2026 Principal (pool)

Job Description

Job Description

Company Description

KIPP
KIPP Public Schools is a national network of tuition-free public schools educating nearly 190,000 students in grades Prek-12 across 21 states and Washington, DC. While each of our schools is as unique as the community to which it belongs, we are united around a shared promise: Together, A Future Without Limits. You can learn more at 

WHY TEACH AT KIPP?
At KIPP, we see the gifts in everyone who walks through the doors of our schools - especially our teachers. Their skill. Energy, Love. Their determination. On the good days and on the hard days. So we support our teachers to make the most of those gifts

The KIPP Difference 

• Respect - For our teachers’ innate talent and desire to learn, for their professional growth, and for the lives they lead beyond our walls. We offer pay and benefits that reflect our appreciation for the invaluable role our teachers play in lighting paths to opportunity for students

• Support - As our teachers progress through the day, the year, and their careers, we ensure they always feel the KIPP Team and Family at their backs, with opportunities to lead and support to grow

• Purpose - Together, our students, schools, families and communities share an ambitious mission to create a future without limits. We need talented teachers to realize it. Shape the future for your students and yourself by joining us in our work. 

KIPP Jacksonville Public Schools
KIPP Jacksonville Public Schools  is part of the KIPP national network. Together with families and communities, we create joyful, academically excellent schools that prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose – college, career, and beyond – so they can lead fulfilling lives and build a more just world. 

In the 2026-2027 school year, the KIPP Jacksonville region will be comprised of four schools educating 3,000+ students, kindergarten through twelfth grade, in the North and Westsides of Jacksonville, Florida:

• KIPP Impact Academy : Kindergarten – 8th grade
• KIPP VOICE Academy : Kindergarten – 8th grade
• KIPP Bessie Coleman Academy : Kindergarten – 8th grade
• KIPP Bold City High School: 9th - 12th grade

For the current school year, teachers at KIPP Jacksonville Public Schools work the following hours Monday through Friday and may have occasional meetings or special school events outside of these hours. Hours for teachers and students may vary slightly by school.

• K-8 Staff: 7:30am - 4:30pm  K-8 Students : 8:00am - 3:30pm, Wednesday K-8 dismissal is at 1:30pm 

• High School Staff: 6:45am - 3:45pm, High School Students: 7:15am - 2:30pm, Wednesday High School dismissal is at 12:30pm. 

Every Wednesday is a student early release day, which allows teachers to participate in weekly professional development and content team meetings. *This doesn’t include Wellness Wednesdays when all staff leave at student dismissal. 

To support these schools, we will employ approximately almost 300 full-time staff members. We seek educators and colleagues that represent our core values of high expectations, growth mindset, commitment to team, trust, joy, and sustainability. To learn more about what it is like to work and teach at KIPP Jacksonville Public Schools, please visit  To see all openings, visit our Regional Job Board.

Job Description

POSITION OVERVIEW
Please note this posting is for the School Principal position “pool” - meaning, while our team has not yet identified openings for this position, we will interview potential candidates for future, possible openings. Please only apply to this role if you meet the specific requirements outlined at the bottom of the posting. 

At KIPP Jacksonville Public Schools, the School Principal’s primary role is to be the instructional leader of their building. The School Principal drives high-quality academic and school environment outcomes for their students and staff. In the event our organization has an opening, we would select a School Principal from the School Principal pool to be a “successor” to a sitting School Principal

The School Principal should spend about 70-75% of their time daily on instructional leadership - specifically, leading and developing their administration team and their teachers to improve outcomes for student achievement. The School Principal builds lasting and sustainable systems for the ongoing development of their team. Typically, a School Principal manages their team of Assistant School Principal a school-based operations leader, school counselors, and other teacher leaders at their school. They report directly to the Chief Schools Officer and work closely with a variety of stakeholders including the shared services team for KIPP Jacksonville, families, etc.

School Principal are vision-setters and are skilled at building a culture for their team that has commitments for social justice and educational equity for all students that mirror the region’s vision and goals.

As a school-based administrator, this position is year-round and performs duties as assigned by their manager. Typical hours for school-based leaders vary Monday through Friday and there may be occasional meetings, special school events, or commitments that fall outside of typical business hours and days.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Be the face of the school, its biggest cheerleader and loudest advocate

2. Set ambitious school-wide vision and goals, aligned with the KIPP region, that lead students to have choice upon graduation 

3. Plan and prioritize time and resources to achieve annual goals

4. Cultivate a diverse, high-potential school leadership pipeline (from teacher leader to AP to successor) and develop leadership team members by teaching and insisting that they are true owners of the work and coaching and assigning stretch activities

5. Model expectations for leaders, teachers, and students on school-wide practices for a positive learning culture

   • Builds a joyful, academically excellent environment

   • Works to build relationships based in trust with and among all stakeholders

   • Works to build restorative practices for all stakeholders

6. Develop systems and structures to hire and retain diverse, highly-effective staff

   • Work proactively with the talent team to find mission-aligned staff members

   • Actively retain highly-effective staff and work to build capacity of those in need of improvement

7. Build own and school staff’s knowledge and expertise in effective instructional design and academic standards

   • Develop teachers’ conceptual understanding of what students must know and be able to do and what instructional methods drive student mastery

   • Develop knowledge of how standards map to curriculum and assessment

8. Develop teachers to provide rigorous and high quality instruction

   • Lead analysis of and develop teachers’ ability to analyze student data to identify strategies that will move students toward mastery

   • Regularly observe and coach instructional coaches to ensure they are providing high-impact, actionable and bite-sized feedback to teachers on a weekly basis

   • Ensure teachers can collaborate, analyze their practice and their student data, and adjust instruction in content teams 

   • Lead whole-school professional development workshops that drive highest-impact improvements in teacher practice

9. Cultivate School Principal’s own success and sustainability by engaging lifelines and renewing to get stronger

   • Be a lifelong learner

   • Be an active member of of the School Principal Team sharing best practices and learning with each other

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS/MINDSETS:

• Student Focus: Belief that all students, regardless of background, have the ability to go to and through college; demonstrated commitment to the school’s unique community

• Direction Setting: Ability to set direction across an entire school and motivate others to action

• Performance Management: Demonstrated student achievement results from teachers and leaders that he/she manages and coaches

• Talent Development: Demonstrated success in developing leadership capacity in others

• Cultural Competence: Demonstrated ability to create inclusive environments that honors and supports a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives  

• Instructional Leadership: Adept at data analysis; ability to extract meaningful insights across school-wide data

• Instructional Leadership: Expertise in what the  school-wide academic standards and state assessments require of students’ knowledge and skills to demonstrate mastery; able to translate student mastery requirements into instructional plans and strategies 

• Instructional Leadership: Deep understanding of appropriate application and differentiation of high-leverage instructional strategies (e.g. engagement, pacing, active monitoring, etc.) based on comprehension of child development and pedagogy

• Instructional Leadership: Command of instructional design and the benefits and tradeoffs of school design decisions in driving student achievement

• Achievement Orientation: Demonstrated resilience and focus on student outcomes

• Persistence - Keeps persevering despite challenges

• Solutions-Oriented - Addresses problems from an active posture to find a way or make one

• Self-Awareness - Able to diagnose impact of self in various contexts and situations and adjust accordingly

• Openness to Feedback - Ability to take feedback while remaining emotionally constant and adjust as needed 

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS

Our current starting salary for a first-year School Principal is $92,000

• Access to health benefits (including medical, dental, and vision)***

• Access to short-term and long-term disability insurance***

• 403(b) retirement program with a company match***

• To support teacher practice and their growth, all lead teachers receive individualized coaching and professional development.

***This offering is subject to change each school year. Terms would be outlined in an offer letter, if issued. 

REQUIREMENTS

• Possesses a deep commitment to both racial and educational equity; supports the building of an organization that reflects the community KIPP serves; holds self and others on team accountable for centering equity 

• KIPP Jacksonville believes that our staff will represent our core values—high expectations, a growth mindset, commitment to team, trust, joy, and sustainability. We search for established educators who embody them.

• Demonstrated ability to drive academic results directly and through others 

• Demonstrated people leadership, management and coaching experience with a passion for leading adults

• A minimum of five (5) years of teaching experience with at least two years of that experience in a grade level chair, content chair, department chair or equivalent teacher leader role

• A minimum of four (4) years of experience as an assistant principal or equivalent role

• Master’s Degree

• Passing a background check, as required by law

In accordance with Florida House Bill 531, this position requires a background screening through the Care Provider Background Screening Clearinghouse. For more information regarding the screening process, education, and awareness, please visit the official website at:

HIGHLY PREFERRED

• Five (5)+ years of experience as an assistant school principal or equivalent role OR two (2) + years of experience as a school principal or equivalent role

• Pathway to certification for administration in Florida

• Familiarity with Florida Administrative Code and Florida Statutes pertaining to K-12 schools

Additional Information

APPLY

To join the 2026–2027 candidate pool, please complete the online application and upload a resume via our job board. No applicants will be considered that submit resumes through other job postings. Link to job board here:

When submitting your application, you may indicate any preferred school locations. If and when a position opens, candidates from the pool will be considered for interviews based on fit and qualifications.

If selected for an interview and extended an offer, your compensation, school placement, and other terms will be outlined in writing.

If you're a current KIPP Jax team member, you should:

1) Inform your current manager of your interest in the role and

2) Complete the online application

QUESTIONS
If you have questions about positions at KIPP Jacksonville, please email LaShawnda Anderson at View email address on ziprecruiter.com. Please understand that resumes and/or cover letters are not accepted via email and you will be redirected to apply via the website.

KIPP Jacksonville Public Schools is committed to a policy of equal treatment for all individuals applying for employment at our schools. KIPP Jacksonville does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender, handicap, age, religion, sexual orientation or national or ethnic origin.