion, Retention, and Graduation Guidelines
• Ensure that each classroom teacher has a period of time during the teaching day unencumbered by instructional or supervisory responsibilities to be used for individual or departmental planning
• Ensure that teachers in all grades are limited to three-course preparations per day
• Provide the superintendent with a summary of students’ scores on the Mississippi Basic Skills Assessment Program
• Report to the superintendent the extent to which staff members have achieved designed job objectives
• Review each teacher’s and each instructional support staff member’s objectives for the semester/year
• Monitor teachers’ progress toward achieving objectives by requesting lesson plans and test on Fridays for the following week to verify sequencing of skills, delivery, activities, remediation, conformity with the instructional management plan and that teachers are testing the objectives taught
• Provide each teacher a checklist of lesson plan findings no later than Monday of each week and confer with teachers when inadequate planning activity is found
• Make frequent classroom observations of teachers to determine if daily lesson plans are being used and teachers are exhibiting the requirements of the personnel appraisal system
• Assure that daily lesson plans routinely provide for use of a teacher/test/reteach/retest cycle
• Provide specific training activities to help classroom teachers and support staff to improve inadequate instructional practice
• Monitor the results of teacher-made tests at the ends of each grading period
• Use exemplary teacher practices as models for professional development
• Collect data on disciplinary problems systematically and use the data to improve the disciplinary system
• Participate in professional development training sessions and conduct professional development meetings
• Monitor staff performance and behavioral change in relation to the professional development program and annually report findings to the school board
• Keep a continuing inventory of equipment and furnishings, which includes an evaluation of the condition and value of each item
• Serve as chairperson of the Local Survey Committee for Special Services and become actively involved on other assigned committees
• Perform such other tasks as may from time to time be assigned by the superintendent