[2024 - 2025] KIPP Durham Middle Director of Operations ($25,000 salary boost)

Organizational Overview

Leading a school is one of the absolute hardest professions in the world. 

Leading a school turnaround is a whole other level of hard. The reality of too many of our country’s schools—especially those serving low-income and other marginalized communities coming out of a global health crisis and with a century of systemic under-investment—is that the academic achievement of their students doesn’t match their students' brilliance, and their student culture does not create an environment where each and every student is seen, valued, and loved. 

KIPP Durham Middle School on the east side of Durham, North Carolina, has been one such school. Every 6-8-Grade student in our classrooms today is brilliant, but our efforts over the past decade have not successfully harnessed that collective brainpower to get exceptional results on North Carolina’s state middle school exams in reading, math, and science, the benchmarks that ensure they are on track towards being academically prepared to lead the choice-filled lives they envision for themselves.

KIPP North Carolina, in partnership with the leaders and national resources of the KIPP Foundation, is seeking to change that reality. 

For the 2024-25 school year (and for the next two school years after that), we are assembling a dream team of 18 exceptional professionals—master teachers, instructional leaders, operational leaders, special education experts, and other supporters of learning—who are eager to “re-found” our Durham middle school to create a dynamic and engaging middle school learning environment that maximizes our 160 students’ limitless potentials. 

The Director of Operations we are seeking to join (and help lead) our team will be an individual who will work passionately to ensure that our faculty maximizes time and energy on student achievement. The Director of Operations will design, implement, and refine systems that anticipate the needs of our school community. As a service-oriented leader, this individual will solve problems, respond to urgent needs, and share best practices with other Directors of Operations at other schools across KIPP NC. The Director of Operations will be a key senior leader of our school who partners with other members of the leadership team to create an academic and cultural environment that allows all our students to thrive. 

While we founded the school in 2015, we are treating 2024-25 as a re-founding school year, an endeavor that requires a staff with a founder’s mentality around doing what it takes, making it happen, sweating the small stuff, and creating a reimagined reality for our students.

CRUCIAL COMPETENCIES

Our Director of Operations will blow the following four crucial competencies* out of the water:

Driving for Results : Our Director of Operations will have a strong desire to achieve outstanding student learning results and the task-oriented actions required for success. Our Director of Operations will set high goals for themselves and all students, making persistent, well-planned efforts to achieve these goals despite barriers and resistance; holding others accountable for doing their part to achieve results; and putting in all the extra effort necessary to ensure success. 

Influencing for Results : Our Director of Operations will motivate others—students, staff, families, other stakeholders—and influence their thinking and behavior to obtain outstanding student learning results. Our Director of Operations will understand that they cannot accomplish change alone, but instead must influence the work of others. They will use a variety of influencing moves—inspiring students, nurturing ridiculously joyful AND rigorous schoolwide cultures, grasping and responding to unspoken student needs and motivations, and simultaneously supporting and prodding colleagues to collaborate on the path to schoolwide success—as the situation requires. The relationships they will form are for the purpose of influencing others to enhance student learning, not just for the purpose of personal bonding. 

Problem-Solving : Our Director of Operations will be LASER FOCUSED on planning, organizing, and delivering high quality supports for our teachers, staff, students, and families, AND they will continually analyze data to determine student learning needs and next steps for intervention blocks during the day, on select weekend academies, and during summers (while running summer academies during select weeks and leading summer teacher professional development sessions during other select weeks).

Personal Effectiveness : Our Director of Operations will exhibit flexibility and optimism when faced with stressful, uncomfortable, and unfamiliar situations; maintain confidence in themselves and a willingness to keep improving despite the many challenges of their role; actively embrace the constant changes needed to ensure student learning in high-challenge situations; and hold and maintain a strong belief in the human potential for learning and improvement, despite significant societal pressures to settle for less. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES

School Operations Leadership & Operations Team Management

• In partnership with the Principal and the Regional Director of Operations, develop the schoolwide operations vision that supports and operationalizes the academic and cultural vision of the school
• Work with the People Operations team to hire school operations team members
• Manage, coach, and develop school operations team members (including front office staff, facilities staff, and vendors), and hold them accountable to goals and outcomes
• Serve as the primary point of contact for the KIPP NC Regional Support Operations Team, collaborating with teammates across the region to build scalable, region-wide systems, policies, and procedures

Finance & Purchasing

• Work with the KIPP NC Finance Team to actively manage the school’s budget and collaborate with the Principal to make financial decisions
• Lead the school purchasing process by establishing clear school systems for staff to request items; submit purchase orders, reimbursement requests, approve purchases, and support employees with required purchases placing orders with vendors, tracking delivery, coding and submitting invoices; approve school purchases under a specific financial threshold
• Serve as the first school-based point of contact regarding finance and work with the regional Finance team to ensure financial compliance and reporting

Facilities & Maintenance

• In partnership with the Facilities Manager,  oversee facilities issues, including maintenance, managing staff/vendors, aesthetics, shared space agreements, and campus safety
• Regularly conduct facilities walkthroughs and liaises with custodial staff/vendors to ensure that the facility looks the best it can
• Ensure that the main office is neat, organized, welcoming, and has all important public-facing materials

Student & Family Services (School Ops; Communications; Field Trips/Events)

• Serve as the eyes and ears of the school to ensure that all school operations run seamlessly each and every day, proactively problem solving and developing systems where needed
• Work closely with the Food Service Management Company to coordinate breakfast and lunch schedules to ensure students receive high quality meals daily
• Submit student attendance daily to the school nutrition director
• Oversee all aspects of transportation including, arrival and dismissal procedures
• Create and manage staff duty schedules in order to ensure coverage during peak student movement
• Own logistics of communications and external relations through family letters, weekly staff notes, and surveys
• Own all logistics (e.g., transportation, lodging, meals, and staffing plan) of all off-site field trips and all on-site special events (Report Card Nights, Performances, Graduation, staff celebrations)
• Serves as point person for hosting school tours
• Participate as a member of the attendance team, helping to reduce the chronic absenteeism rate, the total loss of academic hours, and increase overall attendance

Technology & Equipment

• Ensures that students and staff have access to needed technology and works with the Technology Team to plan technology related enhancements
• Lead the school opening/start up process each year to ensure that doors are ready to open by ordering furniture, equipment, instructional supplies, and ensuring that student services (e.g. food service, transportation) are ready to go
• Manage the school’s supply and asset inventory (e.g. computers, textbooks)

Student Information, Testing, and Academic Operations Support

• Manage systems for and maintain accurate student data and information in compliance with federal, state, regional and school expectations
• Act as point of contact for all things related to the SMS (Powerschool/Infinite Campus) such as establishing rosters, class schedules, etc.
• Works with the principal or AP to manage the logistical elements of all major student assessments
• Manages logistics of report cards/progress reports/transcripts

Student Recruitment & Enrollment

• Develop and manage student recruitment strategy to ensure that the school begins the academic year with full classes and actively recruits to fill open seats
• Supervise the enrollment, transfer, and re-enrollment process for students and the preparation of related files
• Prepare and manage the student enrollment and attendance reporting for their school
• Ensure that family info sessions, school tours, and the lottery and enrollment process are tightly planned and executed

Risk Management, Compliance, and People Operations Administration

• Ensure that the school is prepared for emergencies by conducting all drills and training staff on emergency plans
• Partner with the regional Talent Acquisition Team on the new hire process
• Ensure that school staff have complete, current, and accurate employee files and certifications; all personnel interacting with students have background checks on file; and schools comply with all areas of legal compliance (e.g., HR, FERPA)
• Partner with the regional People Operations team on any action items related to supporting the onboarding and exiting of employees
• In collaboration with the Principal and other school leaders, review, approve, and deny PTO (personal time off) requests
• Review time-off data to ensure accuracy and assess leave trends
• Communicate leave needs (FMLA, Parental Leaves, COVID) and critical dates to the People Operations team, and assist in facilitation of employee leaves and returns.

QUALIFICATIONS

The following are required of the KIPP Director of Operations:

• A deep commitment to the mission of KIPP NC and an unwavering belief in the potential of all our students
• An unwavering commitment to anti-racism, equity, inclusion, and liberation
• A deep commitment to both racial equity and improving the lives of kids from economically marginalized communities
• At least 2-3 years of full time work experience in business operations
• Demonstrated management and leadership skills (e.g., at least 2 years managing a team or multiple large projects)
• Strong project and time management skills; ability to effectively backwards plan, juggle multiple priorities with great attention to detail, and deliver consistent and timely results
• Strong strategic and analytical skills with an aptitude for shifting from fire-fighting to systems-building
• Customer service mindset, and shows urgency and the ability to proactively solve problems and make decisions quickly
• Team player with strong interpersonal and stakeholder management and relationship building skills
• Ability to lead, influence, and hold others accountable to upholding high standards of operational excellence
• High level of comfort with financial oversight and budgetary tracking
• Ability to be calm under pressure, especially in difficult conversations with parents and staff
• Excellent organizational, verbal, and written communication skills
• Excellent computer skills, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, Microsoft Excel, and Google Sheets/Docs
• A Bachelor’s degree
  • Masters of Business Administration, Masters of Education, or similar degree preferred
• Pass Criminal Background Check
• Fluency in Spanish is preferred

Additional Notes

• Hours are Monday-Friday, 7:30 AM – 5:00 PM (these are work hours for staff, not school hours for students)
• Some Saturday/weekend commitments will be required for additional tutoring and intervention work with students
• Durham Middle staff will be expected to help run summer academies in the Summers of 2025, 2026, and 2027

Total Benefits

All KIPP Durham Middle staff will be paid on the KIPP Durham 2024-25 Compensation Model (linked to model) and paid according to their years of relevant experience and educational attainment.

In addition, the KIPP Durham Director of Operations will receive:

• A $25,000 salary boost to recognize their investment in KIPP Durham Middle’s re-founding
• Opportunity to earn supplements for a relevant PhD, additional licensure endorsements, National Board Certification, and teaching in high needs areas (these supplements are in perpetuity and in addition to base salary)
• Health Insurance: State Health Plan with low premiums for individuals and deep discounts for spouses, dependents, and families
• Paid Parental Leave: 8 weeks of 100% paid maternity leave and 4 weeks of 100% paid paternity leave
• Paid Time Off + Sick Leave: 5 days of PTO and 6 sick days every year
• Retirement: An optional 403b with a generous employer match with immediate vesting
• Relocation Assistance: If you need to move 200 miles or more to the Triangle to take this opportunity, KIPP North Carolina will provide you with up to $5,000 to support your moving expenses. This will be determined based on the distance of your move.

Important Note: This incredible opportunity to magnetize a Dream Team staff to Durham Middle starting in the 2024-25 school year is made possible by the national KIPP Foundation. Their commitment to KIPP NC is for three school years (2024-25, 2025-26, and 2026-27). After those three years, we will reassess our approach and resource allocation model. We are asking all successful candidates in this role to commit to the entirety of those three years (with a TBD for 2027-28 and beyond!). 

*We are forever indebted to Public Impact, a North Carolina-based non-profit organization dedicated to an excellent education for all students and excellent careers for all educators through its national Opportunity Culture initiative, for this language and framework.