Dec 03, 2018
Executive Director - Bridge Boston
Featured
MISSION
Bridge Boston Charter School students will thrive in a challenging, joyful, inclusive K1-8 public school community that values close partnerships with families, and a focus on the whole child. Our students will develop the skills necessary to excel academically in rigorous high schools, reach their individual potentials, and view themselves as creators of their own futures. Through full-service programming, Bridge Boston Charter School will work to remove the health and social obstacles that hinder student learning.
OVERVIEW
Bridge Boston Charter School is a tuition-free, public school that opened in September of 2011. Today the school serves over 300 students in K1 to 7th grades, and next year will reach maturity, serving 335 students in K1-8th grades.
Three core beliefs guide Bridge Boston’s work:
Students do best in a rigorous academic environment that teaches basic skills and inspires a love of learning.
Students will only succeed if the school plays an active role in eliminating barriers , working closely with families and partner organizations to meet each student’s health and social service needs.
Students will thrive if they live and learn in a nurturing community where they are respected as individuals, where they are encouraged to explore the world around them, and where their efforts are fully supported.
Bridge Boston actively recruits some of the most economically disadvantaged and under resourced families in the city, students and parents who might not pursue a charter school education, and could be at risk in a traditional public school. Bridge Boston’s robust social-emotional program is designed with an eye to supporting students who have experienced trauma in their homes and communities. A resource hub for students and families, Bridge Boston partners with such well-known service providers as Boston Medical Center, Home for Little Wanderers, Horizons for Homeless Children, South Bay Mental Health and Forsyth Dental, who offer the wrap around services that Bridge Boston families need to thrive.
A true community school, Bridge Boston sought its permanent home within the Roxbury/Dorchester/Mattapan communities where many of its students live, and moved into its new building in Roxbury in August 2017. Since then, Bridge Boston has been building strong relationships with its new neighbors, and strengthening its ties with families and caregivers, frequently welcoming them into the community to participate in parent dinners, workshops, potlucks and concerts.
Bridge Boston is a Commonwealth Charter School, having been granted its original charter by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) in 2011, and its five-year renewal in February, 2016. The school’s Board of Trustees has direct oversight of the school and is responsible to DESE to ensure that the school lives into its mission and charter, and remains financially viable. In this capacity, the school board approves annual budgets, hires and oversees the school’s Executive Director, approves all relevant school policies and procedures, reviews progress to academic and mission delivery goals, and provides input to the long-term strategic direction of the school.
Bridge Boston also has a Foundation that is a 501c non-profit entity created for fundraising to support the school.
The following information provides a view into Bridge Boston’s student demographics:
Grades K1 through 7th grade
21% of students are currently or have been homeless
24% are English Language Learners
22% have special learning needs
68% qualify for free or reduced lunch, 100% receive free lunch
99% students of color
24% have been supported by the Department of Children & Families
100% have unlimited potential
Learn more about Bridge Boston here .
OPPORTUNITY
Joy. Achievement. Generosity. Unity. Acceptance. Resilience. These are Bridge Boston’s core values, into which the adults and children who walk through its doors each day live, learn and grow, each one known and valued. Bridge Boston is changing lives with its distinct, supportive program model, dedicated, talented staff and rich network of partners. These pillars, coupled with a strong, collaborative leadership team, and a year under its belt in its well-appointed, new, permanent space, position Bridge Boston for greater impact and growth to full maturity.
At the same time, the next leader will oversee an organization at a critical juncture in its evolution. They must foster and sustain the culture of excellence necessary for every student to succeed academically, and effect a more efficient organization with deliberate structures and systems that support a focus on academic rigor and accountability. They must elevate and amplify conversations about race, class and equity, and cultivate collaboration and cohesiveness through clear and consistent communications – all while interrogating the program and financial models, shepherding and developing funder relationships and other productive external partnerships, and driving strategic refinements that will further success and sustainability.
THE POSITION
Bridge Boston’s next Executive Director will provide organizational leadership to enable the school to live fully into the promise of its mission with a sustainable program model. They will refine organizational strategy, develop organizational metrics for success, evaluate organizational outcomes and school performance, build organizational capacity, and develop the team to provide ongoing support to its community. Specifically, they will be responsible for:
Leadership and Development
Assuming ultimate oversight for the leadership, vision execution, and management of Bridge Boston, its budget of $7 million, and 100 employees;
ensuring that the school is delivering effectively on the core work of curriculum and instruction, partnering with the principal, division heads and social-emotional team to support high academic performance;
advancing the mission of Bridge Boston by identifying and securing funding from foundations, corporations, and individual donors;
intensively recruiting, developing, and cultivating high-caliber talent, and
planning and coordinating the delivery of support and services at the school.
Strategic and Financial Planning
Providing the leadership, vision, and strategic direction for Bridge Boston including ;
supporting Bridge Boston through processes related to quality and sustainability, and
partnering with the Board and senior staff to prepare and implement multi-year programmatic, strategic, and financial plans.
Board Collaboration
Reporting organizational results to governing Board of Trustees including financial, academic, and operational data, and
developing policy recommendations for the Board’s consideration and action.
QUALIFICATIONS
The next Executive Director will bring to the role a robust vision for achieving improved academic excellence through rigorous and consistent instructional practice, rich social-emotional curriculum, and sustainable delivery of a full service program model. They will have a deep passion for social justice and educational equity for all children, extensive executive leadership and relationship-building skills, and strengths in cultural competence, strategic communication, problem solving, and team development. Moreover, the next Executive Director will possess the following professional skills, experience and personal characteristics that validate their stated readiness to lead a complex, urban educational organization with an ambitious mission:
Experience
Professional experience as part of an executive leadership team in an entrepreneurial, academic setting that has demonstrated success – or significant improvement – in a high stakes, high needs context;
track record of creating the conditions for high performance and talent retention by fostering a results-oriented, productive, diverse, equitable and inclusive environment of support and accountability;
experience effecting healthy change and creating organizational strength and synergy by encouraging collaboration and cohesion, and identifying and institutionalizing excellence in academic and business operations practice, and
experience building and working with a Board of Trustees.
Additionally, qualified candidates will have the following skills :
Dynamic, visionary leadership, and the ability to spearhead the organization’s continued development and growth;
the capacity for authentic engagement, including the ability to convey ideas and positions to numerous audiences, including authorizers, funders, principals, teachers, community groups, students, and families;
political savvy and instincts sharp enough to navigate and establish productive relationships across the Boston educational, philanthropic, and political landscape;
strong background in management, budgeting, strategic planning, and school leadership, and
knowledge of local, state, and federal laws that apply to public and charter schools, as well as an understanding of, and appreciation for, the history of education reform in Boston.
And finally, s/he must possess these personal characteristics :
Authenticity, a strong work ethic, and an inspiring, supportive leadership style;
the executive presence and integrity to inspire confidence and passion, and the persistence, zeal, and spirit to lead a mission-driven organization toward ambitious goals;
the gravitas and sophistication required to be the public face of Bridge Boston, and the eloquence and persuasiveness required to serve as a spokesperson to a wide variety of audiences;
an orientation towards a restorative approach to school culture and inclusive approach to community;
a willingness and aptitude to lead across difference, and have courageous conversations about race and equity in order to do what is best for students;
commitment to continuous self and organizational improvement, and
a collegial style that reflects joy and mutual respect, and engenders trust and teamwork.
Promise54
Boston, MA, USA
Full-time