Director of School Operations, Middle School (12-Month Staff Associate/Baltimore City Public Schools)

Company Description

Founded in 2002, KIPP Baltimore operates joyful, academically excellent public charter schools and alumni support programming that prepare students with the skills and confidence necessary to successfully pursue individual pathways to careers of highest aspiration. KIPP Baltimore enrolls approximately 1,500 kindergarten through eighth grade students in two schools on a shared campus in the former Walbrook High School building in West Baltimore: KIPP Harmony Academy (grades K-5) and KIPP Ujima Village Academy (6-8).  Including our signature KIPP Forward (formerly KIPP Through College) program, we support more than 3,000 current students and alumni.

KIPP Baltimore is part of the national KIPP Public Schools network. KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) began in 1994 with 47 fifth-graders as a college-preparatory program housed within a public middle school in Houston, Texas; today, we are a network of 280 schools, 15,000 educators, and 175,000 students and alumni. All KIPP public charter schools are locally-run, non-profit organizations; each region is governed by a board of directors.

Job Description

Reporting to the School Leader and accountable to the Director of Campus Operations, the Director of School Operations (DSO) is a senior, school based leadership role that oversees all finance and operations functions necessary to run a high-performing school. This includes budgeting, purchasing, facilities, food service, transportation, technology, student data, regulatory compliance, and academic operations support. The DSO serves as a key member of the school’s leadership team, ensures that the school’s operations meet high standards of operational excellence, and enables instructional leaders and staff to focus on driving strong student achievement outcomes. 

Position Responsibilities

School Operations Leadership and Operations Team Management

• In partnership with the School Leader and the region, develops the school wide operations vision that supports and operationalizes the academic and cultural vision of the school

• Plays a leadership role in the school’s strategic and annual planning and budgeting process

• Assists in hiring, managing, coaching, and developing the school operations team members and holds them accountable to goals and outcomes

• Serves as the primary point of contact for the regional Shared Service Team responding to requests and collaborating with teammates across the region to build scalable, region-wide systems, policies, and procedures

Finance and Purchasing

• Manages the school purchasing process by establishing clear systems for staff to request items, placing orders with vendors, tracking delivery, and coding and submitting purchase orders, invoices, reimbursement requests; approves school purchases under a specific financial threshold

• Serves as the first school based point of contact regarding finance and works with regional finance teams to ensure financial compliance and reporting

Facilities and Maintenance

• Oversees most facilities issues, including maintenance, aesthetics, shared space agreements, and campus safety

• Regularly conducts facilities walkthroughs and liaises with custodial staff/vendors to ensure that the facility looks the best it can

Student and Family Services

• Serves as the eyes and ears of the school to ensure that all school operations run seamlessly each and every day, proactively problem solving and developing systems where needed

• Oversees all aspects of food service, including quality, managing staff/vendors, meal tracking compliance, and meal delivery

• Oversees all aspects of transportation including arrival and dismissal procedures, and setting and managing staff duty schedules

• Owns logistics of communications through parent letters, weekly staff notes, surveys, and newsletters

• Owns all logistics of all off-site field trips and all on-site special events

Technology & Equipment

• Ensures that students and staff have access to needed technology and works with the Tech Team to plan technology related enhancements

• Leads the school opening each year to ensure that doors are ready to open by ordering furniture, equipment, instructional supplies, and ensuring that student services are ready to go

Student Information, Testing, and Academic Operations Support

• Works with the Principal or Assistant Principal to manage the logistical elements of all major student assessments

• Manages logistics of report cards/progress reports/transcripts

Student Recruitment & Enrollment

• Works with the student recruitment team to ensure that the school begins th