SY20-21 HS of Commerce Principal

Grade Level: 9-12

Start Date: July 1, 2020

The High School of Commerce seeks a Principal to work as an educational activist, instructional leader, and model for a mindset clearly focused on high aspirations for all students. Working in collaboration with Executive Principal, Paul Neal, the Principal will enjoy wide autonomy and oversight for the development of targeted instructional, operational, and cultural programs in the school. The Principal will have support for design and execution of programming from a robust team of assistant principals, academic and therapeutic supports, professional learning partners, and exceptional teachers. Program development and implementation can be linked to the school’s emerging one-of-a-kind Personalized Pathways approach that provides all students with a choice of three early college programs, providing an opportunity to earn up to 20 college credits, six applied career certificate programs, and/or three paid internship options, across three robust regional industries, including IT, Healthcare, and Advanced Manufacturing. The Principal can leverage any existing innovations at Commerce to support everyday instruction and support, including co-teaching, flexible scheduling for students, and extensive mentorship opportunities addressing academic, social, emotional, and behavioral needs.

Leading and Teaching in SEZP

SEZP is seeking educators at all levels who are excited and ready to make an impact in a collaborative, engaging, diverse, and high energy environment. We are seeking leaders who believe educators are activists - promising instructional access, rigor, advocacy, and a tenacious commitment to anti-racism for all students. SEZP leaders are expected to have:

• A commitment to equitable instruction for all learners.
• The principal will lead a team who believes that educators are activists, promising instructional access, rigor, advocacy, and a tenacious commitment to anti-racism for all students.
• A strong instructional vision for their school.
• Successful school leaders must galvanize teams around a teaching and learning vision that there are no ceilings to student success.
• A hunger to better your professional self, driven by humility and ambition.
• Leaders do not kid themselves about what they do and do not know; they challenge themselves to shore up weaknesses until the weaknesses are strengths. Successful school leaders, therefore, must be learners first and leaders second.
• An ability to clearly communicate and generate buy-in from a wide array of stakeholders.
• Leaders put together sophisticated school plans - in collaboration with their Teacher Leadership Team and broader faculty - that address both the strategic (mission and vision) and the tactical (scheduling, classroom transitions, etc.).  

Qualifications

• Demonstrated school leadership and supervision experience preferred
• Demonstrated success leading and directing strategic educational initiatives that result in measurable student outcomes and achievement preferred
• Appropriate admnistrator license (Principal/Assistant Principal) and grade level licensure from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education preferred
• Experience as an active anti-racist or advocate for equity preferred
• Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred
• 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 SEZP@springfieldempowerment.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. School leaders in SEZP qualify for benefits (personal/sick days, retirement, health insurance, etc.) offered to other principals in the Springfield Public Schools. Compensation in SEZP for experienced principals - who have a track record of accelerating student achievement in a turnaround environment - may start at $130,000. 

Positions will be filled on a rolling basis; applicants are encouraged to apply immediately. Please contact sezp@springfieldempowerment.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 more than 5,000 students in our eleven 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.

Title IX Notice of Nondiscrimination

Springfield Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. Springfield Public Schools is required by Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 not to discrimination on the basis of sex in admission, administration of its educational programs or activities or employment. The Senior Administrator of Human Resources, Kathleen O’Sullivan, Springfield Public Schools, 1550 Main St. Springfield MA, 011103, 413-787-7100, ext. 55428, has been designated as the employee responsible for coordinating Springfield Public Schools efforts to comply with and carry out its responsibilities under Title IX. Inquiries concerning the application of Title IX and its implementing regulations at 34 C.F.R. Part 106 to Springfield Public Schools may be referred to Kathleen O’Sullivan or to U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 400 Maryland Ave., SW Washington, DC 20202-1100, telephone 800-421-3481.