Middle School Principal (2023-2024)

Overview _____________________________________________________________________

The role of Principal at Memphis Rise Academy serves as the daily manager of all school-based staff within the school, including the Instructional Team, operations staff, and culture staff.  The Principal is charged with ensuring that the school operates a sound, positive culture that allows for seamless operations and powerful academics within the building.  Principals, through both direct management as well as delegation, must be ready to approach each day, week, and quarter as a unique challenge, setting a dynamic vision for their school in tandem with the Executive Director and Network staff, such that their school is adequately responding to the inevitable challenges inherent within the pursuit of an excellent school environment as well as actively planning for ways the school can continuously improve.

Responsibilities ________________________________________________________________

The responsibilities of the role of Middle School Principal listed below represent the broad categories within which a Principal works, rather than the granular details of the day-to-day flow of the role. The Middle School Principal is, above all, the person responsible for ensuring alignment to the overall vision of Memphis Rise Academy, the programmatic quality of Memphis Rise Academy Middle School, and for defining and following through on the staff, student, and family experience. Very little happens within the school that the Principal is not (at minimum) aware of or (much more frequently) involved in. The Middle School Principal should not consider any element of the regular operation of the school to be outside their role – rather, they should consider how they can support every element of the school through providing support to stakeholders, and serving as the vision-aligned guiding voice when decisions need to be made.

Vision Setting and Follow-Through

·      Set, communicate, train to execution of, and maintain focus on the annual programmatic vision for Memphis Rise Academy Middle School, in aligment with the wider network vision for Memphis Rise Academy, and in collaboration with other members of the Senior Leadership Team

·      Continuously evaluate the alignment of vision to reality, and collaborate with other school leaders to identify and plan solutions to roadblocks impeding full execution of the vision

·      Use all available resources to ensure that the daily operation of the school meets the standard set by the vision for stakeholder experience and prioritization of academic growth

Direct Coaching

·      Serve as the primary coach for any Middle School team member who is not otherwise being coached by a member of the Academic team. This may include (but may not be limited to) Assistant Teachers, Elective Teachers, Special Education Teachers, and/or ESL Teachers

·      As a coach, provide the primary support structure for each individual being coached, holding consistent check-ins that centered around feedback based on observation of practice, and growth toward longer-term collectively identified goals

Creation of Professional Culture

·      Work with the Executive Director to establish and maintain clearly articulated roles and responsibilities for all positions within the Middle School team

·      Provide needed support for all team members to meet the school’s professional expectations, both general and role-specific. When needed, work directly with team members to create action plans for growth toward fidelity to professional expectations

Shared Leadership

·      Serve as a member of the Senior Leadership Team, making collaborative decisions for the entire school, and advocating for Middle School-specific needs

·      Using the collective Middle School vision to lead the Middle School Leadership Team, seeking ideas from and delegating execution elements to all members

·      Work with Middle School Dean(s) of Students to define and support a cultural vision for Memphis Rise Academy Middle School, train staff on execution of this vision, uphold expectations through support of individual student intervention at all levels

·      Work with Director(s) of Curriculum and Instruction to support the implementation of and fidelity to a network academic vision across the Middle School

·      Work with Network Director of Operations to support the implementation of and fidelity to a network operational vision across the Middle School, including direct support of the Middle School Operations Manager’s role in ensuring efficient daily school operations

Ideal Candidates _______________________________________________________________

·      Required: Bachelor’s degree; master’s degree in a related field preferred

·      Required: At least 5-7 years working in school-based education at the middle school level, at least 2 years of school-based education leadership experience preferred (Experience in a high-performing charter middle school environment preferred)

·      Required: Valid teaching license in Tennessee, or ability to be licensed by the beginning of the employment term

·      Required: Experience working with, communicating with, and developing solutions to complex problems with a team of educators from a position of management or co-management, especially in the middle school setting

·      Required: Experience executing professional development or staff meetings to groups of 10-30

·      Preferred: Experience with data systems management, including independent and group action planning around data

Memphis Rise Academy is open to a wide variety of candidates and has a history of hiring candidates with vastly disparate background and experience.

Our ideal candidates are individuals who understand that doing the best we can for students every day is the ultimate goal, and reaching that goal requires flexibility, creativity, true belief in the potential of our students and school, and an asset-based mindset towards all school stakeholders.  We believe that every person in every role on our school team is an integral part of the student experience, and shares responsibility for creating consistency within that experience.  Our ideal candidate would share these beliefs and be dedicated to creating executing the duties of the role in a way that is aligned to the school’s vision and core values.

Role Specifications __________________________________________________________

FLSA Status: Exempt

Time: Full-Time

Supervisory Responsibilities: Direct supervisor of all Middle School leadership, instructional, and ancillary staff (approximately 30-35 people)

Travel: Rare (5 or fewer days per year)

Physical Demands: This position may require lifting up to 50 pounds.

Work Environment: The majority of this role is completed in a school setting, which is made up of work in offices, classrooms, and other public areas of a school building.

The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change or new ones may be assigned at any time with or without notice.

Memphis Rise Academy provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

How to Apply__________________________________________________________________

To apply for any open position at Memphis Rise Academy, send a resume and cover letter to careers@memphisrise.org.