Oakland, California
Santa Clarita, California
Santa Rosa, California
Posted: 12-May-23
Location: Oakland, California
Type: Full Time
Salary: $108,519.15 - $138,514.73
Salary Details:
Required Education:
Our Mission: Melrose Leadership Academy is an Oakland public school located in the Maxwell Park neighborhood of East Oakland that seeks to develop all students to be academically competent, bilingual/biliterate leaders for social justice through Expeditionary Learning and Dual Language practices in a school community that mirrors the rich diversity of Oakland.
MLA is a TK-8, dual-language immersion school (Spanish/English) using EL Education practices. Through its curriculum, MLA strives to engage students in active, challenging, meaningful, public and collaborative learning. To learn more about EL Education, click here.
Through the use of Restorative Justice practices, MLA students, families, teachers and staff work together in community to repair harm and build strong, healthy relationships. These practices bolster student leadership, encourage responsibility and create a better learning environment. To learn more about Restorative Justice, click here.
Our Agreements
We have three school-wide agreements developed by staff and parents applicable to all community members:
• We are kind and create safe spaces
• We teach and learn
• We take responsibility for ourselves and our community
BASIC FUNCTION: Under assigned supervisor, serves as the instructional leader and chief executive of the school. Responsible for the direction, assessment, and evaluation of student progress, instructional and adjunct programs, performance of assigned certificated and classified personnel, operation and maintenance of the school facility, and of the fiscal integrity of all school elements. Identifies goals for the school and delegates duties appropriately. The principal serves as immediate supervisor of employees at the site.
REPRESENTATIVE DUTIES: (Incumbents may perform any combination of the essential functions shown below. This position description is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, knowledge, abilities, or dispositions associated with this classification, but is intended to reflect the principal job elements accurately.)
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
- Demonstrate the ability to establish and maintain an authentic, transparent, authoritative and accessible leadership presence.
- Demonstrate the ability to foster and deepen relational trust among all constituents as a primary resource for school improvement.
- Demonstrate responsiveness in order to strengthen the awareness of inequity, structural issues of race and poverty, and cultural discontinuity; advocate for culturally responsive pedagogy and effective collective responses to the structural issues facing schools and society among teachers and staff, students, families/caregivers, partnerships and community.
- Develop, facilitate and engage the school and community in a cultural awareness that builds individual and collective advocacy with, and for students, and families/caregivers.
- Articulate the civic goal of education and systematically reinforce an equitable school culture that values and uses participatory structures in governance and in decision-making.
- Engage the community in collectively developing, publicizing and adhering to collaborative vision; adhere to the vision in decision making, communicating to school staff and community, hiring, coaching, etc; set processes in place for mutual accountability toward the vision of the school and community.
- Communicate key purposes, beliefs and values of the school and community to ensure sensitivity to the community’s core beliefs and values in decision making; adopt and maintain a culturally appropriate and sensitive demeanor and tone with the community; exhibit the ability to make deliberate and thoughtful decisions and take action based on core community beliefs and vision.
- Include and engage the community in examining and implementing decisions and actions that are in line with the vision; incorporate shared practices that foster mutual respect in actualizing the vision.
- Integrates personal and professional real-life experiences to engage students families/caregivers, teachers and staff and community for the purpose of growing and maintaining mutually trusting relationships.
- Engage the entire school community and partners to form and deepen personal and productive relationships with each other.
- Demonstrate optimism and resolve in the face of difficulty; develop methods to communicate and implement systematic choices that take into account institutional barriers to learning and achieving, but frame the work as possible; form and maintain personal and professional relationships to ensure the school community is a place of safety and belonging to share and learn despite challenges.
- Develop, practice and advocate for an individual and organizational mindset that embraces challenges as learning opportunities, persists in the face of setbacks, sees effort as path to mastery, learns from feedback and finds inspiration to ensure continued growth of students, teachers, staff, families and community.
- Support and uphold collective decisions and creatively resolve conflicts and differences in order to engage and move the collaborative agenda forward.
- Demonstrate working knowledge of curriculum and instruction that is appropriate go school and grade level, and focuses on access and equity for all students.
- Participate in peer mentoring and collaboration to nurture the development of professional capital.
- Communicate high expectations, knowledge and positive intent to teachers, staff, parents and students; provide instructional systems that support teachers to achieve and succeed to ensure all students have highly qualified and effective teachers.
- Collaborate with teachers and district staff to plan, establish, maintain, facilitate and monitor effective systems for ongoing adult professional development that support the goals of the teacher, school and district.
- Align fiscal, human, time and material resources to support the learning goals of students and core values; monitor and adjust resource allotments as necessary.
- Maintain the capacity to change direction in order to grow and thrive while retaining the core values of the school and community.
- Evaluate, analyze, design, align, and implement operational and school level structures that support equitable school learning goals and district strategic goals; analyze legal requirements with school operations and governance systems.
- Monitor organizational and programmatic systems that support equitable student academic, civic and social-emotional outcomes; make continuous improvements to organizational systems that better serve the school goals and objectives.
- Demonstrate expertise, insight and appropriate judgment in forming partner relationships and assessing viability of appropriate partnerships for the needs of the school; communicate the value of collaborate problem-solving, of multiple resources in serving students and families, and the importance of shared outcomes.
- Engage partners, students, parents, teachers and staff in mapping the school and community assets, resources, and issues that need to be addressed.
- Foster coalitions and organizational relationships that are beneficial to the school and community for the purpose of maintaining effective democratic governance structures for community partnership work; ensure the participation of family and caregivers.
- Monitor and assess the success of the partnerships to ensure shared outcomes meet the full service community model; communicate and celebrate successes of alliances and individuals; regularly formally and informally evaluate the partners and make adjustments.
- Perform related duties as assigned.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
PREPARATION, EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE: A Master’s degree from an accredited college or university, 5 years classroom teaching experience and 2 years administrative experience.
LICENSES AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS:
- Valid California Teaching Credential with English Learner authorization
- Valid and appropriate Administrative Services Credential
- Valid California Driver’s License
- Employment eligibility will include fingerprints, tuberculosis and/or other employment clearance
DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS:
- Successful experience as an administrator
- Fiscal expertise that enables first-hand oversight of and responsibility for school budgets
- Previous experience working effectively with culturally and linguistically diverse groups
- Ability to speak a language in addition to English
- Successful experience in areas of violence prevention, conflict resolution and restorative justice
- Visibility and involvement in education and the community
- Previous experience in leadership, coaching and teambuilding skills to strengthen and cultivate relationships
- Strategic and analytical thinking skills and the ability to apply deductive reasoning and draw conclusions in order to solve problems and facilitate decision-making processes
KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES
KNOWLEDGE OF:
- California Department of Education Frameworks governing work scope such as: Common Core Standards, Content Standards, Curriculum, Response to Intervention, Full Service Community Schools
- Current state and district curriculum and school instructional programs in assigned area
- Utilization of various forms of assessment to guide and design instruction
- Effective pedagogy for ethnic populations, English, and Standard English Learners
- Applicable federal, state, and district codes, regulations, policies and procedures governing work scope
- Labor relations law and employee contracts
- State plant facility requirements
- Budget preparation and control
- Principles and practices of administration, supervision and training
- Interpersonal skills using tact, patience and courtesy
- Organizations, operations, policies and objectives of public education
- Diverse academic, socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, and disability backgrounds of District students
- Excellent English usage, grammar, spelling, vocabulary and punctuation
- Computer software, hardware, and related technology
ABILITY TO:
- Continuously seek quality service and process improvements in order to support a mission and strategic vision
- Use a consultative approach to resolving work related issues
- Plan, organize and direct the operations, plant and personnel of assigned school.
- Organize, direct, evaluate and supervise assigned certificated and classified staff.
- Direct activities regarding personnel, the physical plant, budget, student services and activities, curriculum and instruction, and communications and articulation
- Train, supervise and evaluate certificated and classified personnel
- Plan and direct the budget and business operations of the school
- Establish, coordinate and maintain communication with community and parent groups
- Plan, implement, direct and evaluate instructional and categorical programs in accordance with applicable laws
- Plan and organize work
- Analyze situations accurately and adopt an effective course of action
- Complete work with many interruptions
- Read, interpret, apply and explain rules, regulations, policies and procedures
- Communicate effectively both orally and in writing
- Prepare and deliver oral presentations
- Operate personal computer, related software, and other office equipment
WORKING CONDITIONS
ENVIRONMENT:
Office environment and diverse school site environments; May be required to work outside normal workdays and office hours to meet operational deadlines; may be required to work in emergency situations; driving a vehicle to conduct work; fast-paced work; constant interruptions; some exposure to childhood and other diseases in a school environment
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Consistent mental alertness; sitting or standing for extended periods of time; lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling objects up to 30 pounds, occasionally 30+ pounds; bending and twisting at the waist, reaching overhead, above the shoulders and horizontally; dexterity of both hands and fingers while performing duties; seeing to read, write and use the computer; hearing and speaking to exchange information, in person or on the telephone, and make presentations.
NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY:
The Oakland Unified School District does not discriminate in any program, activity, or in employment on the basis of actual or perceived race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, veteran status, gender, sex, or sexual orientation.
