Interim Director of Human Resources

Position Summary

The Interim Director of Human Resources is part of central administration for the Iowa City Community School District, which has a dynamic workforce striving to embrace a wide variety of professional, personal, and demographic experiences and characteristics. The Interim Director of HR provides strategic and operational leadership for the district's human resources functions with a focus on talent, culture, recruitment, hiring, onboarding, employee relations, investigations, certification, compensation, job descriptions, HR compliance, staffing systems, workforce planning, and organizational effectiveness.

This position leads the development and continuous improvement of research-based culture-building systems, employee feedback processes, HR training structures, standard operating procedures, data-informed improvement plans, and service-oriented HR practices that strengthen the employee experience and improve support at both the district and campus levels.

The Interim Director ensures that HR practices are clear, consistent, legally compliant, people-centered, and aligned with district priorities, Board policy, collective bargaining agreements, state and federal law, Iowa education requirements, and internal procedures. The position supports a healthy and high-performing organizational culture by helping leaders apply people practices with care, clarity, consistency, accountability, professionalism, and respect.

The Interim Director works collaboratively with the Chief Operations Officer, Superintendent, Executive Cabinet, CFO, business officials, principals, supervisors, legal counsel, and cross-functional district leaders to ensure HR decisions are legally sound, financially responsible, operationally effective, and aligned to student and school needs.

This position collaborates with payroll and benefits staff to ensure accurate and timely processing of employment actions and related HR documentation, but does not directly oversee payroll or benefits. The Interim Director supervises the HR Manager and assigned Human Resources staff.

Reports To: Chief Operations Officer

Supervises: HR Manager and assigned Human Resources staff

Classification: Interim Position - Year Round Admin - ESC I

Salary: $115,000 to $145,000

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Talent, Culture, and Organizational Effectiveness

1. Designs and supports employee surveys, listening systems, feedback cycles, and action planning processes to identify organizational strengths, employee concerns, and opportunities for improvement.
2. Supports the district's desired culture by ensuring HR practices reinforce care, clarity, communication, consistency, accountability, and respect.
3. Helps leaders navigate staffing transitions, employee concerns, performance issues, and organizational change in ways that are legally sound, timely, transparent, and people-centered.
4. Develops training, tools, and guidance to strengthen leader capacity in employee relations, documentation, hiring, onboarding, performance management, culture-building, and HR compliance.
5. Leads department-level improvement efforts that enhance HR customer service, responsiveness, accuracy, follow-through, and support for schools and departments.
6. Serves as a strategic advisor to district leaders on staffing, employee relations, hiring, onboarding, culture, compliance, investigations, compensation, placement, and personnel decision-making.
7. Equips principals, supervisors, and managers with practical tools, guidance, and coaching to manage people practices consistently and confidently.
8. Provides training and support on HR procedures, employee relations, documentation, evaluations, investigations, certification expectations, and compliance responsibilities.
9. Builds strong working relationships with administrators, supervisors, employee groups, business officials, and district leaders.
10. Helps leaders balance care for people with accountability to expectations, policy, law/regulations, and student-centered decision-making.
11. Supports leaders in navigating sensitive employee communication related to HR decisions, staffing, placement, performance concerns, and organizational change

Recruitment, Hiring, Onboarding, and Staffing

1. Leads district systems for recruitment, hiring, selection, onboarding, assignment, transfer, resignation, retirement, and offboarding.
2. Strives to recruit and retain employees from a wide variety of professional, personal, and demographic experiences and characteristics.
3. Works with principals, supervisors, and hiring managers to ensure hiring processes are timely, consistent, fair, legally compliant, and aligned with district priorities.
4. Oversees onboarding processes to ensure new employees receive clear expectations, compliance information, role-specific guidance, and a strong sense of connection to the district.
5. Works collaboratively with the district's Chief Financial Officer, business officials, operations leaders, teaching and learning offices, student services, principals, and executive leadership to align staffing decisions with student needs, fiscal responsibility, collective bargaining requirements, and long-term district goals.
6. Provides data-informed recommendations related to staffing allocations, vacancy trends, position control, recruitment priorities, placement processes (including surplus and other processes), and workforce sustainability.

Employee Relations, Investigations, and Workplace Compliance and Education Regulations

1. Leads and supports employee relations matters, including workplace concerns, performance issues, formal and informal complaints, grievances, investigations, corrective action, all of which are to be treated as sensitive personnel matters.
2. Conducts and/or oversees investigations in collaboration with the Chief Operations Officer, legal counsel, Superintendent, and appropriate district leaders.
3. Ensures employee relations practices are handled with consistency, confidentiality, timeliness, procedural integrity, and appropriate documentation.
4. Provides guidance to leaders on employment law, personnel procedures, documentation, due process, employee relations, performance concerns, accommodations, leave-related issues, and compliance expectations.
5. Supports responses to employment-related legal matters, subpoenas, agency complaints, records requests, compliance reviews, and other personnel-related matters in partnership with the Chief Operations Officer and legal counsel.
6. Provides oversight and structure for grievances, employee complaints (formal and informal), workplace concerns, issues of workplace equity, and staff-related discrimination complaints.
7. Maintains strong working knowledge of federal and state employment laws, Iowa education requirements, Board policy, collective bargaining agreements, employee handbooks, and internal procedures.
8. Ensures adherence to applicable requirements related to employee investigations, mandatory reporting, educator conduct, background checks, state code and administrative regulations including those concerning abuse, neglect, and seclusion or restraint, and federal laws including those concerning equal employment opportunity, medical leave, disabilities, accommodations, and related compliance expectations.
9. Ensures district HR practices comply with applicable federal and state employment laws and regulations, the district's Board Manual (of policies, regulations, and procedures), employee handbooks, collective bargaining agreements, and district expectations.
10. Provides technical expertise to district leaders regarding employment law, HR compliance, educator licensure, certification requirements, personnel processes, investigations, employee relations, and employment practices.
11. Works in collaboration with the Chief Operations Officer, legal counsel, Chief Financial Officer, business officials, and district leaders to reduce organizational risk and strengthen procedural integrity.
12. Supports preparation for audits, compliance reviews, records requests, agency complaints, subpoenas, and other employment-related legal or regulatory matters.
13. Supports review of Board Manual provisions and implementation related to employment, personnel, investigations, certification, employee conduct, compliance, and workplace expectations.
14. Ensures the district maintains appropriate personnel documentation and reporting systems to meet federal, state, Board, and other district requirements.

Certification, Licensure, Compensation, Job Descriptions, and HR Processing

1. Oversees processes for employee certification, licensure, authorization, evaluator approval, background check, and compliance tracking to ensure staff meet applicable legal and district requirements.
2. Leads compensation-related HR processes, including salary placement, classification review, contract recommendations, extra-duty assignments, stipend processing, compensation documentation, and related HR records.
3. Maintains, updates, and develops job descriptions to ensure role clarity, legal compliance, organizational alignment, and consistency across the district.
4. Ensures HR processing related to hiring, assignments, contract changes, transfers, resignations, retirements, employment status changes, and personnel actions is accurate, timely, and well documented.
5. Coordinates HR documentation and employment-status information needed for payroll and benefits processing while collaborating with, but not supervising, payroll and benefits functions.
6. Ensures personnel records, application materials, certification records, compensation documentation, and employment files are maintained in accordance with federal law, state law, Board policy, and internal procedures.

HR Systems, Technology, SOPs, Training, and Process Improvement

1. Evaluates HR systems, workflows, software tools, and internal procedures to improve efficiency, accuracy, compliance, transparency, and employee experience.
2. Makes recommendations regarding HR software, applicant tracking systems, onboarding platforms, certification tracking, employee records systems, workflow tools, reporting systems, and other technology solutions that strengthen HR operations and enhance compliance.
3. Develops, implements, and maintains standard operating procedures for core HR functions, including recruitment, hiring, onboarding, certification, compensation placement, job descriptions, employee relations, investigations, documentation, and compliance.
4. Uses data and feedback to identify gaps in HR service delivery and leads improvement efforts to reduce delays, confusion, inconsistency, and unnecessary escalation.
5. Ensures HR staff are trained on procedures, timelines, documentation standards, customer service expectations, compliance responsibilities, and service-level expectations.
6. Creates clear, scalable, user-friendly HR processes that support employees, supervisors, principals, and district leaders.
7. Leads data-driven improvement efforts to strengthen HR department performance, improve customer service, and enhance support at both district and campus levels.

Collective Bargaining, Employee Agreements, and Personnel Recommendations

1. Assists district executive team in collective bargaining, meet-and-confer processes, handbook development, employee group discussions, and related labor-management matters, as assigned.
2. Supports the development, maintenance, interpretation, and revision of collective bargaining agreements, employee handbooks, work agreements, and HR procedures.
3. Prepares and recommends personnel actions under the authority of the Board of Directors, including hiring, transfer, assignment, resignation, retirement, termination, and other employment actions in accordance with Board Manual and applicable legal authority.
4. Attends Board meetings as needed to support personnel recommendations, HR updates, Board Manual, negotiations, and sensitive employment-related topics.
5. Provides accurate and timely personnel information to support Board action, district reporting, and executive decision-making.

HR Department Leadership and Customer Service

1. Supervises, supports, evaluates, and develops the HR Manager and assigned Human Resources staff.
2. Builds a high-performing HR team with a culture that is both healthy and smart, clear roles, strong internal processes including performance evaluations, shared expectations, and a commitment to excellent service as well as compliance.
3. Establishes customer-service expectations for the HR Department, including timeliness, accuracy, professionalism, confidentiality, responsiveness, and follow-through.
4. Improves the employee and leader experience by ensuring HR support is accessible, respectful, clear, and solution-focused.
5. Uses team data, workflow reviews, feedback, and service indicators to improve department performance.
6. Promotes collaboration across departments so HR functions are aligned with finance, operations, teaching and learning, compliance, school leadership, and district priorities.

Performs other duties as assigned

The nature of this position and district operations require the Interim Director of HR, along with the entire HR department, to be able and willing to accept and execute assignments not expressly listed in a job description. Within reason, the district expects employees to perform such job duties as assigned.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Demonstrated knowledge of federal and state employment laws, Iowa education personnel requirements, Board Manual provisions, collective bargaining agreements, employee handbooks, and HR compliance practices.
• Strong understanding of K-12 education environments, including school staffing, certification, licensure, employee relations, principal support, teacher recruitment, and district-level operations.
• Ability to develop and implement research-based culture-building systems, employee engagement tools, surveys, training plans, and comprehensive improvement strategies.
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