Special Projects Manager
California Bay Area, CA
Reporting to the Dean of Operations, the Special Projects Manager wears many hats while delivering first-class customer service to families, students, teachers, visitors, and other stakeholders. As the "right hand" of the DOO, the Special Projects Manager is an essential strategy partner in driving operational excellence, managing school-wide systems, planning and executing school-wide events and experiences.
The Special Project Manager builds and deepens relationships with families of current and prospective students, engages our community through service and partnership, and drives student recruitment and enrollment so that our schools maximize their potential to serve young people and achieve our mission.
Who We Are:
What if all students graduated high school with the knowledge, skills and habits they need to lead a fulfilled life? This is the question that guides our mission at Summit Public Schools.
To collectively prepare a diverse community of young people with the skills, knowledge, and habits to attain economic empowerment and success in a chosen concrete next step toward a fulfilled life. We operate 10 schools serving over 3,300 students in the Bay Area and Washington state. 100% of Summit graduates are college ready and Summit graduates complete college at double the national average.
We need exceptional, diverse, and mission-aligned teachers to join our team to help prepare our students for a fulfilled life. Join us!
What You'll Do:
Project and Event Management
Develop the strategy and implementation plan for school-wide projects. Support the planning and execution of school-wide culture initiatives (i.e.Teacher Appreciation Week). Support with testing logistics. Plan, organize, and execute preparations and day-of logistics for school events, meetings, and activities such as celebrations of learning, college fairs, and college trips.
Main Office and School Support
Support the Office Manager in ensuring the front desk area is welcoming, professional, clean, and organized:
Greet visitors at the front desk and create a warm and welcoming environment. Ensure a welcoming, orderly, responsive, and open Main Office; this includes responding to public inquiries, answering phones and emails, taking messages, checking voicemails, sending robocalls/robotexts, maintaining school apps (i.e. ParentSquare), responding to questions and concerns from families and students, and assisting faculty with inquiries. Greet and sign guests in and out, ensure they have proper identification while on site, and monitor access to the school. Support the Office Manager with collection and maintenance of student, personnel, school, and organization information
Receive forms and paperwork, track missing forms, manage databases, update contact information, keep records current, manage contract signatures, etc. Manage relationships with service providers and vendors. Coordinate team member onboarding and offboarding, including distribution of faculty welcome packages, key cards, and technology. Support with filing and data entry. Provide coverage for the Office Manager as needed. Communicate effectively with students, families, and colleagues; draft professional family-facing and staff-facing communications. Participate actively when needed in department meetings, faculty meetings, and other team meetings. Commit to continual professional growth, participating actively in personalized learning plans, career matrix conversations, and professional development workshops. Implement and enhance the school's systems and culture. Welcome and on-board new Summit students.
Management of Whole School Systems
Co-design, support, and continuously improve school-wide daily systems to meet organization-wide standards for operational excellence. Work with the school leadership team to ensure that all government, authorizer, and compliance reports are completed on time. Liaise with the Data/Information Team to manage and support student data and information systems, such as Powerschool and Metabase. Liaise with the Technology Team to support student and faculty technology systems (i.e. chromebook checkout, troubleshooting devices, etc.) Liaise with the Finance team and coordinate school financial systems such as purchase orders, payroll records, grant reports, reimbursements, check requests, and financial forms. Create knowledge management systems and maintain key organizational documents including system calendars, organizational charts, systems documentation, project plans, task lists, and other reference materials. Participate in necessary school wide duties for the safe and effective functioning of the school (i.e. occasional supervision of hallways, arrival/departure transitions, chaperoning in a field trip, etc.). Support facilities maintenance through collecting feedback, completing walkthroughs, and submitting tickets for ongoing repairs and maintenance. Performing other related duties as required and assigned.
Student Recruitment & Enrollment
Execute recruitment systems to track interest and applications from prospective families. Research community events and coordinate involvement from Summit faculty members. Develop marketing materials and other written communication for prospective students and families. Execute outreach and follow up with prospective families. Organize parent and student ambassadors to support recruitment. Lead and facilitate school tours and student shadow days. Plan, prepare and execute school based recruitment events such as open houses. Translate communications for our prospective students and families. Support collection and analysis of data to determine effectiveness of initiatives and drive continuous improvement. Collaborate with the Dean of Operations to execute lotteries; this includes maintaining basic knowledge of lottery rules in charter petitions. Monitor progress to goal for enrollment targets and collaborate with the school admin team to ensure school is fully enrolled. Collect and analyze recruitment and enrollment data to inform planning and assess activity effectiveness. Execute registration and enrollment for new families. Execute re-enrollment for returning families and ensure all forms are completed by the first day of school. Execute student enrollment data and systems. Plan and execute enrollment events such as registration days.
Family and Community Engagement
Generate awareness and engagement from prospective families and organizations in local communities.
Develop a deep understanding of the local communities. Build and deepen relationships with nearby neighborhood schools and local community organizations. Lead initiatives to generate awareness in local communities including but not limited to direct mail, flyering, door hanging, canvassing at community events. Manage programs to generate and promote referrals among families. Create and implement social media content and campaigns. Update and manage the school's website and social media platforms. Manage parent events including but not limited to back to school night and fall and spring parent teacher events, ensuring strong parent participation. Manage parent volunteer program, parent ambassador program and/or other local parent groups. Identify and recruit parent leaders for advocacy, e.g., town halls, voter registration drives. Coordinate annual parent survey and drive toward 100% parent participation. Coordinate important parent meetings (i.e. truancy/attendance meetings) and important household communication (i.e., English language determination letters, intent to enroll forms, summer mailer packets). Translate communications for our current families. Coordinate parent engagement for charter renewal initiatives and support engagement with key stakeholders, e.g., authorizers and local boards, to ensure compliance and help maintain strong community relationships.What You Need:
Key Qualities and Skills
Commitment to uphold Summit's values, belief that all children deserve a rigorous and equitable education that prepares them for college and for life. Bachelor's Degree is preferred. Prior Community Engagement, Operations, Project Management and/or School or Office Experience is strongly preferred. Fluency in English and Spanish is strongly preferred. Proficiency in Google Platforms, including Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides. Flexibility to attend 2-3 evening and weekend events per month. Clear health and background check.Who You Are:
About You
You maintain high expectations for all students and believe all students can find success in school, college, and life. You exude a service-oriented mindset and enjoy playing a role in ensuring students, families, and school communities have positive, supportive, and joyful experiences and interactions at school. You thrive while collaborating and are excited to work with your colleagues. You find positivity in sharing successes. You share our vision to reimagine what schools should be and are excited to make an impact on the public education landscape. You are positive and resilient in the face of big challenges. You possess outstanding organizational and project management skills, have a passion for the details, and have the ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously to meet tight deadlines. You have excellent verbal and written communication skills, and proficient computer skills. You are empathetic and culturally competent. You're open to having hard conversations. You possess strong relationship skills, with the ability to motivate, inspire, develop, and communicate with a diverse group of teachers, leaders, staff members, and community members. You thrive in innovative environments, and are comfortable with the ambiguity that can come with a dynamic and progressive workplace. You have the ability to maintain a calm, professional demeanor in the face of competing demands and external pressures. You're committed to continuous improvement, see feedback as a positive, and have a growth mindset.What You Get:
In addition to joining a highly motivated team and engaging in meaningful work, you'll have access to a comprehensive suite of benefits including a retirement plan, "take what you need" PTO policy, 11 paid holidays, and 3 weeks of organization-wide closures during the year. You and your dependents will have access to multiple health, dental, and vision plans at 25% cost (we cover the other 75%) and employee life and disability insurance at no cost. Our compensation policy strives to be equitable and transparent. The salary for this position starts at $64,427 and goes up to $80,999 commensurate with experience and qualifications.
Summit is an equal opportunity employer. We believe that diversity, equity, and inclusion are directly intertwined with education. We are ALL better when we are able to bring our whole selves to work and honor each other's voices across identities, cultural backgrounds, and life experiences. We welcome and encourage applications from individuals who are members of historically marginalized communities. Spanish language proficiency is a plus.
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