Chief Schools Officer

About the Opportunity

Reporting to the CEO, the Chief Schools Officer will be a critical member of the senior leadership team and is responsible for ensuring a 100% renewal rate for all schools across the DPPS multi-state network. The Chief Schools Officer will be charged with leading the work that ensures all Democracy Prep schools are delivering on their promise to students and families by running high-performing schools that provide a transformational education. The Chief Schools Officer sets direction for our schools and is fully responsible for principal management and the implementation of school functions and programs.

The Chief Schools Officer is also responsible for driving the school culture vision for the network and is ultimately accountable for network-wide school culture metrics, including scholar suspension and attrition rates. The Chief Schools Officer is responsible for ensuring Democracy Prep meets or exceeds school culture benchmarks as outlined in our multi-year strategic plan.

Who You Are

• A leader and educator with an unwavering commitment to the Democracy Prep mission of college success and authentic civic engagement for all scholars, especially those with significant challenges.
• A highly-effective educator who has a clear track record of raising student achievement for at least ten years as both a teacher and a school leader.
• A self-reflective and self-aware leader who is dedicated to and supports Democracy Prep's commitment to antiracism and who is eager to further a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• A professional who values diverse perspectives and is committed to empowering young people and to lifting up and working alongside communities.
• An expert at translating academic standards and state assessment requirements into effective instructional design.
• An experienced coach with demonstrated success in building and developing the leadership capacity in others.
• An excellent writer and skilled orator who can easily connect with scholars, families, staff, and community members and effectively tailor communication to multiple stakeholder groups.
• A data-informed leader, adept at data analysis, with the ability to extract meaningful insights from data across multiple schools and who is willing to reevaluate one’s understanding based on new information and data.
• A leader with experience analyzing and managing budgets as well as strategizing in service of excellent academic and civics outcomes given limited resources available. 
• A graduate of a Bachelor’s degree program (required), Master's degree in related field (preferred).

What You’ll Do

• Manage, coach and develop Deputy Superintendents to ensure the schools in their regions are meeting their goals and remain compliant with all state, local and authorizer mandates. 
• Set a strong vision for school leadership and principal management at Democracy Prep Public Schools to be executed through management of each Democracy Prep Deputy Superintendent.
• Provide guidance and support to principal managers on all elements of running a high-performing school, including but not limited to excellent K-12 instruction, school culture and climate, teacher and leader development, talent, budget, etc.
• Partner with the Chief Academic Officer to ensure the entire organization is leading for learning (e.g. teacher observations are held sacred in frequency and quality across all schools, teacher feedback is delivered in writing and in practice-based one-on-one coaching sessions at a regular cadence for emerging, developing, and master teachers, curriculum is being implemented to fidelity in each school, and the assessment strategy is rigorous, customized to the needs of the population, and strictly adhered to by school-based teammates and Network based support staff, including the execution of data-driven remediation blocks).
• Partner with the Chief Academic Officer to design and lead systematic execution of the fall and spring school review process across all Democracy Prep regions, through strong management of Deputy Superintendents.
• Develop a rigorous, research-based school culture vision which includes a plan for world class social-emotional supports for all scholars.
• Create the conditions for an inclusive campus environment that values and respects all students and families within every Democracy Prep school.
• Lead strategic culture planning processes for the network and for each region in order to set goals and priorities, including: 
• Defining focal areas for Democracy Prep’s Purpose over Power framework and the execution of tiered behavior management systems, 
• Working closely with the Director of Scholar Support to ensure that excellent restorative circles and other defined practices are implemented with fidelity in all Democracy Prep schools, 
• Pursuing opportunities for professional development for teachers and leaders around implementation of a support school culture for all scholars.
• Develop and drive the systems/processes to assess progress against our vision.
• Use data to progress monitor and drive interventions that lead to increased school performance.
• Identify and leverage internal and external bright spots to continuously enhance our school model and support practices.
• Analyze and manage budget strategy in service of excellent academic and civics outcomes, in contexts where given limited resources are available. 
• Serve internally and externally (e.g., at Board meetings and gatherings with key community partners) as a representative of Democracy Prep's leadership team. 
• Serve as a senior leader for Democracy Prep and steward of adult culture who moves the network forward in achieving its goals, helps make decisions about our strategic priorities, and models the network’s core values both to internal and external stakeholders.

Compensation

Salary range is $240,000-$275,000, commensurate with your experience. Democracy Prep employees are provided with a benefits package that includes medical, vision, and dental insurance, 403B matching, and parental leave.

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Democracy Prep is an Equal Opportunity Employer and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, or ancestry, sex, age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, familial status, domestic violence victim status, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Our mission is to educate responsible citizen-scholars who will change the world. We strongly believe that by building a DREAM team that represents numerous perspectives, backgrounds, and expertise, we can achieve this goal together. This is a value we highly support and strongly encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. 

Client-provided location(s): New York, NY

Job ID: 7527998

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2026-01-09T23:32:01