Position Summary:

The Dean of Students ensures a positive, structured, disciplined school culture. He or she will work with the Lead Dean of Students to maintain a safe and positive environment through targeted behavior interventions, service, and restorative consequences. The Dean of Students also supports implementing a culture vision that ensures that all students show dramatic student achievement gains, embody high character, and internalize the school’s values.

The Deep Roots Difference:

Excellent teaching is by far the most significant in-school factor driving student learning. To achieve the results we seek for all of our students, we will have an intensive focus on highly-effective teacher coaching, so that every teacher at DRCS is providing a world-class education for our students. Studies have shown that high quality teacher development can quickly change teacher practice and increase effectiveness, for both new and veteran teachers. Our professional development and coaching model dramatically accelerates teacher growth, ensuring a highly-skilled, highly effective teacher in every classroom. Teachers will be coached more than 10 times as frequently as at even the highest performing schools around the country. We accomplish this through the following actions:

  • The school leader spends 80% of his time developing the teachers and the Instructional Coaches
  • Coach-to-teacher ratio is kept at 10:1 or less
  • The operations team is responsible for all non-instructional responsibilities throughout the building
  • We hire growth-minded teachers who love to practice and to improve their craft from day to day, hour to hour
  • The culture team focuses on getting kids back into class quickly and supports teachers in proactive culture responses

Qualifications:

  • Drive to improve the minds and lives of students in and out of the classroom
  • Evidence of self-motivation and willingness to be a team player
  • Belief in and alignment with Deep Roots’ mission
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills
  • Demonstrated and documented ability to motivate and inspire others

Essential Functions:

School Culture

  • Support all staff and students by modeling how to build and contribute to a positive, structured, achievement-oriented, and enjoyable school culture
  • Support with the implementation of a comprehensive plan for student behavior both in and out of school
  • Be highly present and visible during school hours, relentlessly ensuring the school maintains a strong culture
  • Supervise arrival, lunch, recess, dismissal, and breaks, ensuring a strong and productive school culture at these times
  • Ensure a safe environment by monitoring students at assigned “posts” as needed by the school master schedule.
  • Work with the School Leader, lead Dean of Students, and colleagues to develop and coordinate ongoing activities for building school culture, service learning, and teach courses as needed

Student Coaching

  • Support in ensuring that all students have excellent attendance and come to school on time; work aggressively with students and parents to ensure excellent attendance
  • Serve as the point person for all discipline/culture issues; act as the primary contact for all acute discipline issues
  • Keep extremely accurate student discipline records, documenting all conferences, merits/demerits, suspension, and family calls for behavior
  • Coordinate replacement behavior practice, in-school suspension, restorative service projects, and after-school detention
  • Develop and track intervention metrics, including prompt communication with families and creation of measurable goals for student reinstatement
  • Collect and analyze discipline data to identify specific areas of need and targeted programs

Family Coaching

  • Meet with all new parents before the start of the school year to emphasize cultural and academic differences of DRCS and highlight the responsibilities of parents, teachers, and students
  • Coordinate and hold parent conferences as needed
  • Serve as the liaison to the school’s parent organization

Miscellaneous

  • Additional duties as assigned to ensure a safe and strong school culture for students, families and staff.

Education and Experience:

  • Bachelor’s degree preferred but not required
  • Experience in an urban school setting preferred
  • Documented experience managing and implementing school wide cultural systems preferred
  • All interested candidates are encouraged to apply. Strong candidates may have some, but not all, of these experiences

Title: Dean of Students
Location: Philadelphia, PA 19134
Job Type: Full-time