JOB TITLE: Principal
LOCATION: Alice Terry Elementary
WORK YEAR: 215 work days
WORK STATUS: Administrative, Full-Time Exempt
REPORTS TO: Chief Academic Officer
POSITION SUMMARY:
Sheridan School District No. 2 is seeking an outstanding principal who will provide continued leadership for Alice Terry Elementary to serve students in grades K-4. This position is responsible for the oversight and leadership of the entire instructional program including student achievement, supervision and evaluation of school personnel, financial and facilities management and the general overall progress of students and staff.
The principal establishes a positive, inclusive, and supportive learning environment where all students are provided meaningful opportunities to achieve academic, social, emotional, and developmental success. The principal works collaboratively with teachers, staff, families, students, District leadership, and community partners to support continuous improvement and ensure alignment with District goals and expectations.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
Principals demonstrate strategic leadership
• School Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals: The principal collaboratively develops and communicates the vision, mission, values, expectations, and goals of the school and facilitates their integration into the life of the school community.
• School Improvement Plan: The principal ensures that a plan is in place to improve academic achievement, student growth, school climate, and developmental outcomes for all students, with ongoing data-based progress monitoring.
• Leading Change: The principal collaborates with staff and the school community to implement strategies for change and improvement that result in improved academic, behavioral, and developmental outcomes for students.
• Distributed Leadership: The principal creates and utilizes processes to distribute leadership, develop teacher leaders, and support collaborative decision-making throughout the school.
• Elementary School Leadership: The principal provides leadership appropriate to the developmental needs of elementary students and establishes systems that support a strong transition into and through the elementary grades.
Principals demonstrate instructional leadership
• Curriculum, Instruction, Learning, and Assessment: The principal promotes school-wide efforts to establish, implement, and refine high-quality curriculum, instructional practices, assessment, and use of student learning data based on research and evidence-based practices.
• Early Literacy and Mathematics: The principal provides leadership and support for strong foundational literacy, reading, writing, mathematics, and other core academic practices appropriate to K-4 learners.
• Instructional Time: The principal creates processes and schedules that maximize instructional, collaborative, intervention, and preparation time.
• High-Quality Instruction: The principal supports teacher development to ensure rigorous, relevant, developmentally appropriate, and evidence-based instruction meets the needs of all students.
• High Expectations for All Students: The principal holds all staff accountable for establishing and achieving rigorous academic and developmental goals for all students while providing appropriate supports to achieve those goals.
• Instructional Practices: The principal demonstrates knowledge of effective, research-based elementary instructional practices and uses classroom observations, student work, and data to support teachers in improving student learning.
• Intervention and Student Support: The principal ensures appropriate systems are in place to identify students who need additional academic, behavioral, or developmental support and coordinates interventions and resources to address those needs.
Principals demonstrate school cultural and equity leadership
• Intentional and Collaborative School Culture: The principal articulates, models, and positively reinforces a clear vision and values for the school's culture and involves students, families, and staff in creating an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful school climate.
• Commitment to the Whole Child: The principal promotes the academic, physical, social, emotional, and behavioral health, growth, and development of every student.
• Equity and Inclusion: The principal creates an inclusive school culture and supports instructional and school-wide practices that recognize and respond to the diverse needs, backgrounds, experiences, strengths, and challenges of students and families.
• Student Behavior and Belonging: The principal establishes developmentally appropriate expectations and systems for student behavior that promote safety, belonging, accountability, and positive relationships.
• Efficacy, Empowerment, and Continuous Improvement: The principal fosters a culture of continuous improvement based on research, innovation, high expectations, collaboration, and meaningful evaluation of student and school outcomes.
Principals demonstrate human resource leadership
• Professional Development/Learning Communities: The principal ensures that the school functions as a professional learning community, provides opportunities for collaboration, supports teacher learning, and develops teacher leadership.
• Recruiting, Hiring, Placing, Mentoring, and Dismissal of Staff: The principal establishes and effectively manages processes and systems that ensure a knowledgeable, high-quality, high-performing staff.
• Teacher and Staff Evaluation: The principal evaluates staff performance using the District's evaluation system to ensure that teachers and staff are evaluated fairly and equitably, with a focus on professional growth and improvement.
• Staff Support and Development: The principal provides ongoing feedback, coaching, support, and professional development to strengthen instructional practice and staff effectiveness.
Principals demonstrate managerial leadership
• School Resources and Budget: The principal manages school resources and the school budget to support student learning, academic achievement, student well-being, and effective school operations.
• Conflict Management and Resolution: The principal manages the complexity of human interactions and relationships, including those among students, families, staff, and community members.
• Systematic Communication: The principal facilitates effective formal and informal communication with students, families, staff, District leadership, and other school stakeholders.
• School-Wide Expectations for Students and Staff: The principal ensures that clear, developmentally appropriate expectations, structures, rules, and procedures are established and consistently implemented.
• Supporting Policies and Agreements: The principal ensures federal, state, and District policies, laws, regulations, and agreements are consistently implemented.
• Ensuring an Orderly and Supportive Environment: The principal ensures that the school provides an orderly, safe, supportive, and welcoming environment that fosters learning, respect, belonging, and student well-being.
• Student Discipline and Safety: The principal oversees student discipline and safety procedures in accordance with District policies and applicable law, ensuring appropriate documentation, communication, consistency, and due process.
Principals demonstrate external development leadership
• Family and Community Involvement and Outreach: The principal builds meaningful partnerships with families and the community and creates opportunities for family engagement and participation in the school.
• Professional Leadership Responsibilities: The principal collaborates with colleagues, District leadership, and other stakeholders to support the development and successful implementation of initiatives that better serve students, families, teachers, and schools.
• Advocacy for the School: The principal leverages District and community resources available within and outside the school to maximize the school's ability to serve students and families.
• Family Communication: The principal establishes accessible and responsive systems for communicating with families regarding student learning, behavior, attendance, school programs, and school-wide initiatives.
Principals demonstrate leadership around measures of student learning
• Student Academic Achievement and Growth: The principal ensures that students demonstrate academic growth and progress toward grade-level standards and readiness for success in subsequent grades.
• Student Growth and Development: The principal facilitates the development of students' academic, behavioral, social-emotional, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills necessary for continued success in school and beyond.
• Use of Data: The principal uses multiple sources of evidence and data to evaluate school performance, identify areas for improvement, monitor progress, and inform instructional and operational decisions.
• Student Success: The principal establishes systems to monitor student achievement, attendance, behavior, intervention outcomes, and other indicators of student success.
Performs other duties as requested.
SUPERVISORY DUTIES
Directly supervise counselors, teachers, school resource officers, coaches, club sponsors, classified employees, SERS personnel, and others as assigned. Responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.
COMPLEXITY OF WORK
Requires analytical skills, independent thinking, considerable judgment, and the ability to assess crises and make sound decisions quickly with little time or input from others. Assists with managing personnel, curriculum, student success and discipline, and physical plant. Must have a strong understanding of student behavior, District culture and policies, and be able to quickly analyze the impact of decisions on the student, school, District, and community. Generally, work is complicated by the volume of students at the school site, budget management responsibilities, and the diversity and severity of student issues and crises.
POSITION REQUIREMENTS:
• Master's Degree
• Two to five years or equivalent experience in a leadership role
• Elementary teaching and/or administrative experience preferred
• Experience with elementary curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student support systems preferred
• Bilingual preferred
LICENSES OR CERTIFICATIONS:
Appropriate Administrator licensure as required by the State of Colorado
ESSENTIAL PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
The usual and customary methods of performing the job's functions required the following physical demands: some lifting up to 50 pounds, carrying, pushing, and/or pulling: and signification fine finger dexterity. Generally, the job requires sitting, walking, and standing. This job is performed in generally a clean and healthy environment.
CLEARANCE:
Must clear online background check and FBI Fingerprint check through Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
SALARY:
Placement on Administrative Salary Schedule will be between $103,759 - $147,939, based upon previous related experience.
BENEFITS:
Employees who are scheduled to work 30 or more hours per week are eligible to obtain district health benefits which include medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance and supplemental benefits. Positions that qualify for health benefits also qualify for leave which could include vacation and daily leave to be determined by the position and number of days assigned. Sheridan School District No. 2 is a public employer and participates in the Colorado Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA). All employees are required by state statute to contribute 11% of salary on a pre-tax basis to PERA.
All interested and qualified applicants must complete an online application at www.ssd2.org. Incomplete applications and resumes received in lieu of applications will not be considered. Selected applicants will be contacted for an interview.
