Vice President, Schools

At Rocketship Public Schools, we believe in the infinite possibility of human potential. We believe that every student deserves the right to dream, to discover, and to develop their unique potential. And it is our responsibility and our privilege to unleash the potential inside every Rocketeer we serve. Our non-profit network of public elementary charter schools propels student achievement, develops exceptional educators, and partners with parents who enable high-quality public schools to thrive in their community. We are a collective of parents, teachers, leaders, and students working together to transform the future for underserved communities across our country. At Rocketship Public Schools, we are unleashing potential.

Reporting directly to the Bay Area Executive Director, the Bay Area Regional VP of Schools (RVP) is a key strategic partner and serves as the organization's primary leader in executing our incredible school model towards excellent outcomes for our Rocketeers and families.

The role is also the primary leader in the Bay Area for leading Rocketship's core pillar of talent development in overseeing all aspects of professional development programs and actively fueling our parent engagement model that helps catalyze our inclusive communities and Rocketeer's achievement.

The RVP will directly manage the Director of Schools, Lead Director of Operations, and AD of Family Engagement. Over time, this role will also manage additional instructional support for schools, including but not limited to: Manager of English Language Development (ELD) instruction, AD of Integrated Special Education (ISE), Director of Wellness & Multi-Tiered Systems and Supports (MTSS), and AD of School Communities. Social and Achievement Managers.

Essential Functions

• • Culture: Strong Manager and Builder of Teams:
  • Attract, hire, develop, motivate and lead a high-performing team comprised of multiple academic teams in order to model and sustain a culture of high performance, partnership, and service orientation among team members consistent with the culture and mission of the organization;
  • Develop an Instructional Team culture that prioritizes the collective good and is characterized by strong collaboration, relationships, and student-focused decision-making amongst adults, across schools and the region.
  • Develop and manage regional staff in creating and upholding a student-focused adult culture that works together in service of Rocketship's mission and commitment to our community
  • Fuel a pipeline of representative educators and leaders;
  • Ensure that the team works in a highly-effective manner across multiple functions with school leaders and the Network Support Team (NeST)
  • Work closely with members of a regional team and the program leadership team to maintain national strategic school management and instructional model that ensures the realization of excellent levels of student achievement in multiple areas (academic, social-emotional, parent engagement, etc.) and partnership at a school and regional level;
    
    
  • Academic Vision/Strategy
  • Create and maintain communication structures, cultural rituals, and an aligned vision to support layered management (managing managers) and decision-making frameworks for 13 Bay Areas schools
  • Articulate and uphold the non-negotiables of the Rocketship academic and rotational model and drive alignment across schools while ensuring continued integration with Rocketship's mission, values, and leadership principles
  • Develop and managing director of schools and regional academic team towards the attainment of Rocketship's multi-year strategic priorities and annual academic goals
  • Support the ED and broader team with various external projects that build Rocketship's name, brand, and presence in the community
    
    
  • Instructional Leadership & Leadership Development:
  • Cultivate an outstanding team of regional and school leaders through effective coaching and supervision, designing and facilitating meaningful professional development, collaboration, and a robust support structure for Rocketship school leaders and regional team
  • Partner with the VP of Talent Development to create systems to ensure the development of leadership within every member of our school communities so that Rocketship always has a robust leadership pipeline.
  • Plan and lead meetings and retreats for the schools and academic team
  • Be data-driven in order to monitor and rapidly, effectively pivot, and respond to key weekly, monthly, and quarterly metrics for academics, recruitment, and operational outcomes so that the Bay Area and each school perform in the Top 10% of schools with similar demographics
  • Provide direct coaching and management to instructional and operational leaders that lead to excellent outcomes through an active presence at Bay Area schools and actively monitoring day-to-day execution of the core model
  • Advise, create and support the management of systems, programs, curricula, and more to continue to elevate Rocketship's differentiated approach to the professional development of school-based educators (i.e. teachers, school leaders, enrichment coordinators, MTSS team members, etc.) in order to fuel career pathways and pipelines that are representative of our community and catalyze the pursuit of our network Always Important Goal regarding representation (i.e., 60%+ representative leadership); Serve as a model of leadership in differentiated adult, educator professional development especially in rapidly moving beginning teachers and leaders to highly effective results (i.e., 60-80%+ teachers in Tier III and IV of performance)
  • Work to establish Rocketship Public Schools as a leader in our field for high-quality, inclusive, robust, differentiated professional development that transforms student and school outcomes for all students, especially for the communities we serve.
  • Plan and Lead team collaboration and connections (i.e., School Team meetings, achievement meetings, Principal retreat)
    
    
  • School Communities: Family Engagement:
  • Support, innovate, and elevate Rocketship's central approach to parent/family and community engagement -- the core of our culturally responsive and personalized learning model -- relationships to ensure that our Rocketeer's first teachers - their parents - remain at the center of our work and model.
  • Support and ensure that our parent engagement model is robust across all of our 13 schools (i.e., Home visits to Los Dichos, College, CareCorps, After-school program, culture responsive events, paren-family events, etc.)
  • Maintain and manage that all 13 schools are sustainable by monitoring enrollment and attendance targets for all 13 Bay Area schools.
    
    
  • Schools Operations:
  • Create and maintain CA regional operations visions with the Lead Director of Operations so that Bay Area schools are top performing within the network.
  • Foster collaboration and connection between DOSs and RDOs to collaboratively problem solve and drive both academic and operational outcomes
  • Partner with Sen. Dir Operations and Lead Operations- Bay Area on hiring decisions for BOM and RDO
    
    
  • Network Collaboration:
  • Partner with CA External Affairs team to implement the parent advocacy goals and priorities into the school model.
  • Partner with Talent/HR to elevate performance concerns and hiring decisions for DOS and Principals
  • Partner with the Director of Governance and Compliance to ensure schools are in compliance with their respective charter petitions
  • Partner with network National VP of Program to determine Professional Development and collaboration structures for Schools and Program.

Qualifications

• • In terms of the performance and personal competencies required for the position, the ideal candidate should be a results-oriented, determined, skilled operation leader with a record of experience that includes:
  • A deep belief in the mission and educational model of Rocketship Public Schools with the ability to work in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial, flexible, and autonomous environment;
  • A minimum of 5 years the broad school system and instructional experience with a track record of successful instructional expertise in realizing high levels of student achievement in a complex, multi-site, layered management requirements
  • Strong understanding and oversight of the achievement and school leadership functions, with the ability to strategically advise the ED and the Board on the academic and instructional pipeline strength of the organization;
  • A minimum of a Bachelor's degree is required; a Master's degree and or Administrative Services Credential is preferred.
  • Excellent communication, influencing, and negotiation skills to interact effectively with all levels of the organization, the school network, and any external stakeholders;

COVID-19:

Rocketship is committed to the health and safety of our Rocketeers and complies with federal and state vaccine guidelines. For this reason, Rocketship is requiring employees in most regions, including National, California, District of Columbia, and Wisconsin employees, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Tennessee and Texas regions are not included in this requirement. Under this requirement, applicable employees are subject to vaccination as a condition of employment or subject to religious or medical exemptions.

Physical Demands:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions. While performing the duties of this position, the employee is regularly required to talk, hear, and communicate with both adults and children. The employee frequently is required to use hands or fingers, handle or feel objects, tools, or controls. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; and reach with hands and arms. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds and occasionally climb ladders. Specific vision abilities required by this position include close vision, distance vision, and the ability to adjust focus. The noise level in the work environment is moderate to high.

Compensation:

Commensurate with qualifications and experience, plus excellent health and welfare benefits, 403b retirement plan, flexible spending account (FSA), and generous paid time off.

Rocketship Public Schools provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Rocketship Public Schools complies with applicable state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Rocketship Public Schools expressly prohibits any form of unlawful employee harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. Improper interference with the ability of Rocketship Public Schools' employees to perform their expected job duties is absolutely not tolerated. Click here for our Sexual Harassment Policy and here for our Title IX Policy . For questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact Equity/Discrimination Title IX Compliance Officer, Address: 350 Twin Dolphin Drive, Suite 109, Redwood City, CA 94065. Phone: 877-806-0920 ext. 115.