Charles R. Drew Charter School has retained Southern Teachers Agency to conduct the search for its Founding Senior Academy Principal.   Founded in 2000 as Atlanta's first charter school, Drew Charter is the centerpiece of the nationally renowned East Lake community revitalization effort that began in 1995.  In just ten years, Drew Charter has grown from a start-up school with the lowest test scores in the Atlanta Public School's system to become one of the highest performing schools in the district, educating about 1000 students in prekindergarten through grade eight and an additional 300 in early learning programs.  The mission of Drew Charter is to work together as a community of teachers, staff members, students, families and volunteers to provide a learning environment that emphasizes high achievement and character development.

The new Senior Academy will expand this mission and will complete the cradle-to-college pipeline that the East Lake Foundation envisioned when it founded Drew Charter.  The Senior Academy project is well underway; groundbreaking is in January 2013 and community support is strong.  Finding an exemplary leader to be the Founding Senior Academy Principal is the highest priority for Drew Charter at this point in its history.

Like all great career opportunities, this position has clear and lofty goals:

• Hire faculty and staff who are excellent practitioners and fully committed to the East Lake community mission, Drew Charter School, and the cradle-to-college initiative
• Work with the Head of School and the rest of the administrative team to fully implement a cohesive, Project-Based Learning curriculum that supports Drew's STEAM program
• Establish a culture of excellence comparable to that already found in grades prekindergarten through eight program by starting with 100 freshman in the 2013-14 school year in a temporary building
• Leverage existing while also creating new community partnerships
• Transition the Senior Academy to the new 200,000-square-foot facility to be completed by 2014
• Achieve a 100% graduation rate and 100% college attendance for all Drew Charter graduating classes, starting with class of 2017
• By 2023, establish a full Senior Academy with 600 students achieving at the very top of their ability while being provided innovative, sound, instruction from highly qualified and committed teachers

The Senior Academy Principal search committee is fully aware that only a select few leaders in the educational world have the ability and commitment to deliver on these objectives.  However, nothing accomplished at East Lake and Drew Charter has come without hard work and the talents and commitment of great men and women.  Drew Charter now seeks another such great person who will make the success of the program a personal responsibility.

For more information including application instructions, we invite you to review the full position profile available at www.SouthernTeachers.com. Candidates with questions should contact Mr. Jamie Estes at Estes@SouthernTeachers.com.