Description

Great Oaks Legacy Charter School in Newark, NJ is seeking a Dean of Students//Dean of Culture to join our High School or Middle School leadership team.

Job Description

Great Oaks Legacy is seeking an experienced, like-minded urban educator to join our leadership team. The Dean of Students/Dean of Culture is responsible for shaping and sustaining a school culture of discipline and warmth while ensuring that the students internalize the school's values and goals for academic excellence.

The Dean of Students/Dean of Culture is responsible for:

School Culture. The Dean of Students/Dean of Culture defines and builds a transformative school culture consistent with the Great Oaks Legacy core values and mission. With the school director, the dean designs and implements programs that recognize and reward students; devises school-wide rituals that promote the culture and sustain the school's values.

Student Management. The Dean of Students/Dean of Culture implements behavior management tools, including overseeing staff training in behavior management policies, techniques, and strategies, and ensuring the consistent deployment of such tools school-wide; meets with students referred by teachers for behavioral problems, communicates and meets with the students' parents/guardians, and ensures that consequences for infractions are fairly and consistently implemented throughout the school; creates and implements a detention system for homework completion and behavior; looks for patterns of misbehavior and coordinates appropriate measures as needed with the school leader and other leadership staff; responds to acute behavioral issues; coordinates in-school and out-of-school suspensions, ensuring regulatory compliance; and oversees school safety.

Staff Resource. The dean serves as a resource to teachers and tutors on issues of school culture, classroom management, discipline, and relationships with students; and coaches teachers, tutors and staff in holding all students to high and consistent behavioral expectations.

Student Motivation. The dean communicates with students – meeting with, listening to, seeking to understand, and convincing them as appropriate – and builds a support network for students. In addition to meeting with students, the dean will develop school wide programs to incentivize positive behaviors and create a school-wide identity among the students. The Dean will work closely with cross-campus teams to cultivate students' cultural competency, growth, and development.

Documenting Incidents. The dean implements and ensures the school-wide use of information technology tools for reporting and documenting infractions, and ensures that proper records are kept of communications with parents regarding discipline. The dean drafts weekly and monthly reports for parents, students and leadership team. The dean works with staff to ensure school compliance with HIB policies.

Qualifications and Skills

The Dean of Students/Dean of Culture must:

• Be relentlessly committed to preparing every student for collegePossess strong leadership and team skillsBe a self-aware leader who knows how to treat all members of the school's community with respect, appraises accurately his or her strengths and weaknesses, and is perceptive about how he or she is regardedHave superb organizational and self-management skills and be able to handle multiple responsibilities effectively; have strong planning and execution skills; be a goal-oriented and effective problem-solverBe dependableBe driven to improve the minds and lives of studentsBeing dedicated to doing whatever it takes to help all the school's students achieve academic successBe passionate about academic learning and insistent on academic excellence and rigor at all times

Candidates must have:

• A clear record of elevating student achievement in an urban classroom, with a strong understanding of pedagogy that drives resultsA relentless work ethicExcellent communication skills (written and oral)Strong analytical and problem-solving skillsExcellent skills of organization and follow-throughA strong academic record, including a bachelor's degree from an accredited university

An advanced degree from a competitive university is strongly preferred. Alumni of Teach For America, Education Pioneers, The New Teacher Project, and New Leaders for New Schools are strongly encouraged to apply.

Staff and Reporting Relationships

The Dean shall report to the School Leader, collaborate closely with the entire school leadership team, and participate as a member of the school-wide/cross-campus leadership team.

About Us

The mission of the Great Oaks Legacy Charter School is to prepare its students to succeed in college. We do this by instilling in students the respect, integrity, self-discipline, and excellence necessary to be successful in college and to pursue a career of their choice. We strongly believe that all students can succeed in an atmosphere of high expectations and caring relationships where they receive considerable individual attention. What sets GO schools apart from other college preparatory charters is a high-dosage tutoring model. The Great Oaks Tutor Corps is a selective cadre of recent college graduates who deliver at least two hours of individualized instruction to every student every day.

Great Oaks Legacy was founded with the explicit mission to change the dismal odds that a low-income minority student in Newark currently has of ever obtaining a college degree. Our mission is to prepare students to succeed in college.

Great Oaks Legacy is a No Excuses school with high standards, a rigorous college-prep curriculum, small cohorts of students, individualized tutoring and personal support and care for each student.

History of Great Oaks Legacy Charter School

With the recent merger of Great Oaks Charter School and Newark Legacy Charter School, we have become Great Oaks Legacy Charter School, the only Pre-K 4 - 12th grade charter school in Newark.

History of Great Oaks Charter School - Newark

Great Oaks Charter School - Newark opened its doors in 2011, initially providing 133 6 th and 7 th grade students with a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, supported by two hours of small group tutorial, daily. Great Oaks has added a grade each year. Prior to the merger it served over 460 students across two campuses – a middle school campus in the downtown Teachers Village complex, serving 6 th – 8 th grades and a high school campus in the downtown Lincoln Park area. The first 12 th grade class graduated in June of 2017. Great Oaks has seen dramatic academic growth, with its students placing top in the state in average Math SGP (student growth percentile).

History of Newark Legacy Charter School

Founded as a BES (Building Excellent Schools) charter school, Newark Legacy Charter School started as an independent charter school focused on literacy and parent and community involvement. Newark Legacy opened its doors in 2010 with Kindergarten and 1 st grade. In 2014, it was chosen as one of only three charter launch schools across the city, serving a large number of Newark students in the former Madison Elementary School building. Prior to the merger, Newark Legacy served over 640 students in Pre-K through 6 th grade in this historic building in the South Ward of Newark.